I hate to report my beautiful little girl Pinocchia has gone to the pond in the sky...in a way I feel awful even contemplating.
I fed her, Peaches, and Geppetto their pellets. Then fed Monstro his meal, as he's been just eating bloodworms till his tail gets a little better because he split it from too much flaring (if I put in all his pellets, he would eat too fast and spit it all up...giving him pellets one at a time would make him flare multiple times at each pellet before eating it).
So I then did water changes but still had the bloodworms out. I saw Pinocchia get all excited over seeing the bloodworm packet so I gave her one and she seemed appeased. I guess in my haste, I didn't get her lid refastened all the way *cries*
I found her dried to a crisp on the floor. I'd been gone 4 hours so I have no idea how long the poor girl was there. I thought 'how did a tiny leaf get all the way over here?' and then realized what it was.
I knew she seemed extra interested in Peaches (male) and had a divider to block her view of his tank since I made them neighbors, for fear something like this would happen. But I saw a small gap in her lid that must have caught on the rim that she wiggled out of...either seeking more bloodworms after I left or to meet Peaches.
Everything else is accounted for but I feel horrible. I felt like I was really starting to get to know her fiesty little personality and she seemed so curious, the way she'd examine things and jump for a bloodworm.
All I can take comfort in is she got an extra treat before that fateful jump from her tank. And that she had a lot better life with me, brief as it was, than she did when I found her...scared, in a dirty cup at a discount store.
I'm just so ashamed. As Monstro heals and Peaches (hopefully) responds to his MII treatments, this is going to hang over my head for a long time.
This is the only pic I have of her but it doesn't quite do her justice. I want to add that at the time, I had the lid off for this pic so that I could get better light. She was my first female betta...I feel awful that I failed her. I buried her in the flower bed outside my apartment door, next to all the memoriam tiles we have that families of cancer patients bought in their loved one's memory. For the short time I had her and the patients that saw her, they all said how pretty she was because she glimmered blue and green with these cute red ventral fins.

I fed her, Peaches, and Geppetto their pellets. Then fed Monstro his meal, as he's been just eating bloodworms till his tail gets a little better because he split it from too much flaring (if I put in all his pellets, he would eat too fast and spit it all up...giving him pellets one at a time would make him flare multiple times at each pellet before eating it).
So I then did water changes but still had the bloodworms out. I saw Pinocchia get all excited over seeing the bloodworm packet so I gave her one and she seemed appeased. I guess in my haste, I didn't get her lid refastened all the way *cries*
I found her dried to a crisp on the floor. I'd been gone 4 hours so I have no idea how long the poor girl was there. I thought 'how did a tiny leaf get all the way over here?' and then realized what it was.
I knew she seemed extra interested in Peaches (male) and had a divider to block her view of his tank since I made them neighbors, for fear something like this would happen. But I saw a small gap in her lid that must have caught on the rim that she wiggled out of...either seeking more bloodworms after I left or to meet Peaches.
Everything else is accounted for but I feel horrible. I felt like I was really starting to get to know her fiesty little personality and she seemed so curious, the way she'd examine things and jump for a bloodworm.
All I can take comfort in is she got an extra treat before that fateful jump from her tank. And that she had a lot better life with me, brief as it was, than she did when I found her...scared, in a dirty cup at a discount store.
I'm just so ashamed. As Monstro heals and Peaches (hopefully) responds to his MII treatments, this is going to hang over my head for a long time.
This is the only pic I have of her but it doesn't quite do her justice. I want to add that at the time, I had the lid off for this pic so that I could get better light. She was my first female betta...I feel awful that I failed her. I buried her in the flower bed outside my apartment door, next to all the memoriam tiles we have that families of cancer patients bought in their loved one's memory. For the short time I had her and the patients that saw her, they all said how pretty she was because she glimmered blue and green with these cute red ventral fins.

