Thanks one and all: First Woeisme, in old Innes book lists Permanganate of Potash (is a poison as with most this stuff and maybe why I can't find it now) is a great plant dip - diluted of course. In leu of bleach I would suggest hydrogen peroxide, I have no way of testing how well it does with plants and this last batch I just transferred without thinking about it. James: PH from his toilet bowl water (little bowl at store) was barely 6.. I was shocked, and when I mentioned it they shrugged (concider me a pest because I complain so much) That's it but apparently not many good choices in Manhattan proper. I ordered great foods (I think) from medigold site, as I believe that improving immune system with better foods will go a long way. Waiting for their arrival. Update: Ph seemed high in cat tank, not sure why with piece of driftwood in it, so took out one last rock not sure but may have been it... lowering gently with small pinch of peat in filter (no charcoal) down from 7.4 to 7.1 over a few days (going slow) I know meds raise this as well as I tested them and salt once... all other indicators amnia, nitrate/nitrite in all at zero... the water in all had been cycled for a while and was ok before introduction of fish, but know meds again changes that. I left them in their original tank as they get stressed in smaller tanks for quarantine so hopefully this was correct decision. Tubing out bottom sand water every other day... Cats... one who was worse off, and who's swimming behavior forced me to look (you know when one is sick you just don't want any more so try not to look) under brighter light... Swiming swimingly now... (he was listing while resting) so think they will be find. No more fish from New World Aquarium as well (very dark tanks so hard to see in first place) He flashed or scratched a bit less on 2nd day has stopped unless he is doing it at night. so far so good. Blue betta: Stopped flashing, can't see his skin well as he is in 3 gallon cylinder tank... treating with maracide and betta fix, with changing water at bottom... I held light over him in dark, but I have no experience with velvet, so med I am using is good so they say for both ick and velvit (maracide) and betta fix... seems much better per his behavior, eating well, (down to once a day) and swimming gently and poking around in plants and sand, (looking for food, they sure act like pigs) and finally the White Betta: I am sure now the red I saw was/is septimia and feel bad I didn't address it earlier, but put head in sand. I have spent now almost 80 bucks on food and med's for a 3.99 fish... I am exhausted with doing research. But am determined. So, red retreating. Appetite great. think he saw less in swollen eye one day but day after he could see my food.. other eye a bit extended, but neither as bad as what I've seen per photos on diff message boards (pray for me please,lol) He swims back and forth and was worried a bit but not flashing. I realized since he was always very very active (half moon I think no long fins like others) that he seems to be pacing like those bored poor animals in zoos of old. so moved him nearer to me so he can see something, and he stares at me. Got med's from bettatalk, but have no idea how to evaluate any thing as some say have good experience with triple sulpha, she (very experience betta breeder) uses ampicilan which treats both gram neg and gram pos.... Says give treatment 3 weeks before making a change (ie wrong meds') Until the med gold fish food arrives (talked with Rick there) I am soaking his food in his meds as aquarium pharma person said it is hard to get meds into their system. thanks again one and all, and hopefully things will improve over time... I have to remember patience and time... Best Sherry

Lexie, First let me explain a couple things......I have a masters in fish, maintained my own fishroom for more than 20 years, write for fish magazines and more. I have bred show bettas and many other fish. I have showed fish and won Best in Show on numerous occassions.I have many years of experience just keeping fish healthy and happy. The reason, that you get posts about the size of your aquarium is because you are not providing the proper care that is needed to keep two bettas alive and happy in a 2.5 gallon tank. We are not judging you....just trying to make you understand that you are not providing the right conditions that your pets need. Your bettas may live for a while....one is already not eating....so that one won't live long.....The other one won't live long either in the conditions that you said you have provided. Bettas need high temps from 79 to 82. If your room temps don't make the water in this little tank that temp.....then a heater is a must. Small tanks without heater also have greater and faster fluctuations of temps as the room temps change....this can cause major stress to your fish. A healthy betta or any healthy fish will start eating the next day after transportation. A stressed or sick fish won't. Most breeders feed a large variety of foods, so that their fish will do well and eat well in their new homes, regardless of what is fed. The fish that are raised on farms, don't get that care, and that is what you will find in most pet stores. These fish are stressed to begin with when they are transported to your pet store.....and then on top of that they are moved again to the customers tank, usually in a couple of days....only to cause more stress. May I strongly suggest you do a google search and read as much as you can about bettas or any other fish you might possibley be interested in. Here are a couple of books you might also want to look for. 1. BETTAS A Complete Introduction by Walt Maurus..this book is a tfh publication 2. Bettas Gouramis and other Anabantoids Labyrinth Fishes of the World by Jorg Vierke.....this book is also a tfh publication. You can of course choose to do as you please with YOUR fish....but they won't live long in poor conditions. Sorry that is just the facts. Some of us are actually trying to help you. Good luck!

Well thank you for all this information. I have a Beta, I assume with all its colors that it is a male. We rescued him from Wal-Mart in a tiny cup. Poor fellow. My husband wasn't sure if he would survive. We have had him for a year. How long do these fish live? Also our Beta is very moody. I swear he is dead laying on the bottom of the our 1 gallon plant bowl. But when I check and feed him he lifts himself up to go for the food. When I clean out the water and bowl, I always use stress coat treatment. I will try using warm water next time. My Betta is just inactive. I feed him around 4 tiny pellets almost once a day. We do have cats that like to eat the water plant leaves. But the Beta doesn't seemed stressed over it. Of course I chase the cats away from the bowl. The cats are not interested in the fish but the greenery. Please let me know if this is normal for a Beta or is he heading for heaven. Thank you, Theresa

Hi zeedman, hope everything is going well with you. Thanks again for the two kinds of "MN" cowpeas, they did wonderfully even with the bad growing season we had here. My project is making slow progress. I have more raw data to go through than I have time available. Much bigger project than I anticipated (as is usual for me). I thought it would be safer to have all my hard work on an offline computer so I acquired a second one that is dedicated just to the project. I linked a database to a spreadsheet. I settled on using the database for general information and I give every variety its own number. That number is referenced on the spreadsheet for further details and information. The spreadsheet offers a quick side-by-side comparison of varieties by using category checkmarks. Works pretty good. The thing is, the more time I spend and the more knowledge I acquire, the more obsessed I become. Beans sure are fascinating. A big problem is categorizing because of all the different terminologies and because many beans have multiple uses. The yellow/wax was one small issue, but there are more such as Romano beans versus flat beans, Lima (and Fava?) versus broad beans, French beans and filet beans, horticulturals and shellies, etc. Are cornfield beans distinctly different from typical pole beans or just regional terms for the same thing? Why are runner beans varieties of Phaseolus coccineus but 1/2 runner beans are varieties of Phaseolus vulgaris? That kind of confusing stuff. I am having to constantly go back into my "finished" data and correct errors or update information. Two steps forward, one step back. Second big problem is that I wanted a photo of each variety with beans set on as well as a photo of the dry seed beans. Not going to happen in my lifetime. ;-) Was such a distraction and time-killer that I dropped the whole idea for now. All in all I would say I am generally making progress, considering I only have time to work on it in the winter. I am a lot farther along now than when I last posted on this thread, but have a long way to go. I branched out into greasies, cutshorts, fall beans, teparies, tropical and subtropical beans, asian beans, foreign varieties available commercially, extinct varieties, etc. I also am working on cowpeas and soybeans just because I am so interested in them. When I get frustrated with the snap and dry beans I work on these categories instead. The biggest eye opener by far is how much duplicity is out there. I am convinced a great many varieties are actually the same ones with different names. I have come across seed companies and even growers and market sellers that arbitrarily change the names for selling purposes. Heck, I am even guilty. I got some bean seeds in a trade and the woman, an immigrant from eastern Europe, didn't know what they were so I named them after the nearest towns they came from in her homeland. What am I to do, call them "Unknown 1" and "Unknown 2" forever? I don't think what I did is quite as bad as changing a name to make a variety sound "cute" or make them more marketable, but the end result is confusion just the same. Finally, I hate to sound greedy, but I think this project may be worthy of publishing if I can get it finished, rather than free-sourcing it on the web. Several people I have shown it to have suggested looking into that possibility. Wasn't my original intention but because it is so complex I now feel I should try to get some kind of return on my investment of time and energy, if possible. This is nowhere on the priority lists, though, and if it ultimately doesn't happen it is no big deal to me. My personal collection is growing. With this year's orders and trades I am at well over 100 varieties of bush and pole snap and dry beans, asian beans, cowpeas, and soybeans. We have an informal little local club of hobby growers that are all interested in these so we coordinate and plant different varieties and swap seeds with each other. Pretty fun. Take care, -Tom I know it is improper to ask - wrong forum, wrong thread - but if anyone has any white wax beans would you be willing to part with a few seeds? I really want to acquire some. Thanks much.