LIVED ONLY FIVE DAYS.. i got a betta fish from my brother for my birthday. It feed it morning & @ night for 2 days, although it didn't seem interested to eat. The unbeaten food remained in the bottom. It was so spirited the 1st 2days. I didn't leave him alone, I use the fish bowl on my lap & play with him, sleep with him. He use to jump when I stick my finger near surface to eat the food. He seem so happy when I'm around. He use to sit at the bottom when I'm not around & swim up when I come taping the bowl. 3rd day night I cleaned the bowl & added aged water as suggested in web sights. The same night he seem fine but I noticed a hole in his tail after few hours. I didn't handled him roughly.. I didn't even used fishnet to remove him. I let him swim into a glass with his will. Next 4 th day I noticed his was sitting still in bottom n looked little gray n his tail was rotten n shredded. From morning I didn't came to say hello to him. I came at 11:30am to see him like that. May be he missed me so he was sitting in bottom ( he sit like that when he is alone n sad) I put food to him but he wouldn't eat. Then I panicked n cried so much. I didn't leave him alone the whole day.. May be that's y he lived 2 more day. I searched every website " how to treat fine rot." every one told he need med n heater. But it's a fish bowl I can't get heater to that. I can't afford. I got an idea of my own " putting the bowl into a mild hot water container" I use to check the heat before keeping the bowl in it. And it worked. He liked it ( caution " only mild water") may be it bought him 2 more days to live. Every time I keep him in the mild hot container his skin color come to normal n when he get cold he use to turn gray. I did it every 2 hours or 1 1/2 hour ( until his fin rot get cured n grow new one). Another thing I noticed that he got fin clamp but on 5th day I saw the wings to got rot. He got infection I guess. I used to water.. May be it has too much clorine even though I aged the water. Afternoon till evening he lost his tail n down fin. I didn't changed the water but I removed all the shred from water using net. He turned gray till stomach N under his jaw. His gills looked unusual. He still didn't eat any thing. My brother told let try bore water at least anyway he looks like dieing. So I prayed to God for one more day. That night I kept him close to my bed so that he won't feel alone. On 6th day 3:45am suddenly I woke up n thank God he was near surface ( on 5 th day he stayed on top) I frequintly checked n I saw he lost his left wing n swimming side ways.. It hurt to see him like that. At 4:30 I treated him with mild water then I removed the container before it get cold. I checked every 5 mins but I only closed my eyes for 8 or more mins.. in middle I heard swift movements n water splash then went silent so I checked. @ 4:45 he was floating vertical facing bottom & tail up. I cried continusly for 2hrs.I buried him @ 5am in my front yard crying.

hi guys, i'm new to growing and have just experienced one of my two plants dying. They are in a big pot, and facing south (all day, on my window lege) and have grown very fast. One is beefsteak (big boy) and the other alicante. Approx they're both 30-40cm high. Suddenly in the last day or two the beefsteak has wilted and looks about to die. The main stalk is still verticalm but the branches and leaves have shrivelled a bit (although still green). The flowers are out. The alicante looks completely fine and looks very strong. So I'm confused why the first has suddenly gone wrong. There are no marks on the leaves, the only think is that there are small bulbous mounds on the stalk at the first 2 inches above the soil. I've watered it a lot, and have once a week used Tomorite. The soil is damp so i can't expect I've underwatered. Could i have overwatered? Or applied too much Tomorite? Or perhaps its been a bit too cold and windy the last few days? As i say the other is completely fine! If i can upload a photo I will try. Any help greatly appreciated. Image link:

Jean, I didn't realize the system only accepts one photo with an initial posting, and won't permit another picture with a follow up on the same thread. I'll try to start a new thread called Sudden Death Syndrome II and see if the close-up picture will be accepted. Thanks for letting me know. Cliff

Jane, I agree with dirtygardener in that the plant might be getting too much nitrogen. However, even so, you should get some blooms. Do you know what kind of porterweed it is? The one that I eliminated from my garden was the coral porterweed. It got huge and only bloomed well once a year. I see a spike in the picture that looks good. It might bloom. I don't know of any insect that would eat just the blooms of porterweeds. If the spikes are turning black it might be some kind of fungus. You might try to hit it with some bloom buster and spray a few of the spikes or the whole plant with horticultural oil.The passion vines would be hurt by the horticultural oil, that is, the caterpillars would be harmed, so try to keep the spray off it, but the other plants around it look like they would be fine. The other thing is if you have a coral porterweed it might just be waiting to bloom late in the season. The plant does look healthy.