Forgive me but has the betta died allready? I thought it was hanging by a thread. A 25 watt heater will keep the water a consistant temperature. If you go with a heater, do not get the type that is "factory preset" usually a kinda small box looking thing that claims it is good for bowls and aquariums up to 5 gallons. They have been known to fry fish, while some have had success with them, I wouldn't trust it. When it comes time that your bio-bag (I think thats what Whisper calls them)is tatered and shreded, just replace the bag, dont discard the old one, but cut it into pieces small enough to fit in with the carbon, don't replace the carbon for that change but maybe remove some to make room for the cut bio-bag.This will allow the bacteria that has grown on the old one to "seed" the new.-However, what I'm still unsure of is what the "biological" part of the filter is... ---- The biological part of the filter is where the beneficial bacteria grows. Because the bacteria is alive it is called biological.One of the bacterias feeds off the ammonia in the water collumn (from fish crap and decayed food, etc), it. This produces nitrITE,another bacteria that is growing on the filter uses the nitrITE and turns it into nitrATE. This is good, because ammonia and nitITE are toxic to fish, nitrATE isn't toxic as long as its kept at a low level. That is why we do PWCs, to remove the nitrATE that is produced, allong with other dissolved organics in your little ecosystem. Since your aquariumis small needs to be done more frequently, as a rule of thumb. After a while you can determine what amount of water and how often it needs to be changed. One aid in this determination is a complete water test set. In the case of your filter the best place to let it grow is the white bag with the clip. The carbon also hosts the bacteria, but since the carbon exhausts after a while (or gets less effective at its job) it needs to be replaced. Rather then removeing both hosts to the bacteria and leaving no biological filtration, you just discard the old carbon and replace and keep the bag that has bacteria on it allready. As far as aging water, if you are only doing small water changes, frequently the small amount of water you are replacing should not affect the water too drastically. This is not allways the case though some well water(and city) has a high concentration of CO2 in it. This causes the water to be very acidic. When the CO2 escapes'the pH can rise rapidly to a base. This can stress fish, especially delicate ones. I have this situation and I just use an airstone in a bucket of water to "gas it out" if I amdoing a large water change. Aging over night or for a few days will also do the trick. You do however need a good water conditioner, like Prime or Amquel, that removes chlorine/chloramine and ammonia, if you have treated water from a water co----Alagae, with all the nutrients that may have built in the water + ones that are allready there + light 24/7 will give you an algae bloom, no doubt. If you do the PWC's and limit the light the algae will starve and go away. For a quicker results, use no light, or very little for a week or 2. This includes sunlight from a window. Some people have even covered the glass with a paper bag or something for a complete blackout.Read the original link I gave you, its long but no more longwinded then me. Oh yeah, the food varied diet is good, some have had great success with just a quality betta pellet like hikari. If you want to try something else you can even get live brine shrimp from a good LFS or start a hatchery of your own one day, its pretty interesting. My betta is a typical betta, a pig, he'll eat anything.

Ok, I just have to ask....did you work at a satellite office for a large hospital that has children as it's primary patients? (how's that for being cryptic?) If you are moving on to a non-health related field, I just want you to know (from experience) that you will be amazed at how not dealing with patients will be. I never saw so many people think that it was perfectly ok to abuse the staff in a physician's office. When I moved on to working in an academic field, the stress level completely went away. You have seen and been through a lot there. Congratulations on your next job. (And by the way, when I gave my 2 months notice that I had to leave my most recent job, sniff sniff, they did not want me to go, and there were a lot of tears. So, not always do people ask you to leave right away. Seems like only those that are truly concerned that you might do some sort of damage-whether physically, or by contacting all their clients and taking them with you, or stealing proprietary information, or if they are just paranoid nutty employers who don't really know how to react in a mature fashion they are indeed not the best thing out there.) Your stress level is going to go way downnnnnn. Enjoy! Bee

Hi Rachel, I agree with previous poster, and would add that watering every 3 days is too frequently for succulents in almost any conditions. Exceptions might be plants in grit (non-soil media akin to cat litter); plants that are very pot-bound, or plants in terra cotta that are in direct sun and high temperatures all day. For a plant in soil like yours, a once-weekly soaking is more than adequate. I agree that a soil change would be helpful. A 1:1 or 2:1 mix of potting soil and perlite will help it to drain and dry out faster, which succulents prefer. A south-facing window is preferable in most climates, but acclimate them First, and don't leave them in direct sun until the roots have had time to colonize the new soil- at least several weeks. Depending on where you live, east or west windows will also work. North-facing windows rarely, if ever, provide enough light for succulents. The smaller plant appears to be a Sedum, burro's tail, I think. On my small screen, it looks like all but the new leaves are a bit shriveled. They should be fat and turgid like grapes. I suspect the roots have died back from too much water/inadequate drainage. When you pull the plants to change the growing medium, examine the roots. They shoukd be white, firm, and profuse. I think you'll find small roots just around the stem, and many of those will be mushy, grey, or shriveled. If they appear that way, it will confirm the over-watering/poor soil hypothesis. Post some photos and someone can let you know if you're unsure. So, new soil, less frequent watering, a pruning or re-start for the Echeveria, plenty of light, and minimal fertilizer shoukd GI e you healthier plants in a couple of months.

Update: Some of the succulents I planted into gritty mix have been shriveling, which I thought was thirst, but watering didn't help... so I realized they're probably rotting. The tall sticks (which I thought were "Minima" Jades but after seeing a lookaIike at Home Depot, I think are actually Portulacaria afra) are definitely rotting away from the tips and new shoots down. :( So I think I need to pull these out, wash the old soil off the roots, remove any rotten parts, and let dry. I have a few questions: 1) if the stem is rotting, what does that look like, and how much stem/leaves should I remove? 2) Can I leave any roots if they look OK, and does drying them out kill them anyway? Or is this essentially like making a cutting and letting it callous and make new roots? 3) Once they dry can I just replant them where they were in the gritty mix? On a more fun note, I went to Home Depot yesterday intending to buy zero succulents and instead spent an hour taking pictures and purchasing 7 new ones! And to my delight, all but one had an actual species ID! Clockwise from top left: Kalanchoe marnieriana Crassula rupestris Crassula "Candy Cane" (with a warning that propagation is prohibited... how would they stop you?) Sedum rubrotinctum "Pork and Beans" Crassula ovata "Ogre Ears" Sedum rubrotinctum "Aurora" ???? that was on clearance with a bunch of very sick and damaged succulents, but it looks healthy enough to me! Here's a closeup of it - anyone know what it is? The Ogre Ears had mealy bugs so I doused all of them with 50% rubbing alcohol last night. I also watered them because their soil all seemed bone dry, which I'm learning maybe I really shouldn't need to do? :/ I want to transplant them to gritty mix today (and do it right this time! Wash off all the soil and let dry). Also at Home Depot, I think I was able to better ID some of my current succulents, like the Crassula ovata "Minima" (#8) actually being a Portulacaria afra. The original mystery plant could possibly be Sedeveria "Sorrento"? Though the leaves look bigger/fatter on this one than they were on mine: OR possibly Sedeveria "Jet Beads"? These leaves aren't bigger but they do seem fatter than what I have... Not sure either of these are it: #3 Could actually be Graptosedum "Blue Giant"? A very similar-looking succulent was labeled this at HD, but I can't find photos to confirm it online. Maybe it's actually Sedeveria "Blue Giant"? #6 I thought looked like a plant labeled Sedeveria "Harry Butterfield," but looking online, it doesn't look right to me... #18 Senecio vitalis (Narrow-Leaf Chalksticks) #19 Graptopetalum pentandrum - EDIT: Actually more likely G. superbum #22 Sedum adolphii (Golden Sedum), instead of Coppertone Sedum? Looking forward to anyone's feedback about replanting and ID'ing these! Thanks!