"Learning by doing"... but never doing it again

In my previous update I mentioned that I changed tanks and that fishy was relatively happy in both environments. I decided to re-locate General to again, back to his original tank. This time I also moved it to a different part of the house. The environment was a lot colder than the one my fish was use to, but I just wanted to take a chance (that is after all what adaptive management is about)


This proved to be the biggest mistake! I immediately saw a change in his behaviour, gradual at first but then rapidly!!


His activity became slower, he didn't respond to my whistling as eagerly and he spent a lot of time just THERE not here AND there, but just THERE. I thought that maybe his water was dirty and I made the water changes more frequent but even then he just didn't do anything anymore. 


What really worried me was when I noticed more and more fish food lying at the bottom of the tank. This NEVER happened. He didn't even show any signs of stress when I made a shaking movement with the jar! 


When I tested the water temperature (I STUCK MY FINGER IN), the water was COLD! like ice and I immediately knew the cause of the sudden decline in General's activity. Placing a heater close to his tank didn't really help and despite the fact that Bettas are really tough fish I didn't think I would be having General Fin with me much longer and I was right. 


I returned home from Campus one afternoon finding my dear beloved fishy pal floating... I considered CPR... but uhmm... don't think it would've worked.

ZEOLITE CRYSTALS 

Because of the frequent water changes I've done, the crystal colour remained the same.