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Hello everyone. I've been keeping fish for about two months now. I have a betta by himself and a five gallon tank. It seems like everything that could go wrong has, in the past week.
I live in a college dorm and this past week was spring break. I tried to get everything ready and got a vacation feeder for my tank. I put my betta into a 1/2 gallon container and was bringing his tank home with me, while leaving the five gal. of tropical fish here at school.
While driving the 11 hours home, we got into a car accident. No one was seriously injured, but the EMS took us to the hospital as a precaution and we were completely unable to retrieve our belongs from the car impound lot until the next morning. I asked the EMS people several times to let me bring my fish to the ER (they must have thought I'm crazy) but they said no (probably having to do with the fact that they carried us out on backboards...) And do you want to know how long my poor betta survived the 40 degree night? Probably not long.
Okay so I just returned to my dorm and found out the following. I left for spring break a few hours before my roommate and specifically left our temperature on cool. Completely fine for my tank. Well the few hours that she was here, do you think she left the temp alone? No! Of course not. She blasted up the heat and left for the week. I returned and thought, Wow, this room is hot. And then I looked at the tank and thought, OH CRAP! I'm not really sure what temperatue the tank was, but my thermometer registers up to 88 and it well above that. Well into the low-mid 90's. Yeah. It felt like friggin bath water. One dead neon tetra and another with clamped fins who is at the moment desperately hanging on to life... The rest of the fish just don't seem very happy. So I did a water change and put the temperature back on cool, obviously wanting to cool the water but not send every single one of them into shock. Now the temp's in the mid 80's and is getting under control.
I just don't know why everything's turning out so awful. I'm really trying hard and doing my best to be a good fishkeeper. It just seems like all the circumstances are not working out.
Please, I need aquarium encouragement.

I'm sorry...I know how you are feeling. In the past month my saltwater crashed and it's difficult to stay optimistic. One word of advice though, never use a vacation feeder. They just tend to polute the water. Fish can go for a good week without food if they are properly fed.

Sorry about your losses Keep your head up!

-Josh

Wow not good luck eh? Well at least the betta was the only casaulty in the car accident. And the temperature in your room was over 88! wow why would your roommate make it a freakin sauna in there lol. Yeah in this hobby theres bound to be dead fish sooner or later, you just gotta correct your wrong and move on. Good luck.

cant speak for all the fish, but a betta can be fine in 40 * F weather, and in 90 *F weather.

just rebound, and fix up the tank and try again.