Help immediately! Horrible betta accident!!!

I've just come home to find that our Betta had wedged himself into the hole of the terracotta pot we had in the tank. He had already lost two pieces of fin. I took him and the pot out and shattered it on the floor to get him out as quickly as possible!

He's still breathing but has gotten a lot of damage. He's white where he chafed against the hole and like I said has lost two pieces of his fins. Currently he is just lying on the sand, breathing but not swimming although his front fins are moving all the time.

PLEASE GIVE ME ANY AND ALL SUGGESTIONS AS TO HOW I CAN SAVE HIM!!!

If he survives long enough he'll probably get fin rot. But treating him with the normal medicines might be too harsh. I read a thread on treating Bettas with Rooibos tea to treat fin rot. Should I try this? I think it's least invasive.

I don't think we should move him to another container because he might get even more stressed by that. The tank has a filter so I hope the water is oxygenated enough for him, or should I move him closer to the filter to make sure?

Please please please help us!

 

sorry to here about your betta i'm not sure about treatments but i've used tetra general med for damaged fins. i would think he's really stressed and you may need to drop the level of the water so he can reach it to breath. maybe cover his tank with a towel so it is dark, might help to reduce stress?

 

Yo flame...

Best is not to move your Betta - less stress he incurs now,the better for him... Dont be to worried about the just lying there...little dude has just been through a lot and needs a rest...

Bacterial infection is a possibility due to the slime layer's removal....so just watch for that over the next couple of days... Some Bio Elite Heal all in the tank should speed up it's recovery to...
G'luck mate - hope he makes it!!!!

 

I've covered the tank with towels and turned off the light. Will call aroung to LFSs to find out if they stock Tetra General Med and/or Bio Elite Heal All.

I can't drop the water level in the tank as there are other fishes but I can lift him and place him on something higher. But I don't really want to move him like azurekoi said.

I'll definitely watch over him the next few days. He just needs to hang in there!

Thank you for your quick help.

 

@flammaefata: In my experience (which is not that much) I just left my betta to heal split or damaged fins on its own. Heal all (according to many) doesn't work but I've never tried it myself. Tetra General Tonic can't be added to a filtered tank as it will damage the filter bacteria so IF you do use it then you should take your betta out and put him in a quarantine tank with the meds. if I were you I wouldn't give him meds. Increase the temp to about 27 or 28 degrees (if the other fish in the tank can handle it) because a big cause of fin rot is water that is too cold. You can also add AQUARIUM salt to the tank (this is contains NO iodine) at 1teaspoon to 25L (thats the concentration that I use). But make sure the other fish in your tank can handle it. At the moment all you need to do is leave him and let him calm down. Bettas can recover from bad fin damage (mine had lost half his caudal fin from fin rot). Like azurekoi said, just watch him for a few days to see if his fins are growing back. Good on you for turning off the light!
Maybe @Vis or @solex69 can help you some more...

 

Hi

You can use the tea to help as this has some antibacterial properties and wiull
make the water ph lower and little bit softer which bettas like.

For now make sure his water is super clean.

I will not use any meds yet, keep a very keen eye on him and of you see something funny
maybe use some then.

I am personally not a big van of the bio-elite heal all but that's just me.

Don't worry about the fins they will heal and grow back.

Gerhard

---------- Post added at 12:11 ---------- Previous post was at 12:11 ----------

Sorry, kelly nailed it while I was typing

 

Know the manufacturer of the Bio Elite range personally and have used the product in landing thousands of boxes of imported fish through the years....

It is not a medication,but a great additive in boosting ailing fishes imune systems to overcome whatever ailments... Agree with you Vis that it doesnt "HEAL ALL" all the time,but in assisting fish (like 200 baby Malawi's in a bag imported from the East - hammering away @ each other over a 24 hour period...) to recover a healthy slime layer - in my oppinion,it cant be beaten... Just instinctivly feel that this is a simple,effective,non - medication route for flame to follow with his Betta...something that has helped with tens of thousand of fish in the past...

PS: If any of you go visit the Dark Side(MASA) - ask our salty brothers what they think about Bio Elite Heal All - aparently,tey cannot sing it's praises enough... Andwe know how pickey they are over a product...

 

Hear what your saying, immune booster rather then cure.
That might be why I could never cure a sick fish with it, wrong application.

Not saying it does not work just that for me personally it never helped for
Fin rot or other bacterial infections.

In general I am against meds unless there is no other way.

Maybe it works better in salt water?

 

@Kel-Sol
Now I'm not sure which meds I should buy yet :/ Maybe I should hold off them for now like you say.
Because of the Hillstreams I don't think I can increase the temperature. At the moment it's at 26 degrees Celsius.
I'll go get some aquarium salt - I think both the banjo and the hillstreams will be okay with that.


@Vis
I only have Rooibos and Honeybush here so will go buy some now
The water should be clean as yesterday around 7pm we last added any food to the tank - one algae pellet for the bottom feeders. While I think he's probably very exhausted I don't think he'll eat anything if I add it now.

@Vis and @azurekoi
I think I'll just go buy everything. I'll add Rooibos first, then read up on the Bio-Elite and probably use it (immune boost) and only when I have a good enough quarantine tank (only have a 1.5 liter flower vase that I can perhaps use) use Tetra General tonic.

I keep on wanting to check on him to see if he's still breathing but maybe I should just leave him and check maybe once every hour...
The worst damage is:
Bad chafing on his back just behind his head (luckily he didn't get stuck over his gills so he was able to breathe the whole time).
He lost a piece of his caudal and dorsal fin.
His two small side fins (the ones he swims with) seem more transparent than before and he's only lying on his side. He keeps on moving them but I wonder if they're not too damaged that he can't swim.


I just wish he'd start swimming again, that'd be a sign to me that he's still okay. But he's probably too exhausted now.

 

You should use rooiboss the other tea contains caffeine.
When they do not feel well they tend to lie on the bottom to conserve energy.
He can last a few days without food so if he doesn't eat emmediatly do not worry to much.

One more thing NEVER EVER mix meds.

 

Hey flamma...

Bit of hope for you... Seen fighting contests in Thailand between males(plakat...wild type) where the loser often gets ALL his fins shredded,scales missing etc. Owners of these fish just makes sure they are kept in good water and usualy a month or so later the little guys have regrown their fins and are ready for the next round...

 

Thanks azurekoi, that's really given me a lot of hope! The little fighters must have a strong will to live if they're naturally used to such combats.

So I'm going to add one Rooibos tea bag - I'll just throw it in the water and let it release all its compounds on its own.
I got aquarium salt and will add 1tsp as per Kel-Sol's suggestion.
The Bio-Elite Heal All seems like a good idea (I'm all for plant extracts) so will add as close to 3.5ml as I can (5ml/38liters as directed thus 3.5ml/27liters) per day for 7 days or until his wounds are healed.

I also got Aquadene Stress Shield Special. Has anybody used this product? It's manufactured by Kiang Weng Trading Co. in Malaysia. On the back of the bottle:

AQUADENE STRESS SHIELD SPECIAL promotes the healing of skin wounds and torn fins, buffers the pH of fresh water, adds needed electrolytes, and detoxifies certain metals.
DIRECTIONS FOR USE:
If your tap water contains chlorine, add one teaspoonful of STRESS SHIELD SPECIAL for each 10 gallons of aquarium water. If your tap water contains chloramine (a complex of chlorine and ammonia), neutralize the chlorine by adding one teaspoonful of STRESS SHIELD SPECIAL for each 5 gallons of aquarium water.
STRESS SHIELD SPECIAL is not a medication, nor is it intended to be a substitute for any medication.
STRESS SHIELD SPECIAL replaces the slime coating, which helps protect fish from disease, when it is lost during handling, netting, shipping, fish fighting, or in times of stress. Treats 240 gallons of fresh or salt water.

There are no ingredients listed, nor can I find any on the internet. I'm wondering if you think it would be safe to use with the Bio-Elite Heal All or if I should rather not use it at all? As it doesn't say that it's a medication, nor does it say that it can damage the biological filter, I wonder if it's not similar to Bio-Elite Heal All? Anyway, I won't add it yet until I've heard your opinions.

Here goes the treatment...

 

Hey flamma - not to sure about using Heal all with the tea....as a general rule,one should never mix medications,but as both the treatments you are using are more along the supportive,imune boosting route,maybe in this case it wont end up disasterous....

Wouldn't go and use the other product as well though...Sounds similair to Heal all,but with added sodium thiosulfate most prob to remove chlorine...Just stick to the others....

Good luck!!!
PS: A small 5ml syringe and needle obtainable from any pharmesy will make the dosing MUCH easier...

 

Yes that chlorine/chloramine usage instructions do make me worry a bit. We have been using Aquasafe regularly when we do water changes and I think that does contain thiosulphate too, but I can't be sure about this product.

I also think the Bio Elite and tea won't have any likely interactions as they both seem to be natural compounds/plant extracts.

Thanks for the syringe tip, will have to get one next time!

 

He's upright now Not swimming around yet but not lying on his side anymore!

 

Glad to hear, always keep in mind that they are curious little buggers and will want to check out
anything interesting.

 

Almost exactly what my boyfriend said - we should label him "Terminally curious".

Cats have nine lives, I wonder if Bettas have more?

 

Great to hear that your betta is doing better! I'm sure bettas have more than 9 lives lol. Keep us updated. You may even be able to see the damage begin healing by tomorrow or Saturday. I know spilts can be completeley gone in a day if they are not too long.

 

Hi all,

Thanks for all your advice and help. Unfortunately he did not last the night.

 

AA sory to hear. Now maybe you can get that crowntail you wanted?