Betta Hit With The Siphon

[Winterlily]

My tank is halfway through its cycle, now battling high nitrites so doing LOTS of water changes (about every 2-3 hours). Starting the STUPID siphon before - pumping the #$%^& thing up and down, and my way too curious and fearless little Betta comes flying over to see what I'm doing. Like people say when a dog runs into the street, I didn't even SEE him (came out from between plants at the bottom) until it was too late. He got under where the siphon was and got whomped with the stupid thing when it was going down. He appears absolutely fine in that he's swimming normally, even flaring at the camera when I took his pics to show you (below) etc. Behavior was totally normal, but it looks to me like I did at least SOME damage - perhaps a scale or more is off or something? I have no idea. Here are 3 shots. When you look at him, his body is purple, but when you see closeups with the camera, his body is actually red, which each scale outlined with purple. Right near the "wound", there is red that isn't normally there. Also, I couldn't quite capture it with the camera, but when you see him from above sort of, it looks like a small bit of tissue is loose (can see that best in that 2nd blurry pic)... God.....

What do I do here and how big of a deal is this? I have BettaFix, if that's something I ought to use?

Just what the poor guy needed on top of having to deal with all the nitrite. Cannot tell you how disgusting I feel. STUPID siphon and stupid me. Boy oh boy...

Here are 3 pics:

Please let me know what I need to do here, if anything, to avoid problems for him or help him if he needs it?

Thank you!!

 

[WILDER]

is there any bleeding or bruising beneath the skin.
I would half dose some melafix and increase aeration.
Or add some salt to stop infection.
Is there only the betta in the tank as some fish don't tolerate salt towell.

 

[bagu]

dont worry mate, its a easy thing that can happen; don't stress yourself out buddy!

it looks a little sore, but like Wilder said, and bleeding or anything?

 

[Winterlily]

No bleeding outwardly - dunno about under the skin? No super obvious bruising - just what you see in the pic. Right now - about 2 hours after the incident - it looks like a sort of little hole. It's not I don't think, just that's what it kind of looks like.

He's the only one in that tank, so that's not a problem.

I have a bottle of BettaFix (which I believe is half-dosed MelaFix), but keep reading on here how some Bettas are senstive to it and I don't want to make things worse. If it's something that will help him though, of course I'll add it!

Same for salt. What's my best bet here?

Oh... no aeration at all in the tank - they like it still, so still he has.

And thanks Bagu - I'm beating myself up a bit for sure.

 

[bagu]

No bleeding outwardly - dunno about under the skin? No super obvious bruising - just what you see in the pic. Right now - about 2 hours after the incident - it looks like a sort of little hole. It's not I don't think, just that's what it kind of looks like.

He's the only one in that tank, so that's not a problem.

I have a bottle of BettaFix (which I believe is half-dosed MelaFix), but keep reading on here how some Bettas are senstive to it and I don't want to make things worse. If it's something that will help him though, of course I'll add it!

Same for salt. What's my best bet here?

Oh... no aeration at all in the tank - they like it still, so still he has.

And thanks Bagu - I'm beating myself up a bit for sure.

hmm see how he gets on; if anything really noticable goes on then treat him =]

just take care of yaself =] happens to the best of us ^^

 

[WILDER]

For now I would add some salt. But only go in with half dose for now. its one tablespoon to 5 gal.
Bacteria can gain entry through cuts and wounds.
Also the salt will help the fish in bad water quality.

 

[Winterlily]

Thanks much, Bagu.

Wilder: Forgive the stupidity - I'm new at this. Just regular aquarium salt gotten from the LFS, yes? I seem to remember there is more than one type of salt?

 

[WILDER]

House hold salt fine in small doses.

 

[waterdrop]

Winterlily, I would definately go with Wilder's recommendation. I trust Wilder.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[xweeqtx]

Just a FYI - Bettafix is stronger than Melafix. Melafix is kind of.. diluted bettafix, so you don't have to halve the dose. Can't remember the exact name of the thing you're supposed to halve it for(whichever ingredient it is), but melafix is 5 times weaker in that ingredient than Bettafix.

 

[CKutz]

with your siphon..is it the type where it says just..like "pump" it back and forth in the water to get the siphon going? well it doesn't really matter, any siphon will do this..but what you can do in the future is submerge the siphon (doesn't have to be the whole thing, just the big "vaccum" part at the end) then turn it upright to trap the water. now lift it out of the water slowly...when you see the water start going down slowly submerge the siphon and turn it the normal way again.

basically imagine scooping a cup of water out of the tank, and when you lift the cup of water out of the tank water, it will start to go down the hose, when this happens, you have to get it back in the water so the siphon keeps going. but if you do that quickly or jerk it around quick, it'll mess up the siphon and you'll have to do it again anyways.

 

[Tolak]

Just a FYI - Bettafix is stronger than Melafix. Melafix is kind of.. diluted bettafix, so you don't have to halve the dose. Can't remember the exact name of the thing you're supposed to halve it for(whichever ingredient it is), but melafix is 5 times weaker in that ingredient than Bettafix.

You've got these switched around. Bettafix is 0.2% Melaleuca, Melafix is 1.0% Melaleuca.

 

[loraxchick]

to me it looks like his slime coat just got skinned off in that section...should heal fine (he'll just secrete more to fill it in.)...as long as there is no blood and he can swim ok id say hes fine. melafix should be half-dosed as some bettas dont tollerate it well. i would just keep up with your watechanges to deal with the nitrites you are seeing and watch the spot (hold off on the melafix or betta fix for now)...if you are doing that many waterchanges they could stress him out as much as having a bit of nitrite in there and then add meds on top of it...just a thought. a lot of times, clean wate ris the best medicine (and yours is as clean as you can possibly have right now until it cycles if you are doing changes every 3 hours..
keep up with your waterchanges and watch it for a change for worse...in the meantime you can think about and research treatment options if it seems to be goetting worse.
all the best

 

[Winterlily]

Okay - thanks everyone. He looks really good, I think I must not have done too much damage, thank God. Whew.

Just to double check, Wilder? Household salt, meaning table salt? Ours has iodine added - that's okay?? Household salt better to use than "aquarium salt" ?

Does salt do anything funky to my cycle, which is finally going really well and nearly (I think!) over. ?

Yeah, I knew that BettaFix was diluted MelaFix - I figured I was better off getting the the former!

CKutz: Yeah, the kind you have to pump up and down to get it started. That very day I went out and got a new siphon that - infinitely easier, and safer! - has a neat little bulb on it. Put the end in the water, squeeze the bulb a few times, and voila!, suction started. No more accidents in my tank. Course, with the big tank, I'm going to have to get a Python I think - so I think your great explanation of how to start that suction without that awful up and down stuff will be well-used! Thanks!!

Loraxchick - nope, no blood thankfully!! And he sure is swimming fine.

Thank you so much everyone, for getting me through yet another worry-session.

 

[WILDER]

Table salt fine.
The only way to remove salt is by water changes.
Salt dosn't touch water stats no.

If he's fine no need to add anything if the wound healing nicely.