Disaster

[blinky000]

After finally thinking that everything was perfect, Pluto has jumped into Steve's section of the tank (god knows how, the divider goes all the way up!) and completely mauled him. Steve is my pride and joy and I'm so full of guilt about the state he's in. His tail has been chewed off right to the base and he's very lethargic. I'm hoping this is just the stress and now Pluto is out of the tank, he'll start to come round a bit. I've turned the lights off and he's sitting under a piece of bogwood. What can more can I do for him?

Pluto is now on the classifieds since I don't have any more spare tanks and it's clear he can't be housed in a divided tank. He's free to a good home. Let me know if you're interested.

 

[Fishy friend2]

Aww I'm sorry that that happened to you, I hope that Steve gets better

 

[bettanoob]

blinky lots of fresh water and the tail will grow back in time you should keep a close eye on it and make sure the tail doesnt start to go black with fin rot the new tail will be white ( my male had a bad time with some females lol buthe is recovering fast)

 

[blinky000]

He had a water change about an hour before it happened so thankfully I won't have to stress him any more for now. He's perked up a lot and he's had something to eat so I reckon he'll survive the trauma, it's just whether finrot sets in. Poor guy looks like Ray Charles has tried giving him a haircut

 

[Fatknee]

Aww bless him hope he feels better soon

 

[HayzH]

Jackson has tried to jump out the tank twice now..luckily i was there both times

 

[blinky000]

Thanks for your well wishes He's still with us this morning and still eating. I do have a few concerns though.
1. Even from the second I rescued him, he seemed really bloated and he still does now. He also has what I'm going to assume is a tiny bit of poop coming from his vent so I think it might be constipation but I swear he wasn't bloated before the stresses of yesterday. Is this stress related? What can I do for him?
2. He's sitting on the bottom a fair amount, although as soon as someone's there or food is available, he's back to normal. Presumably that's normal if he's just getting used to his weightlessness without his fins?
3. While the splits in the caudal fin are healing already, there does seem to be some whiteness to the edges. I'm hoping it's a scab equivalent and not fungus. I tried taking a photo of it but it didn't come out too well. Anyway, here is my little Steve this morning:

When I went to see him just before bed, he swam straight over to see me so I put my hand in and he started swimming around my fingers in a really playful way (which he'd never really done before). I swear nothing gets this fish down

 

[Fishy friend2]

aww thats so cute i love when they do that
and for he concerns, one way to see if they are pooping is to have them in a bare bottomed tank
if he is sitting on the bottom he might just be stressed i dont think it has anything to do with the fins

 

[Dieses Madchen]

You may try some Bettafix to help promote healing. I use it when my bettas get fin injuries and it excellerates the healing. Be careful not to overdose as the active ingrediant is known to cause damage to the labyrinth organ when given in high doses. As long as Bettafix is used as the bottle states, it is safe for the betta.

 

[fuzzynicki]

oh poor Steve,- his tail fin does look a mess As for bloating I would say give him a day off feeding and then give him a boiled, de-shelled pea. Just keep up with daily water changes and hopefully this should be enough for his tail. If he does show signs of infection then obviously you will need to medicate,- but only as a last resort. Meth blue may be necc. For bad cases of finrot (not infection or fungus) I favour Myxazin. Best of luck

 

[blinky000]

The bloating has improved. Turns out he was just VERY constipated. I don't think I was soaking his pellets for long enough. Another valuable lesson learnt! He does love his peas though so he'll be very pleased you suggested that
The end bit of his tail *looks* a little fungusy/infected to me. I'm debating moving him to the hospital tank with a bit of salt. I was treating another one for finrot and it worked really quickly. I just don't want finrot or anything like that to take hold. With his fin being so short, there isn't much of a margin of error.
He's so trusting, I feel so guilty that my own stupid want for more fish has ended up with him almost getting killed.

 

[LadyDragon]

Atisons Betta spa is a great product for helping them recover from stress.
I had a similar experience with one of my girls jumping a "divider" (side by side tanks, so literally out of hers and into his) and getting beaten up. I think the additives in the Betta spa (almond extract, yucca, etc) definitely helped her recover.

 

[bettanoob]

remeber with his tail more or less gone he wont be able to swim around with so much ease so sitting near the bottom will be natural for him for now if you swap him to a hospital tank keep it shallow so thee is no need for him to swim to much for air and also try to keep it deep enough so you can easily do a water change ( with out saying how to do your water change and sounding like a know it all who tells people the basic info wich is all i know) make sure your water change water has stood for 24 hours and treated with tapsafe dont want to stress him out with chlorine ect...... its valuble info i was told when my betta's tail was damaged and i did not know it then im sure he will be just fine tbh

 

[blinky000]

I'm sure he'll be fine too, but I won't be happy until I see new growth. He's swimming a bit more now. He's actually not acting any different to normal (except maybe a little more clingy) and his colours are just as vivid. On the bright side, after seeing a topic on here I bought him one of those floating betta logs out of guilt lol. I always did spoil my favourite boy

 

[bettanoob]