Help With My New Female

[dmarie04]

I received two fish in the mail today. (A male and a female) The female has badly damaged fins and is having problems swimming. When they arrived my husband checked to make sure they were alive (they were shipped overnight with DOA guarantee) and they looked alive so he floated the bags in the divided tank I set up for them. He said the female's water looked a bit blue (in her bag) but couldn't really see anything wrong with her, but she was double bagged so view of her was obscured. When he opened her bag to acclimate her water he saw that the blue was actually bits of her fins floating in the water! I have a one gallon hospital tank that I am heating right now. I bought some betta fix and I have some aquarium salt on hand. Will this be enough to get her better? I really can't tell if she has fin rot or if she damaged the fins herself. She's having a heck of a time trying to swim and keeps flopping onto her side because her fins are just shredded. Any idea what could have caused this? Did she just get too stressed in the shipping? Is there anything else I can do to get her all fixed up? Will I be able to save her? She's such a pretty girl, I want to do everything I possibly can to save her. The male looks ok, but I just got home from work so I haven't spent much time with him, but will keep my eye on him, too. Any help and/or suggestions are needed and welcome

 

[zoekin8yg]

I think you are doing all you can. Maybe raise the temp a little and lower the water level so that she doesnt have to swim far to get air.

 

[davidnso]

it sounds like finrot, but she might've been biting her own tail as well..i'm not too sure sorry

keep the water crystal clean, and your bettafix + salt should do the work. hope she gets better

 

[catherine896]

Aww, I hope she recovers well. Goodluck!

 

[dmarie04]

Thanks. I put her in the hospital tank for now. I lowered the water level. She's resting on top of the heater. It's a submersible heater and the top is just a bit below the water line, so she's still under water but just has to stretch up a tiny bit to get air. The temp is 80F. There's aquarium salt and betta fix in the water.

 

[davidnso]

GL!

 

[Jaded12]

Sounds like you're doing everything just right! Hope she pulls through for you! Where did you get her from?

 

[dmarie04]

I got her from aquabid. Gosh, you'd think I was TRYING to kill her this morning. I'm such a dunce sometimes. Last night when moved the heater around I unplugged it....and left it unplugged all night! Geez. So this am her water temp was only 68F. I made sure the heater was plugged in now so we can warm her back up. She was actually swimming a bit, though. Last night she just laid on top of that heater the whole time and this am she was trying to swim a bit. I couldn't get her to eat, though. Will keep trying and keep you all posted. Thanks for the good wishes and the reassurance I'm doing all I can right now (other than forgetting to plug in the heater!)

 

[Jaded12]

Hehe you sound like me, last night I realized that I had forgotten to plug in the heater in my 20g after doing the water change, the temp had dropped from 80 degrees to 72 degrees, and my poor wittle baby oscar was not a happy camper.

 

[dmarie04]

Hehe you sound like me, last night I realized that I had forgotten to plug in the heater in my 20g after doing the water change, the temp had dropped from 80 degrees to 72 degrees, and my poor wittle baby oscar was not a happy camper.

Well now I don't feel too bad She seems to be doing much better now. She's swimming around some and is more active. I even got her to eat a couple pellets. About how long does it take for fins to grow back?

 

[dmarie04]

I think she's going to be ok. She still looks beat up, and I'll keep her in the hospital tank and keep treating her until she's all better. Last night I got her to eat a couple blood worms and then this morning I got a nice surprise. I flipped on the kitchen light (she's on the kitchen counter for now) and saw bubbles at the top of her water. I bent down to get a closer look and saw a tiny little bubble nest!!! I've read about females making bubble nests, but never saw it before. And for my poor little torn up girly to make one, just amazed me I have a feeling that when she's all better she's going to be a spunky little thing! LOL BTW I have named her Kailani.

 

[zoekin8yg]

Awww bless her. My girl that died today made a huge nest once, and one of the new ones blows small ones.