I am such a bad Betta person

[Annastasia]

Hi all,

Well, I was going around feeding everyone this morning, and I came to my 20 gallon. I was looking around for my Betta I keep in there, and I finally found him, looking lifeless at the top of the tank. I panicked, and then he moved. To my horror, the right side of his face was bloody, and his eye was kind of moved up..so it's now facing kind of diagonally up. I took him right out, and put him in my hospital tank, and added a half-dose of Melafix.

I just feel so awful about this though. He's been in that tank with 6 Cories and 4 Male Guppies and they have been absolutely FINE for 2 years. I don't understand it. And I can't stop beating myself up about it...I really should have been able to notice if something was wrong...

And on top of it all...one of my favorite Bettas, Cinnamon, died too. I can't understand it...perfect water, I didn't overfeed...I just wonder if I should be keeping Bettas anymore. Of course, I am addicted to them, so it may be a little hard to stop.

Does anyone have any ideas what went on in the 20 gallon though? I can't see either the Cories, or the Male Guppies doing this, personally..but who knows. No sharp stuff either...just plants, sand, and a small piece of wood...

 

[Mariah]

Dont stop keeping betta just because this one experience. I dont have any advice but I know someone will be along soon to give some

 

[eudielynn]

If there is no fin damage and the only injuries are to the head I doubt that the other fish attacked him. Do you have any places on the wood that he could have tried to wiggle thru and gotten hung up and injured himself getting out? Could he have gotten hung up in the filter somehow and injured himself? Just throwing out ideas here. Your male guppies are capable of causing some major damage, but I just don't think it would only be on the head.

 

[BettaMomma]

Somebody was apparently having a bad day in that tank.
It's possible it could have been a long time coming and just came to a head last night. Or could have been a misunderstanding, like with us humans - somebody ventured into someone else's territory, who knows.... It's unfortunately impossible to tell with them what happens when we're not looking.

I'm really sorry that he's in the condition he's in. You've done well with what you have done for him thus far. I would probably skip the melafix, as that stuff sometimes seems to do more harm than good in already stressed out sick fish. You'll need to make sure to keep his water SUPER sparkly clean in order for him to heal.

I don't want to darken your hope, but I do feel I should say this - when there's a really big open wound like that on their heads (I'm not sure what the extent of it is so it might not be THAT bad) it's really hard to keep it from getting infected. You don't happen to have any colloidal silver, black water extract or indian almond leaves, do you?

And HEY... keep your chin up. If you've had him and he's done well for 2 years, i'd say that's very commendable so you are definitely doing something right by him. This is just one of the very unfortunate bumps in the road along the way.

Hope he makes a full recovery. And might I suggest letting him live the rest of his life out - in a smaller tank all to himself?

 

[Annastasia]

Don't worry Mariah, I'm not going to stop keeping Bettas. I'm way too addicted to them...just feeling a little down at the moment.

eudielynn - Thanks for the suggestions. There is no place he could go through on the wood...it's solid, and very smooth, so I can't really see this hurting him. He CAN go under it...but it's smooth under there too. And he has been in with it for 2 years..and he loves it, so I would think if he was going to be hurt by it, it would have happened sooner, but who knows.

The filter is an internal Whisper, so unless his eye got sucked towards it..I also can't see that happening. Thanks though.

The Male Guppies couldn't do this, I don't think. They are more scared of him then anything. And they are tiny little guys, since I am breeding more towards Wild Guppies...so they get smaller.

Edit: Thanks BettaMomma. It doesn't look like an open wound..but I'll treat anyway. If it is open, it's small though. No colloidal silver, black water extract or indian almond leaves. I can never find any of those around here. His water is going to be kept very clean. I have to do water changes on my almost fin-less Betta rescue I told you about anyway, so I'll do this tank at the same time.

And he definitely is going to stay in my empty 5 gallon for the rest of his life, and maybe upgrade to a 10. If he lives through this, he definitely deserves it.

 

[Allix]

Dont worry, just do as much as you can for him and we will all hope for the best

 

[OrkyBetta]

Could he have been sleeping and got his face stuck to the filter intake grate? I know thats what one of my neons looked like whenthey died then got stuck to the filter. The only other thing I can think of is he has something really wrong with him causing open sores. Since there is no pic I could also assume it is popeye, and the boodis from the eye. If it is popeye, melafix will work.


Add some salt, melafix, pimafix, and raise the temp. Sorry to hear about the accident, I hope your fish does better! Try to minimize stress on him, and do partial changes every other day or so. Clean water works wonders. Keep the tank out of bright lights. Good luck!

EDIT: as bettamomma stated, melafix is VERY strong. make sure you use it half dose or one third dose. I have always had luck with melafix in this doseage.

 

[Annastasia]

I'm confused then...BettaMomma says to skip the Melafix, and OrkyBetta says to add it...so which should I do? Pimafix and salt are already in there, the tank lights are off, and as I said already...he's going to be getting daily water changes.

Thanks everyone, you've been very helpful.

Oh, and it's not pop-eye...I know what that looks like, and this condition looks very different. Sorry, I stink with pictures...but I'll try to get one.

Edit: And I just can't see the filter doing this...I have this filter in all my other Betta tanks, and I have never had a problem...not even a fin touched.

 

[BettaMomma]

Honestly, I had a bad scare with melafix so I hate the stuff. I literally threw mine in the garbage. My theory on that stuff is that by the time I decide I need to treat someone, thye need something stronger than melafix. If I consider putting in as more of a preventative, I just let good clean water do the work.

I do know of people who have had good results with it - I think i'd skip it if you already have PimaFix in there. If he were mine, he'd be in just some sparkly clean water with a little bit of salt. Then keep an eye on him to see how this progresses.

Can you describe a tad bit more what it looks like? Is there any broken skin? Is it bleeding?

One though I just had is that open, bleeding or really red spots on the skin can also be a sign of an internal infection. The eye - is it just kind of tipped a different direction? Could it just sort of look that way because maybe part of his face is swelled up or gone?

 

[Annastasia]

Well...it looks like his eye is tipped up a little, like I pushed it up on his face, It is slightly red around there now...and a liiiiittle swelling. But it looks like something hit his eye, and then he got stuck, and struggled away, and it is now at an odd angle. It looks a little "fungusey" too. Honest opinion...do you think his eye will ever go back to normal? Or will he live through this? (If I do everything right, of course).

And we'll skip the Melafix...I don't want to risk it right now...

 

[Joby]

awww poor little guy that sounds awful

Can only add that I've used melafix in normal dosage as stated on the bottle with my bettas, even juvies, and never had any problems.

Hope he pulls through for you

 

[BettaMomma]

Describe EVERYTHING you have in your tank, if you could..
That might help someone to think of something he could have done...

 

[Annastasia]

Okay...besides the fish...we have

Duckweed
Anubias
Fake silk plants
Airstone
Small piece of wood, maybe 6" long, 3" wide, that's smooth, with a place for him to go under, which is about 4" by 2"...it's also very smooth under there.
Heater
Sand, and a little gravel for my cories to push around

Oh..and I realized one of my silk plants got uprooted...could he possibly have scratched himself on the base? Maybe that's a stupid question, I guess he could have...but any ideas on that?

 

[BettaMomma]

I've known of fish getting lodged under or in fake plants and the only way to get themselves loose is by flailing around. Can you see any where on it - the base, ANYwhere that he could have tried to swim through and panicked and had to get loose?

How is the heater attached to the tank?

The airstone - is that a bubblebar, by chance? I once had a molly that got stuck sideways in the slot that goes between the base of the bar and the bottom piece.

Any of those possibilities from what you can tell?

 

[Annastasia]

Nope. It's a solid base. As are all the other ones. There is a sharpish point on it though...maybe he tore his..eye on that. (That was a very bad mental image..)

The heater isn't attached to the tank...it hangs over the side of the tank, and into the tank.

Not a bubble bar...just a regular, 4" long airstone, that goes on the bottom..and blows bubbles.

The only thing I can think of is the plant base...geez, I should have realized that earlier. I can't stop beating myself up over this...