Rufus is my betta who lives at work. I went in this morning, before his light comes on and I couldn't see him. He always comes to the front usually.
So I overrode the timer and saw him, stuck in the filter. It's a normal internal, with a bit at the top with a motor in, then a media box on the bottom. His tail was stuck between the 2 somehow. I pulled the filter off the tank and prised the 2 bits apart. He was thrashing about horribly and it seemed to take ages.
No idea how long he'd been there, I last looked in on him yesterday dinnertime
His tail is a right mess, chopped almost clean in half, with the end just hanging on by a thread.
I have always had a pair of tights over the intake slots to stop him getting caught in those, but I've now pulled the tights right up to the outlet, over the join between the top and bottom and cut little slits for the suction cups to go through. Too late this time, but I couldn't rest thinking this could happen again.
I've lowered the water as low as I can and still have the filter and heater in there, taken most of the floating plantout so he can get to the surface easily, and there's tons of big leaves he can rest on. He's just kind of floating about in a daze atm. I've added 2 IAL which I don't normally have in as there are shrimp in there and they eat them in no time, but I hope he will get some benefit from them.
So, 2 questions. Should I leave the hanging off bit of tail? I really don't want to have to attempt surgery, but I will try if it's what's best for him.
And this weekend is obviously easter. I would have fed him well tomorrow and left him for a long weekend. But I'm going to have to put him through the stress of moving him home now aren't I?
So I overrode the timer and saw him, stuck in the filter. It's a normal internal, with a bit at the top with a motor in, then a media box on the bottom. His tail was stuck between the 2 somehow. I pulled the filter off the tank and prised the 2 bits apart. He was thrashing about horribly and it seemed to take ages.
No idea how long he'd been there, I last looked in on him yesterday dinnertime
His tail is a right mess, chopped almost clean in half, with the end just hanging on by a thread.I have always had a pair of tights over the intake slots to stop him getting caught in those, but I've now pulled the tights right up to the outlet, over the join between the top and bottom and cut little slits for the suction cups to go through. Too late this time, but I couldn't rest thinking this could happen again.
I've lowered the water as low as I can and still have the filter and heater in there, taken most of the floating plantout so he can get to the surface easily, and there's tons of big leaves he can rest on. He's just kind of floating about in a daze atm. I've added 2 IAL which I don't normally have in as there are shrimp in there and they eat them in no time, but I hope he will get some benefit from them.
So, 2 questions. Should I leave the hanging off bit of tail? I really don't want to have to attempt surgery, but I will try if it's what's best for him.
And this weekend is obviously easter. I would have fed him well tomorrow and left him for a long weekend. But I'm going to have to put him through the stress of moving him home now aren't I?
