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Rabid Betta Activist
I have a ~ 2 y.o male VT betta named Quasi who had a very bad scare a few hours ago, and is now acting very poorly. I am hoping for some insight on his condition, and if it is related to fright, or an underlying health problem.
I was cleaning tanks this morning and accidentally knocked over a metal statue, which smashed into Quasi's aquarium. His aquarium is Acrylic and didn't shatter, but he panicked completely, swimming around his tank in fast circles, slamming into things, and even jumping up and whacking his head on the lid. He didn't settle down for almost a full minute. Now, it is several hours later and he is swimming erratically, pale, and has rapid gill movement. He has no external injuries, but I'm starting to fear that he harmed himself from running into things. He is older and has deformed gills (the gill plates are short, and the gills themselves are all curled up and strange on the end), so I'm very worried that I've either scared him enough to stress his poor little heart, or that he's gotten internal damage.
I do not *think* anything was wrong before this happened; he ate well last night, and seemed active and happy enough. He did bite his fins down the day before, but he is a notorious tailbiter and frequently chews himself up without any obvious reason or trigger. However, if paleness, rapid gill movement, and erratic swimming are symptoms of some disease or parasite, it would be good to know; I have just about every medicine put out by AP and Mardell, so I have a pretty good arsenal to initiate fast treatment.
Tank/H2O Info:
- 5g Eclipse Corner
- Unfiltered/Uncycled
- Bubbler on Low
- 100% Weekly WC's; Water is same temp as tank, sits overnight, and fish are acclimated over 20 minutes.
- Aquasafe, BWE, Stress Guard added every cleaning
- Medicinal dose of Aquarium Salt and Stress Coat added recently after fin biting; always added when fins are chewed in past with no problems.
- pH is 8, high for bettas I know, but all 26 of my boys live in it with no problems.
- Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate are all 0 - water changed 2 days ago. I've never had anything but Nitrate go above 0 in any of my betta tanks; highest nitrate has ever gotten was ~10ppm on a fish who was letting all of his food sink.
- Hardness is about 100.
- Temp is consistently 78 in tank; room is temp. controlled.
Fish Info:
- ~ 2 y.o male VT
- Finbiter
- Deformed gill plates and gills
- Has been treated for parasites in the past
- Good weight/scale
- Fed Hikari BioGold, Atison's Betta Pro, BioBlend Betta, Tadpole food (treat), Frozen blood worms, frozen brine shrimp, frozen midas shrimp, live neo-natal crickets (home grown).
- Fasted once weekly, no issues with constipation.
I was cleaning tanks this morning and accidentally knocked over a metal statue, which smashed into Quasi's aquarium. His aquarium is Acrylic and didn't shatter, but he panicked completely, swimming around his tank in fast circles, slamming into things, and even jumping up and whacking his head on the lid. He didn't settle down for almost a full minute. Now, it is several hours later and he is swimming erratically, pale, and has rapid gill movement. He has no external injuries, but I'm starting to fear that he harmed himself from running into things. He is older and has deformed gills (the gill plates are short, and the gills themselves are all curled up and strange on the end), so I'm very worried that I've either scared him enough to stress his poor little heart, or that he's gotten internal damage.
I do not *think* anything was wrong before this happened; he ate well last night, and seemed active and happy enough. He did bite his fins down the day before, but he is a notorious tailbiter and frequently chews himself up without any obvious reason or trigger. However, if paleness, rapid gill movement, and erratic swimming are symptoms of some disease or parasite, it would be good to know; I have just about every medicine put out by AP and Mardell, so I have a pretty good arsenal to initiate fast treatment.
Tank/H2O Info:
- 5g Eclipse Corner
- Unfiltered/Uncycled
- Bubbler on Low
- 100% Weekly WC's; Water is same temp as tank, sits overnight, and fish are acclimated over 20 minutes.
- Aquasafe, BWE, Stress Guard added every cleaning
- Medicinal dose of Aquarium Salt and Stress Coat added recently after fin biting; always added when fins are chewed in past with no problems.
- pH is 8, high for bettas I know, but all 26 of my boys live in it with no problems.
- Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate are all 0 - water changed 2 days ago. I've never had anything but Nitrate go above 0 in any of my betta tanks; highest nitrate has ever gotten was ~10ppm on a fish who was letting all of his food sink.
- Hardness is about 100.
- Temp is consistently 78 in tank; room is temp. controlled.
Fish Info:
- ~ 2 y.o male VT
- Finbiter
- Deformed gill plates and gills
- Has been treated for parasites in the past
- Good weight/scale
- Fed Hikari BioGold, Atison's Betta Pro, BioBlend Betta, Tadpole food (treat), Frozen blood worms, frozen brine shrimp, frozen midas shrimp, live neo-natal crickets (home grown).
- Fasted once weekly, no issues with constipation.
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