Wuv, I know you had a similar experience with Floor Boy, so it would be greatly appreciated if you, or anyone for that matter, could give me some advice...
It was my first night back into work last night, so I did all my routine betta water changes and got into bed for a couple of hours before my shift...when I woke up, I nearly had a fit when I found a shrivelled up, brown, hard betta body laying on my desk. I poked it and nothing happened so I peeled what I assumed to be a dead body off of the desk. Wrong. I thought he twitched a couple of times, but wrote it off as my imagination...until I thought I felt it again. I didn't want to risk anything this time so I put the "body" back in the water it had jumped from previously. This is when my betta started to twitch on the bottom of the bowl...
To make a long story short, I sat watching his every move up until I left for work last night, at which time I put him in the bathroom to rest in the dark. I came in from work this morning and he was swimming around.
What I've since done this morning is give him a 100% water change (he's in a 1 gallon bowl as I don't want him to be under too much stress getting to the surface for air) and given him a pinch of aquarium salt. I've taken his plant out as his tail is in a pretty bad state from being completely stuck to the desk and I don't want anything in his water that could potentially make things worse. I genuinely thought there was no way he'd be alive looking like that so I was preparing myself to dispose of the body, and wasn't as careful as I obviously should have been. His tail isn't completely split or anything, just torn around the edges.
What I'd like to know is whether I need to give him any sort of medicine to make sure he doesn't get any infections? If so, what? I've never had anything even remotely similar to this happen before, so I'm completely stumped.
He's always been an absolute pig, eating a good 5 or 6 pellets 2-3 times a day, but he hasn't eaten since I've been in this morning. Is it possible he's gone blind from the obvious damage his eyes will have suffered from being dried out for that long, or does it just seem more logical that he's feeling crap from being thisclose to death and doesn't feel like eating?
I'd really like not to have to put him down as he's got all his colour and is active, but I also want what's best for him. What do you think? I can get some pictures later on if needs be, but apart from having a torn up tail, he looks no different than any healthy betta...
Please help *crosses fingers*
It was my first night back into work last night, so I did all my routine betta water changes and got into bed for a couple of hours before my shift...when I woke up, I nearly had a fit when I found a shrivelled up, brown, hard betta body laying on my desk. I poked it and nothing happened so I peeled what I assumed to be a dead body off of the desk. Wrong. I thought he twitched a couple of times, but wrote it off as my imagination...until I thought I felt it again. I didn't want to risk anything this time so I put the "body" back in the water it had jumped from previously. This is when my betta started to twitch on the bottom of the bowl...
To make a long story short, I sat watching his every move up until I left for work last night, at which time I put him in the bathroom to rest in the dark. I came in from work this morning and he was swimming around.
What I've since done this morning is give him a 100% water change (he's in a 1 gallon bowl as I don't want him to be under too much stress getting to the surface for air) and given him a pinch of aquarium salt. I've taken his plant out as his tail is in a pretty bad state from being completely stuck to the desk and I don't want anything in his water that could potentially make things worse. I genuinely thought there was no way he'd be alive looking like that so I was preparing myself to dispose of the body, and wasn't as careful as I obviously should have been. His tail isn't completely split or anything, just torn around the edges.
What I'd like to know is whether I need to give him any sort of medicine to make sure he doesn't get any infections? If so, what? I've never had anything even remotely similar to this happen before, so I'm completely stumped.
He's always been an absolute pig, eating a good 5 or 6 pellets 2-3 times a day, but he hasn't eaten since I've been in this morning. Is it possible he's gone blind from the obvious damage his eyes will have suffered from being dried out for that long, or does it just seem more logical that he's feeling crap from being thisclose to death and doesn't feel like eating?
I'd really like not to have to put him down as he's got all his colour and is active, but I also want what's best for him. What do you think? I can get some pictures later on if needs be, but apart from having a torn up tail, he looks no different than any healthy betta...
Please help *crosses fingers*
