911 HELP PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!

[Guest]

I had a an accident....i was vacumming my aquarium and out of no where one of my female bettas goes in!!!!! when she got out she has these huge wounds on both sides and was bleeding.....i never been in a open wound situaation before...i isolated her into a hospital tank.....WHAT ELSE CAN I DO????

 

[Fruitbat]

Keep her warm and keep the tank darkened to prevent stress. You might consider picking up a good broad-spectrum antibiotic and giving the hospital tank a preventive dose to try to nip any infections in the bud. Your biggest problems, barring any internal injuries, are going to be fungus and/or bacterial infections. I've heard of people using stuff called BettaFix (from Aquarium Pharmaceuticals) but I'm not sure how effective it is.

 

[Guest]

I added a tiny bit of aquarium salt and spectogram (broad spectrum antibiotic) I am just so scared...it's like someone was trying to cut her in half...she stoped bleeding but the wound is huge!!! I can't believe she can still swim. Ill never use a vacum cleaner ever again!

 

[Fruitbat]

fsh...

I do understand your distress and hope things go well for your fish. Keep in mind that you might do more harm to your fish's overall health by NOT vacuuming than you could do with the occasional accident. The build up of 'mulm' in the gravel can lead to all sorts of aquarium problems!

 

[CiRXSi]

I've never used it for an open wound situation (I'm not even sure it's for such a thing, you'd have to check) but Bettamax from Aquatronics has done wonders for damaged fins in the past for me.

 

[Guest]

My fish is laying on the bottom on her side most of the time i dont know if theres anything else I can do....when I vacuum now iam getting ALL the fish out of the aquarium.

 

[poikilotherm]

Maybe you could get a tank divider and corral the fish to one side, vacuum the other side, and then repeat for the other side. I'm not sure how possible this is for your tank (size, decorations, etc), but it may be less stressful for your fish than being netted.

Just a thought.

 

[Menagerie]

[center:df8cfafcef] Welcome to AA, fsh! [/center:df8cfafcef]
I am so sorry to hear about your betta. I have nothing further to offer in terms of caring for your betta (PM Christmasfish and see if she has any insight). As for the gravel vac, there are many out there with a "strainer" at the top of a long wider tube that connects to the smaller siphon tubing.

 

[Christmasfish]

Make sure for a betta so severely stressed that the water level is low and the water nice and warm..like 84 (which is invalid betta comfy). Leave out the melafix/bettafix for now since you have that broad spectrum.

Actually depending on your heater size and severity of her attitude, she may be better served by being in a shallow container of bowl like shape that can float an be heated yet only deep enough for her to have to stretch for air. And change 100% that water frequently..every other day in the bowl, every third day (or with teh re-medication if on a 4 day) in 5 gal or less. Keep those wounds cleaner than clean for at least a week and she will prolly start coming up.
I wish I had more to offer but I have only brought one seriously injured fish to health with success. And I ALMOST saved a dropsy fish..
But almost only counts for horseshoes and hand grenades


It was unfortuneate that she was nosy and small enough. My betta couldn't get more than his mouth or tail stuck in the tube..so he is relatively safe from his foolish attacks in the vacuum.