OMG -- He Jumped!

[Purrbox]

I came home today after being gone for a couple hours and checked on my fish before going back to work. The betta wasn't in his tank. 8O After brief search I found him sitting in the sink looking rather dry and crispy. I was fairly certain that he must be dead and tried to grab him so I could dispose of him, only to have him wiggle away from me. After a couple more grabs I finally managed to get him out of the sink and back into the tank. He looked very pathetic with his fins all stuck together floating at the top of the tank.

After a half and hour back in his tank, his fins are looking more like normal. There's at least one good tear in his bottom fin, so I added some Melafix to help him heal. It's been three hours since I first found him and he's looking better. Still not acting entirely like himself, but he is swimming about some instead of just hanging at the top of the tank.

The stupid thing is that I had been planning to pick up a new piece of glass over lunch replace the current one that left a slight opening in one corner. I'd been placing half of a mag float over the opening in the mean time to prevent just such an occurence. Unfortunately after using it to clean one of my other tanks last night I forgot to put it back. The new piece of glass is in place, so hopefully he'll stay put from now on!!

Other than the Melafix and keeping his water in good shape, anything else I can do to help him heal?

 

[Toirtis]

Nothing else...you are doing pretty much what any aquarist would...it is now just a matter of time.

 

[Hara]

not to hijack your thread, but I had the same thing happen with a 2 ft long eel. He was dried and literally stuck to the tile floor. I got a dustpan to pry him up and he tried to bite me. I tossed him in his tank and he recovered fully. This was several months ago. I think he will be fine. Mine had a loss of surface flesh that remained
discolored for a long time (this was where he was stuck to the floor) but that eventually changed back to normal as well.

 

[Purrbox]

Thanks all for your encouragement. I'll keep up with the current treatment and hope for the best.

 

[Puriti]

Hope he gets better.

 

[Apocalypse_Gold]

Some say that melafix is bad for bettas labyrinth organ, but in this extreme case it may be justified. Bettas are surprisingly good jumpers and more than a few have gone carpet surfing.

 

[Purrbox]

Unfortunately the poor betta didn't make it. I've got a feeling he was out of the tank too long before being found. Probably would've been better off if I hadn't found him until he was dead. At least then he wouldn't have had to suffer the extra two days.