Beat Up Betta

[TashGaia]

Over the holiday I had someone taking care of my fish. I have a 30 gal with 1 betta and a bunch of platies, a 10 gal nursery/hospital/quarenteen tank, and a little 5(?) gal tank that had a betta in it.

Apparently some time during the holiday the smaller betta tank was broken. The betta survived and was placed into the 30 gal tank. There were now two male bettas in the tank... for a little while.

When I returned there was one dead betta (torn apart it looked like) and one VERY badly beat up betta living. The living betta is actually my favorite fish that I have ever had and a very unique color variation that I sent away for. I really want him to live. (The living betta is the original occupant of this tank and has been living there for over a year.)

He is alive still, but is doing poorly. He rests for a long time on plants and then has short bursts of fast swimming. He has had a great deal of his fins and tail torn away as well as the part of his neck that used to flair out when he was angry. His gills are beat up and his face is bitten and badly puffed up.

What I really want to know is, is there any way to improve his chances of survival? I am not willing to flush him or anything else even if his chances are next to non existant, so that is not even an issue.

 

[Menagerie]

[center:d435b6ed2f] Welcome to AA, TashGaia! [/center:d435b6ed2f]
Oh dear. I PMed our resident betta guru on your behalf and she should pop in sometime today.

 

[An t-iasg]

Hi TashGaia,
I'm so sorry to hear about this, and I understand that you want to help this betta in any way possible -- I would do that too. If he's still alive, there's a chance!

Can you get another 5 gallon tank for him? Even a Rubbermaid container that's about 5 gallons will do. Get something that's easy for you to do water changes and maintenance because he may be in here for awhile. If you can get a 10 gallon tank, that may be a bit easier since most meds are dosed per 10 gallons.

You'll definitely need a heater -- a 25-watt for 5 gallons and a 50-watt for 10 gallons. Set the heater to 80 or 82 degrees. If he isn't at that temperature now, turn up the heat gradually -- one degree every 12 hours. A stable, warm temperature is essential to recovery. Next, dim the light. A low-light atmosphere will keep stress down. In my betta QT tank, I put a towel over about half the tank. He'll also need some places to hide. Some silk plants (not plastic, they may tear at his fins even more) are good.

Since his fins are so badly torn up, I would medicate to lessen the chance of infection. I would use Kanacyn (kanamycin) or one of the triple sulfa meds. Do Not use Melafix or Pimafix! These meds are great for other fish, but not bettas. IME they appear to adversely affect the labyrinth organ of a betta (the organ that allows them to get oxygen at the top of the water).

I would do water changes daily -- very clean water is necessary for him to get better. Make sure the water is at tank temperature before adding it. I put my gallon jugs of new water under our kitchen under-cabinet lights to warm up. You could use another heater in a plastic bucket also. Try to add back into the new water the same dose of med you removed. I have opened capsules of meds before and tried to split the powder -- it's a little hard but not impossible.

About the labyrinth organ -- bettas do need to be able to reach the surface of the water to get air into the labyrinth. If your betta can't reach the top of the water, try lowering the water level. Just remember to adjust the med dose for the lesser water volume and make sure the heater is still submerged correctly, and doesn't get too hot in the lessened volume of water.

If you can, it may not hurt to get some antiobiotic into him too. I have soaked betta pellets and freeze-dried daphnia in RO or bottled water that I sprinkled a little bit of Kanacyn into. Let the food soak in the medicine water for 15 or 20 minutes (but not too long or the food may just dissolve) and then feed it to him.

His fins may take 4 to 5 months to get back to their original length, or close to it, depending on how badly they were damaged. Keeping his stress level down with warm, stable temps, dim light, clean water, and meds hopefully will speed his recovery.

Good luck and I hope you can get the betta to pull through!

 

[TashGaia]

Thank you for all your suggestions. I will try them! I can put him in my 10 gal tank it has a heater, filter, plants, etc. It is fully set up and is currently being used as a nursery for baby platies. But frankly I don't care nearly as much about the fry as I do about the betta. I will put the fry into the 30 gal tank with their parents and let them take their chances (others have survived in there before). The only reason I hadn't put him in there already was that I thought it might be less stressful to leave him in the tank he has lived in for a year. I am glad you told me about the meds. I would have tried Melafix as I have used it before on platies with success. It would have been terrible to kill him through ignorance after all he has already been through!

 

[TashGaia]

Betta is dead this morning.

 

[tetrin]

i am really sorry...don't feel bad...u did the best u could...

 

[Devilishturtles]

Sorry for your lost betta, TashGaia.

 

[soonerbarb]

Sorry for your loss...

 

[An t-iasg]

Sorry to hear about the betta, TashGaia