Filter issues and betta.

[Ladyknight1]

Hi guys, I'm new to the forum and I hope I'm posting in the right spot. I am new to the hobby been doing it for 1 1/2 years now but here is my new problem. One of my tanks is a 5 gallon which contains my male betta named newt. Yesterday I was doing a water change when our power went out momentarily. Then a freak accident occurred which I feel so terrible about should have been paying more attention but newt somehow when I wasn't looking got into his filter while the power was out. He basically tried to pull a finding nemo. Of course power came on while newt was in there I noticed something was wrong when I didn't see him anymore and that the flow of the filter was off so I panicked and was able to save him after ripping the filter apart. He is hurt still trying to determine how bad I've been doing the best I can with him though he just basically has a few scales out of place and his fins slightly torn and I think he has a little bruising ( he is partially white so he now has purple bruises) but otherwise after overcoming the shock he seems okay this morning and was able to eat. Still gonna keep him in his sick tank for a bit with water changes to make sure his injuries don't get infected but, I'm wondering two things. 1. Has anyone had something like this happen before and if so what's the best way to treat newt for his injuries. 2. I do not trust this filter anymore and I don't think newt does either so I'm wondering if anyone could recommend any filters that would be safe for him so we don't have another nemo incident. also willing to take any other advice

[starfish615]

I honestly don’t have much experience treating injured fish and wish I had more advice on that for you but the only thing I can think of is to go get some stress coat to add to the water to help the healing process a bit. I can recommend a safe filter.. check out this sponge filter from aquarium coop I’d recommend the nano size for a 5 gallon. There are a lot of reviews/videos on sponge filters and they are really easy to use/maintenance. Good luck with newt I hope he recovers quickly for you. https://www.aquariumcoop.com/collect...-sponge-filter

[starfish615]

I did a google search and found some others on another forum recommending melafix in addition to stress coat might be worth a shot but again I only did a quick search so you may want to google a bit yourself to see if there are any negatives if no one else chimes in here.