Scared Betta

[emmamarie23]

I have a female betta that has been so energetic with a big appetite. Water is almost cycled through and I have done a water change a couple days ago. I went to go feed her and set my glass down next to the tank which is a wooden cabinet. It made noise and severely scared her. She raced to the bottom of the tank and acted paralyzed for a few seconds then she went and laid down in her hide. She also darted around the front of the tank and darted to get air at surface and go back down. She did eat one pellet on the bottom after it sank but she darted to get it aggressively. Should I be worried? She was sooo healthy acting before this happened. Should I leave her alone for a while?

 

[Andy Sager]

That must have been some noise to carry it from the wood to the water. :^0 Unfortunately, you may have given her a heart attack to which there is nothing you can do for her but observe and not disturb. Do not overfeed while she is recuperating causing the need to do water changes to clean up the water. If she only ate one pellet after the incident, then only feed one pellet 1 to 2 times per day until/if she is actively swimming again.

 

[emmamarie23]

She has been back to swimming around as of last night. How ever she still tends to dart around at times. What does this mean? I haven’t tried feeding her yet today.

 

[Andy Sager]

Means she's smart and unsure of what's " around the corner". Try feeding her. If she eats, it means she's okay and just needs to have no more surprises for a while. If she doesn't, turn the light off and let her get comfortable again in her tank.

 

[ADsnail]

Sometimes the emotional impact can take time to heal. I have a betta who went through a tremendous shock and went totally grey. I've met humans who went to war and that happened. He lost all color for a week and slowly, over 5 months, regained most of it, though he's never come back to the full splendor he had previously.

He started spending more time in bed. He also was skittish for a month. Then he went from that to dogging me, hanging by whichever spot in the tank was closest to wherever I was standing, as though he was afraid to let me out of his sight.

My point is, it may take awhile and there also may be some permanent changes. I think of it like the people I know who have had heart attacks or severe traumas: adapt, treat them with loving care, and let them set their own pace for some, none, or all recovery.