My moms teaching assistant took in their class betta ~1-2 years ago. Apparently he is not faring well, because the teaching assistant sent my mom pictures of the betta after he burrowed into his gravel. There were a few terrible photos and ultimately i told her to do a 50% water change and take out half of the gravel so he cant bury himself and put him in a dark room so he is less stressed. She is bringing him to their classroom tomorrow and he will be coming home to me. I plan on getting sand and maybe just a new small tank if i can find one to medicate him his fins seemed clamped and a bit torn and he is probably not getting enough oxygen so i will add a sponge filter. Is there anything i should medicate with? I figure aquarium salts would be best but i dont know if i would dose the whole tank or not. Does anyone know how to help? I will attach all photos sent to me.
Betta emergency
- Thread starter Finn1231
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Part of the reason he is not doing well is that he is in a bowl. Bettas need at least a 5-10 gallon tank and the tank must be cycled. Bettas also need a tempature range somewhere in the 72-78°F margin. The ph should be 7.0-7.6 and ammonia and nitrite levels should be 0 with a nitrAte reading of under 30 but 20 is a better goal. 10 is perfect. Also, the gravel he is in will damage his fins while digging, you NEED to get sand and find some decor for him to hide in! He is out in the open and he'll get so stressed he'll die. Sorry if I'm coming across offensive but I just wanted to state everything how it is.
I've never seen a Betta burrow into the substrate like that.
If you look at the bowl its in, there are no hiding spots what so ever... So what happened most likely, is he got so stressed that it decided to burrow into gravel! Which must've been painful on him, showing just how much he wanted to hide
I understand all that. When i get him tomorrow im gonna try to get a new aquarium. Probably one of the smaller ones so i can dose the aquarium more easily and see him better. I will definitely be getting sand and a heater as well as a filter, and i have plenty of live plants from my large aquarium. I was just wondering if there are any medications i can give to him while hes in the new tank to speed up his recovery and make him more relaxed?
he's having an identity crisis he thinks he is MTS
a 5 gallon is pretty small and nice.
not sure if bettas can have salt but salt usually helps them be calm and fights off any infections while healing fins
put some carpeting plants so he can rest on the floor i think that is nice
I wouldn't do any meds as sometimes medications can make things worse. When you get the filter in the tank, try to put media from your larger tanks in the small filter to boost the beneficial bacteria.
yeah
also i suggest getting him a floating hide like a betta log
or you can just make one out of a floating plastic sheet
T
The plastic may cut though... I also don't understand how you would make one out of a plastic sheet... Could you give an example? Sorry
i mean like a thick tube of plastic that has a piece of something that floats on the top so it can be suspended
the tube can be sanded down too
i had no idea they could dig like that!
Ah ok!
At least you can say you tried
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