Help! Betta Injured During Shipping

Did you look at aquabid, or any other sites before buying your fish?
WOW $45 for 1 fish, in the U.S. I hope you got yours for much less.

i paid $25... i wonder if the box got tossed around and the fish was outta water for awhile...

Well he's a little bit more frisky today, but his fins still look awful. I've been feeding him some generic betta food, and some smashed up peas.

I told the seller about the condition of my fish when it arrived, and that it arrived a day late eventhough I paid for overnight shipping, and this is what they had to say:

Dear Scott,

Thank you for the update on the fish.

Your order was shipped out on Wednesday.

I am very sorry to hear about his condition though! There are a couple of things
you can do for him. First, if his fins did truly dry out and shrivel up, then we
recommend you add a product called "slime coat" (available at your local
retailer) to help him build up that protective layer again. Secondly, we
recommend you treat him with a general, wide spectrum antibiotic medicine to
help ward off any disease. Another option you might look into is a mild
sedative to help him cope with the stress.

Shipping fish is inherrently dangerous for them and on occasion, things like
this do happen. Hopefully, though, you will be able to help him recover fully.

Please keep me posted about his condition.

----------------------

Is this standard, or should I expect something for my troubles?

JoLtNbolt said:

Is this standard, or should I expect something for my troubles?

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The seller can't control things like the bag springing a leak or the speed of mail, so no, I don't think you should be expecting something from him/her. Some sellers guarantee live delivery, but I have yet to see one that guaranteed one-time delivery and the fish arriving in perfect condition

I've never seen "slime coat" anywhere around here, but "Stress Coat" is a similar product that's easy to get your hands on. A good antibiotic is Maracyn or Maracyn 2.

I already had a bottle of Stress Coat. He seems to be doing better today. Will his fins ever regenerate and will his color return to normal?

JoLtNbolt said:

I already had a bottle of Stress Coat. He seems to be doing better today. Will his fins ever regenerate and will his color return to normal?

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Sorry to hear about your new betta. But the breeder sounded genuinley sorry and interested, so I'd put it down to a once-off problem.

Yes, bettas can grow back lost fins, but I gather from your posts that your fishie's fins are shrivelled not torn. Just keep his water clean and warm (about 26 degrees celcius), and keep adding the Stress Coat.

And yes, after he settles in a bit more his colour will improve and he'll be more active. Good luck with him!

Yay!!! He made a bubble nest... I would guess that's a good sign, although his fins still look bad and his color hasn't returned.

Just wanted to give y'all an update on my fish ... Jeliasi Jr (Blue Angel Crowntail)

He seems fairly frisky, and will blow bubble nests now and then, but his color hasn't really come back. His fins seem to have healed somewhat but not all that much. Here's a photo of him taken today in a 2 Gallon Explorer tank made by Marineland with a biowheel filter. It's brighter than most other 2 gallon tanks cuz I replaced the night light bulb with a small compact fluorescent from Ikea that I took out of my chandalier.

I have been treating him off and on with melafix, and feeding him peas, betta bites, hikari bio gold, and freeze dried blood worms.

Will he ever regain his color, and will his fins ever get any better?

Here's another photo of him in my 25 Gallon community tank... this pic gives a better view of the fin damage

... Do you happen to have the pic of his "original colour"? I ask because he sure looks like a mustard gas to me, and it makes me wonder if the picture just made it look like those sections of his fins were white.
Anyway, he looks very perky and healthy to me, I'm glad he made it
The fins will probably grow back eventually, but there is the slight chance that they never will... you'll just have to wait and see, I guess.

Synirr, here's a photo of one of Jeliasi's siblings.

Oh yeah, if that's his brother then it definitely looks like he's not discoloured... he's just mustard gas! He's supposed to have that kinda yellowish-tan tone

Glad to hear he's improving

He's a lovely looking fella

well i guess i was concerned cuz on the brother the blue is very bright and vibrant, whereas on Jeliasi, he's almost black with small parts of the fin being bright bright blue. Maybe they used photoshop to increase the brightness and lighten the photo of the brother...