Fish In Bad Shape. What To Do?

[JustFrozen]

I've had my 25 gal betta sorority for about a half a year now with no problems. I always count the fish during feeding to make sure everyone is taking part and last time was short by two. After searching for awhile i found them stuck in one of my decorations in a way I can't even describe. Long story short: there was a rescue attempt and one of the fish got somewhat crushed during the process (I can't believe they made the decoration that way...). It's alive but missing most its fins and I think it might have a lot of internal damage in the front half. It can swim up for air but basically just heads straight down and breathes heavily against at the bottom (i put it in a little quarantine tank).

I was going to kill it yesterday to put it out of its misery because it looked absolutely awful, but couldn't go through with it thinking it might have a chance to get better. What should I do? =/

 

[chrisrm]

I've had my 25 gal betta sorority for about a half a year now with no problems. I always count the fish during feeding to make sure everyone is taking part and last time was short by two. After searching for awhile i found them stuck in one of my decorations in a way I can't even describe. Long story short: there was a rescue attempt and one of the fish got somewhat crushed during the process (I can't believe they made the decoration that way...). It's alive but missing most its fins and I think it might have a lot of internal damage in the front half. It can swim up for air but basically just heads straight down and breathes heavily against at the bottom (i put it in a little quarantine tank).

I was going to kill it yesterday to put it out of its misery because it looked absolutely awful, but couldn't go through with it thinking it might have a chance to get better. What should I do? =/

have you asked in the betta section?

hope it works out well

 

[WILDER]

How many fish and which type.
Water stats in ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and ph.

If the fish is having trouble maintaining balance and getting to the top of the tank it could of damaged it's swim bladder. There not much to be done. It just a waiting game to see if it recovers.
Any bleeding beneath the skin.

 

[JustFrozen]

It was a tank with 10 but I've got her in a quarantine tank now. She's got more movement now that its been a couple days but I still can't get her to eat. She still just stays at the bottom, occasionally swimming up to the top for air. When she is swimming it doesn't seem like she's having trouble...

It's hard to tell if she's bleeding under because of the way she's naturally colored but it does kind of seem like it. The scales around her gills look torn on one side, like even down into the skin. I can't seem to see any growths. I've got more hope now but I know she's not going to make it if she won't eat in the next week.

The tank she's in is really small 1.5 gal but I'm changing water very often to keep all levels down. Is it a good idea to keep her out of her normal environment where the rest of her old tank mates still are? It seems the water may be better in the large filtered tank but I'm worried about her getting sick and passing it on.

I'll see if I can get a picture.

 

[WILDER]

Ok. Bleeding under the skin is haemorage septicemia. Sorry always forget how to spell haemorage.
I would add a bacterial med. Don't add her to the main tank.

You will need aeration with the med.
Keeping fingers crossed for you.

 

[JustFrozen]

Thank you a ton for the responses, I REALLY appreciate it!

She's swimming around today! No longer staying to the bottom. She still looks like a wreck though and won't seem to eat. I remember though that they often will only eat at the last minute when they are stressed like when you first bring them home, so maybe that's not as big of an issue as it seems.

Is there a specific way of telling if it really is bleeding? If it's just cuts and scrapes should I still add the meds? For aeration do I just use an air stone?

Sorry for the newb questions

 

[WILDER]

Use an airstone if you have one.
Soak her food in garlic juice to stimulate appitite and boost her immune system.

You will see red under the skin. Or even pools of blood under the skin.

 

[JustFrozen]

I've got more good news, she's eating normally now =)

I'd love to get her out of the little quarantine tank if possible. I think it would be a lot less stressful and a lot less dangerous to be back in the large filtered community tank. I would hate to wipe out all this progress with a bad water change. I'm doing it often to make sure nothing like a bad nitrite level creeps up.

Again just worried about the other fish in the large tank. How do I know if it is safe to put her back in?

 

[WILDER]

Leave it a few more days. it can look like fish are on the mend only to go downhill again.

Is there any bleeding beneath the skin, or red patches.

Thanks for the update.

 

[Athena]

Hi just been reading through and just like to add that it's best to keep this fish separated for a while longer because it's quite common for a poorly fish to be attacked by the other fish in the aquarium.

Also, providing there is no internal damage, your betta should make a full recovery as the weeks go by. I had a male betta who ended up having all his fins (apart from his tail fin) ravaged off by a female. I didn't know whether to euthanise or not but out of deperation, just like you, put him in a little 1.5 litre tank with a silk plant to hide under. He didn't eat for days and days, but I just kept medicating with melafix and water changes and giving him lots of attention. The tank was too small for a heater so I had him next to a radiator in my kitchen. Really didn't think he'd survive but he did.

By about two months later all his finnage had grown back fully (albeit with whitened edges) and he went on to live another couple of years.

Regards - Athena

 

[JustFrozen]

Thanks for the responses again. Regarding the internal bleeding and red patches: again it's a little hard to tell because the fish has a natural patchy red pattern near the front where its injured (in fact i have at least a couple with coloring like this), but I stared at it a good amount and there wasn't really anything noticeable. Also, I can't even see any cuts anymore. It just looks like uncolored scale-less skin. At this point, the only thing I can tell is wrong are the missing fins and missing scales. I'd say about 2/3 of all the fins are gone and maybe 1/3 of the scales, in patches around the entire fish, mostly on the side that was against the textured part of the decoration it got stuck in.

The fish was a good tank mate with 9 other girls for about a half a year. I've only had to ever pull one girl from the tank due to aggression, and it was obvious early on. Makes me think I could spot the bad behavior. How about I wait a few more weeks and then give it a try but keep a good eye on them? I'm moving in 3 weeks, it might be a good time to do it since they're all be out of their element as they are transferred out of the tank for awhile and then back in with the decorations all sorted different

 

[WILDER]

Are you using a med?

 

[JustFrozen]

No, not yet anyway. Everything kept improving and I haven't seen any new warning signs like growths so I haven't gone out of my way to get them.

Mistake?

 

[AstonN24vantage]

i would use melafix

 

[WILDER]

No red patches of bleeding beneath the skin.