Help please, my Betta looks paralysed

[princess43]

I've been advised to come here by the beginners section, in the hope that you can help.

I had a disaster this week when I overdosed the tank with water conditioner. Anyway, I have done my best to correct that by lots of water changes, and all water tests are looking good. But the day after the overdose happened, I found that my male Betta's fins were clamped together as though they are stuck. He is swimming but dragging his stiff fins behind him. Again, can this be a direct result of the water disaster, as it says on the conditioner bottle that it puts a protective coat onto the fish. Is it the overdose of the conditioner that stuck his fins together, and if so, what can I do to help him?

I have seperated him from the rest of the fish by means of a breeder net until I can acquire another tank. As he can't swim so well, at least I can make sure that he's safe from prospective fin nippers, and fed. I've been feeding him a little frozen live food every few hours, which he takes. He has no physical signs of illness, and is as alert as ever, it's just that his fins that won't work.

Please can anyone advise me what to do to help him, and could the water conditioner overdose be to blame? Or is this a common thing that happens with Bettas? He is only about 9 months old and my tank is 5 months old. Before the overdose he was a happy little thing, swimming and feeding with the other fish.

I would really be grateful for any advice that you can give.


26 gallon tank
4 swordtails
2 peppered corydoras
5 mickey mouse platties
3 female guppies
1 male guppy
1 black molly
1 Betta
Ph - 7.5
Ammonia - 0
Temperature 75 degrees

 

[OoHeatheroO]

I think you'll find if you can get a small 1 gallon (they are 12.99 at petsmart) and put him in there by himself and just keep checking on him, he'll pull out of it. He shouldn't be in the tank with any other fish in the first place. Bettas are supposed to be housed solitarily. The 1gallons come with an airstone, airpump and undergravel filter. I would also recomend you not feeding him frozen food. Get some tetra min granuals for bettas. Feed him twice a day. Have you tested the tank levels? If not, get a master freshwater test kit. They are around $20 and will tell you whats going on with the tank. Good luck sweety!

 

[OoHeatheroO]

Also, this should go in the betta section. Not gouramis and antaboids. Even though bettas are also labrynth fish, they do have their own section near the top of the section.

 

[sylvia]

Can I just say I disagree - bettas do absolutely fine in a community tank as long as they are not with incompatible fish such as fin-nippers, gouramies or other bettas (except if you have a group of at least 4 females - no males). Most also don't appreciate the company of male guppies and some male bettas often mistake them for rivals and that obviously results in a dead guppy. The last kind of fish you don't want to keep with a betta is anything that can eat them (obviously) and anything that will out-compete them for food as, especialy the fancy long-finned males, aren't the fastest swimmers and may not get to food in time. The fish you were keeping your betta with should be fine except possibly the male guppy (for the sake of the guppy - the betta would be fine) and if your mollies or swordtails are nippy (which some are) then that might be a problem as well. Also, bettas do just fine in big tanks and I reccomend at least a 2 gallon. As for feeding frozen foods, as long as it isn't something that may be carrying disease (such as tubifex which has been known to be a little risky - this applies to any fish), it is very healthy for the betta and probably more so than the pellets or flakes. I reccomend bloodworms especialy and they like brine shrimp. A varied, balanced diet is the healthiest for your fish so mix flakes, pellets, live, frozen, even freeze-dried foods and feed a little daily - maybe rotate. That's the best for any fish.


As for what's wrong with your fish, clamped fins may be a symptom of several things and I personaly cannot say if the water conditioner had anything to do with it as I've had no experience with majorly over-dosing a tank and am unfamiliar, most likely, with your brand. However, I'd think that if the other fish did not react negatively, this should not be the source of your problem though it might have stressed the betta enough to lead him to catch something else. You will have to give a few more details - any sign of bloating, stringy and white poo, general lethargy, problems swimming (as in he cannot keep his 'balance' in the water), lack of appetite or rappid breathing may all indicate a problem. Obviously, any blemishes - red streaks, marks, white patches or signs of ich and any sign of rubbing against objects or flashing - would also indicate problems.

What I would suggest you do first is determine whether or not you think the other fish would nip him if you were to leave him free in the tank - the water circulation could help him - and then act accordingly. Also, if you have a filter that could suck up his fins, make sure you put some kind of netting or something around it so as to reduce the risk of damaging his fins - especialy if he is a bit unsteady and not able to fight the current too well under the circumstances. Then let us know what other signs or symptoms he is showing and your temperature, nitrIte and nitrAte levels would be useful too. You'll then want to pin point the problem and work on treating it from there.

 

[BettaMomma]

I'm on the fence about keeping bettas in with other fish.
I, personally, wouldn't ever put on in with anything - for the sanity of the betta and anyone else. Other people have done it successfully - my friend Grulla has a betta in a 75G tank with 5 gouramis and everyone's perfectly peaceful.
But, I probably wouldn't ever do it just for the unpredictability factor, and that unless you keep a watchful eye on the tank 24/7, you never really know what's going on in there when you're not around.

As for what caused his problem...
I am also not sure that the OD of the dechlor could have caused his problems - but it might have led to something that's bugging him. With your more frequent water changes, has your temp been fluctuating at all with the new water in - old water out?

 

[OoHeatheroO]

I'm on the fence about keeping bettas in with other fish.
I, personally, wouldn't ever put on in with anything - for the sanity of the betta and anyone else. Other people have done it successfully - my friend Grulla has a betta in a 75G tank with 5 gouramis and everyone's perfectly peaceful.
But, I probably wouldn't ever do it just for the unpredictability factor, and that unless you keep a watchful eye on the tank 24/7, you never really know what's going on in there when you're not around.

As for what caused his problem...
I am also not sure that the OD of the dechlor could have caused his problems - but it might have led to something that's bugging him. With your more frequent water changes, has your temp been fluctuating at all with the new water in - old water out?

Amen, it also depends on temperment of the betta.

 

[princess43]

My betta is still the same today. I have had a really good look at him and he has no visible signs of disease, i.e. no patches, streaks, spots etc. He isn't bloated and he swims okay, apart from the fact that he drags his fins behind him. I've inspected the breeder net that he's in too, and his poo is fine. I've spoon fed him live food this morning and he's took that well too.

As he's been in the tank since it was setup 5 months ago, I thought it would be better to release him back into the tank, rather to keep him in the breeder net so he can rest in the peace of his cave. He's made his cave his own, and none of the other fish even attempt to enter it. On release, he had a good look round and then went to his cave. I've been watching the tank on and off for 6 hours now and as yet he hasn't emerged.

I called my lfs today and was advised to place a mirror next to him to see if he flares. Then I could inspect his fins for nipping marks. I will try this later.

I do have another tank that I could put him in, which only has 5 platties in it. It's a 42" long tank with lots of plants and decorations in it for him to hide. The only trouble is that it's still cycling. It's only had fish in it for two weeks. Do you think that this would be a good idea?

Any advice is welcome.

 

[OrkyBetta]

Glad to hear your fish is still holding out. I'd love to give you a suggestion on what this could be, but I'm clueless, aside from some sort of parasite or virus? Promotong him to flare is a good idea to check out his fins, but just don't go overboard because it can stress a sick fish.

 

[BettaMomma]

At this point, I think I'd try to get over to a fish store, or walmart - somewhere - and get him his very own little tank. Get him in it and see how he does. He might just be freaked out by other fish, which can sometimes come on suddenly I guess.

You might even want to consider picking up something like a little 2 gallon tank, and that way you can maybe even bring his little cave and put that in there. And maybe some floating plants. Those always seem to perk up the little guys who are so down.

I don't really know what else to tell you either as far as what he might have - but I would try to get him into his own tank for a while and see if that helps.

 

[sylvia]

Honestly, I think you should leave him right where he is - moving him around when he might be sick - especialy to any un-cycled tank - will just be stressful for him and won't help him recover. Try the mirror thing to see if there's any problems with his fins and to see if he can flare but then try to identify the problem and just minnimize any stress by keeping lights off and not disturbing him too much. If he's been living with these fish and they get along, he should be quite used to the activity and there should be no problems with him getting stressed in that respect. The only problem would be if they began to nip him.

Oh and you can speed up the cycle of the tank with the platies by taking a bit of gravel from the established tank and put it in the cycling tank. If you don't want the gravel to mix, hang it in the water with a clean stocking or use some filter media instead. The gravel/media will contain the beneficial bacteria so you'll get a near-instant cycle.