I can't believe I did this

[tttnjfttt]

Today I ran down to walmart, because my heater had broken in my betta tank. Of course, since I'm there, I decide I have to look through the fish, and find some gorgeous bettas (however, I am wondering if there is such thing as an ugly betta at this point ). Being my usual impulsive self, I decide hey, I've got one betta in a 5 gal, why not divide this tank into two or three sections? That way I can get more fishies, and even try to rescue some of these poor guys.

Once I have my two new guys picked out, I decide their water needs to be changed before the drive back home, which is about 45 minutes. (The usual walmart water conditions apply in this store as well. ) After hunting for an employee for five minutes, I finally find one who goes and pages someone to help me. Fifteen minutes later, I'm getting antsy, and decide, forget this, I'm gonna do this myself.

By this point, I now have an audience of a twelve year old boy and his ten year old sister. I begin going through all their cabinets , looking for dechlorinator, because there is no way I am going to use the tap marked "system water", not at this store anyways. I look high and low, and cannot find any dechlorinator anywhere. But there are several bottles on the shelf ten feet away from me I go over, pick one out that also has some stress coat in it, and change their water, in the sink in the fish department, using a product I haven't paid for, with absolutely no one watching me besides two random kids.

Now I picked up two bettas. One has a little fin rot, but it seems like it shouldn't be that big of a deal to heal (his name is Blaze). The other one, thats a different story. He has chunks of his tail missing. Part of the fin off his stomache looks like it was CUT off. He couldn't make it to the surface to breathe, and has a really hard time moving his back fin around .

I decide the manager needs to know about this, so ask to speak to one. Instead of picking on everything that was wrong with the fish department, i decide to just focus on the poor water quality affecting the bettas health. I show her Flash, as I have decided to call him, point out the fin rot, tell her about my water change and using dechlorinator from the shelf, then ask to have the fish for free. She agreed!!!

Flash and Blaze are settling in upstairs, each in their own 1 gal tank. They have melafix, measured with a syringe to make sure the dose is right (.5 ml per gallon), salt, and a pH buffer in their tank, along wiht a nice nylon plant to rest on.


Ok, now for my questions.....

First, I have Flash in a little under a half gallon of water, mainly to keep let him get to the surface. Because the water is so low, I couldn't use a heater in there. Is there anyway I can keep his water warm?

Flash seems to be having a hard time moving his rear end. I'm not sure if it is because he is so weak, or if there is something else wrong with him. He can move it to the right better than the left, and seems to tire really easily. Does this sound like anything to anyone? I'm not sure what else I can do to help this little guy out.

How long should I keep the fish quarentined before adding them into my divided tank? Blaze looks pretty strong , but Flash has me worried Does one week on Blaze and 2 weeks on Flash seem reasonable? I still don't know how many divisions I will be putting in my tank, just planing ahead.

 

[OohFeeshy]

For heating Flash's water, you could use a light to heat it a few degrees, or try a heat mat? Of if it will fit, try a solid plastic breeding box thing inside the 5g so the water in the 5 keeps the water in the box warm. Hope he pulls through, poor guy. On a side note, how big is his tail/restof his fins? If he's weak, he'll probably have a hard time moving all that heavy finnage. Just keep him as near the surface as you can.

 

[tttnjfttt]

it just dawned on me, since the weather turned freezing again, I've had to turn the heat back on. So he is now sitting on my heater vent, which will atleast periodically give him bursts of heat. The heating pad I own shuts its self off after so long, so no long term solution there.

Good call on his fins being long and him being weak. I would guess his tail is about the length of his body, and that doesnt take into account the top and bottom fins (sorry, I don't know the technical names). Right now he is in about two inches of water, so he can easily get to the surface. I also laid a nylon plant down on its side, so he can lay on that if he wants to.

He does seem to be doing a little better. He is moving around a little more, trying to get from one end to the other. It is very slow, and sad to watch, but I'm really hoping its just very weak muscles from being in his little bowl for so long. When I first saw him, he couldn't get to the top of his little cup to get air, and it was maybe half full. I fed him a few blood worms, but he didn't eat. I'm not panicking yet, though, because he has had a long, stressful day. First I filled then dumped his water about 5 times at walmart, then he rode around in the cart. Next he was placed in a cooler on the floor of my car, bounced along for 45 minutes, Finally he gets put into a tank, only to have the water level played with for a while, until i knew how deep he could have it w/o being stressed out.

 

[BettaMomma]

First - congrats on your new boys!
And nice job on getting them for free, that's awesome!

A couple of things - careful with the guy on the heat vent, that could really fluctuate his temps. I'd say that steady temps that are a tad bit cooler might be better for him than ups and downs right now. Just make sure his temp stays up above 72. Maybe just set him near the heat vent. I'm sure you're keeping an eye on him

Anyway...
As for the not being able to get up to the top, the plant idea is great. Just so he has something to lay on that's up near the top. For that guy - if he doesn't start to significantly improve within the next several days, I'd suggest giving either Maracyn or Maracyn 2. Several people on this forum have bought fish with severe swim problems - i.e. couldn't get up from the bottom, couldn't get down from the top, flopped over on their sides, etc. and it seems like it was fixed when the fish was treated for an internal infection.

The fin issues should correct themselves with clean water.

Note on MelaFix: be careful with that stuff. If you're going strictly by the bottle, you'll need to change out their water and redose. For bettas they can be overdosed with it - I personally had a couple whose gills and fins suffered permanent damage from it, it burns their little tissue. You should dose them at 1/5 strength. A little aquarium salt would do wonders for their fins during healing too.

I can't wait to hear their progress - good luck with them and I'm sure they're much much happier with you now!

 

[tttnjfttt]

Flash survived the night, which is definately a start. With how he was yesterday, I wasn't letting myself get too attached.

How much melafix should I actually use per gallon? Right now I used 1 ml/US gal, and measured it out with a syring that is meant for measuring baby medicine. Unfortunately, they didn't have betta fix, and it has been VERY cold lately, like snowing cold, so I really didn't want to leave them in my car while running into a store.

I am having a really hard time with the temperature in his tank. I think someone turned the heat down to 60 (a normal occurance), and the thermousstat is upstairs, while I live downstairs. Needless to say, his poor water was probably 59 this morning. Right now Flash is sitting on a heating pad, but I know this can't be a long term solution.

With the Maracyn and Maracyn2, I thought I read here that you are supposed to use both. Hopefully, it won't come to this. I could see improvements after about an hour in his container.

Later today, I'll grab out my camera and get some pictures.

 

[tttnjfttt]

24 hour update -

Blaze is doing fine in his tank. For the most part, when I see him he is floating lazily around his tank. I'd like to see him a little more active, but this might just be his temperment??? He ate the pellets I gave him this afternoon, though he needs to learn where the food comes from

Flash - Flash is no longer laying or sitting on the bottom of the tank. He is hiding out under the plant in his two little inches of water, and I haven't really seen him swimming around all that much. However, he seems to be making it to the surface a little easier to get air, (last night it was a struggle even in 2 inches of water). I gave him three betta pellets, which he ate. This is the same fish who ignored blood worms last night. Flash has some black spots on his side, that i'm not really sure what they are, but they aren't on his other side. I posted another topic on this HERE, so I'm not going to go into too many details. In general, I'd say things are looking up for this little guy.

 

[tttnjfttt]

Well, I've got some more really good news from when I did a water change in Flash's tank. Before removing him from the tank, I added more water to help in getting him out. I doubled the water level, and to my shock, he swam right up to the top He continued to swim himself into his old cup, which i scooped him out in.

He is moving his rear end around a little better. Still highly ineffective, but it is definately moving alot more than last night. In the higher water, I was able to get a better view of his fins. The bottom fin (anal fin, i think) looks like it was CUT off in two places instead of one, with a long section in the middle. His tail fin actually looked in pretty good shape. A few spots of fin rot, but nothing like what I thought was there. The top fin (dorsal?) I still haven't gotten a decent look at.

Since he was doing so much better, I put a mirror up to him to try to get him to flare and show me his dorsal fin. He is still a little too weak to do this. I could see him tensing up his entire body, but his gills didn't go out. It was sad to see, yet funny at the same time. Even without seeinghim flare, I can tell there definately is fin rot on the dorsal fin, but he is sooooo much better, I seriosuly cant believe this is the fish I brougth home not expecting to survive the night.

 

[Gill]

Good on you for rescuing them.

Flash is Lovely