# Temperature Shock!



## EmeraldFelipe (Aug 16, 2011)

I got a new betta today, and I had them before. It's been a long time since I had one, so I forgot they needed warmwater. I gave him bottled water, but It was way cold. When I put him into the colder water he instantly looked dead. I then put him into warmer water and after a while his fins and gills started to move. (He had only been in the cold water for about a minute and a half or so.) This gave me hope that he would maybe survive. Now he is in a bowl but seems to be 'frozen' in the position he was when he 'died'. His body does not move much but his front fins and gills are moving. If I move him around a little he starts to move a bit on his own but returns to the top of the bowl motionless and 'frozen' into the one position he can't seem to get out of. His gills and front fins are moving so I am hoping he might recover? Or is he slowly dying? I almost want to put his bowl into a larger bowl of warmer water, beacuse now the temp in the new water is slowly dropping. But I'm afraid that it will stress him out and shock him even more. What should I do? I don't want him to die!
_____
Now he is moving around more, it looks like he's trying to get to the bottom.


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## Silverfang (Mar 25, 2011)

I did something similar by accident once. I ran warmer water (but not too warm) added a few drops of dechlorinator and put him in that. Also put him under a bright lamp until he warmed and perked up enough that he didn't look dead. I felt so bad.
Don't try to force him to move (even though we all have that urge). And just checking, did you remember to use decholorinator?

I'm sorry I'm not more help, ideally bettas should not have their water temperature waiver by more than about 2 degrees or so a day.
IF you could fill out this information we might be able to suggest more you could do for your little guy. Hope he pulls through, but shock like this can be just as hard on a betta as it is on us humans, or worse.



> Housing
> What size is your tank?
> What temperature is your tank?
> Does your tank have a filter?
> ...


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## EmeraldFelipe (Aug 16, 2011)

I usually use distilled water, so I don't use dechlorinator. He is fine now, I think. I just felt like he was going to die and it was all my fault.


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## Silverfang (Mar 25, 2011)

I understand the feeling. I was the same when I had my incident. Just so you know, regular tap water treated with a decholorinator is better for your fish than filtered or distilled water. I couldn't tell you the specifics, but OFL has a pretty good explanation about it (haha, what doesn't our guru know?).


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## EmeraldFelipe (Aug 16, 2011)

I've done all my Betta on it, and they lived long and were healthy. Dechlorinator probably is better, so should invest in that. Right know he is swimming around normally, but occasionally stops swimming. Do you think he will be alright now?


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## Silverfang (Mar 25, 2011)

Hopefully, but only time will tell.


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