# Fish badly injured, need help fast



## KnittyFish (Nov 30, 2015)

I'm a college student and I went home for Thanksgiving, and was forced to leave my female betta fish for five days nights. I just got back and found my betta wedged in the ventilation holes in her cave. She should not have been able to get to the holes, they were covered by fake grass expressly so she couldn't. She was badly stuck, and I had a hard time getting her out. I had to carefully shove the rest of her body through.

She has bad lacerations on her body and some of her fins are crushed against her body or torn. Her back fins are damaged but I think it's due to stress rather than direct injury, as there's no way she could have reached them with her head stuck the way it was. She's still breathing but she's gasping and and when I tried to feed her she showed interest in the food but couldn't manage to suck it into her mouth. She can't swim, and is on her side. If she tries to move she flips over onto her back. I sunk a large glass bowl upside down and put her on top so she'd be closer to the surface of the tank so she'd get more oxygen, but I'm not sure she'll survive the night. I'm going to the fish store to get help first thing tomorrow morning if she survives until then.

Housing:
How many gallons is your tank? 5
Does it have a filter? Yes
Does it have a heater? Yes
What temperature is your tank? About 72 F at the moment. Usually it's about 76 F.
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? The filter provides aeration.
Does your Betta have tank mates? What kind? No, my fish is a jerk and so I can't get any tank mates.

Food:
What food brand do you use? Cobalt Betta Minis
Do you feed flakes or pellets? Pellets
Freeze-dried? No
How often do you feed your Betta? How much? One pellet twice a day with a few frozen blood worms in the middle. Before I left I gave her three pellets a day for two days so she'd have a good fat reserve, but she hasn't had any food for five days.

Maintenance:
Before your Betta became ill how often did you perform a water change? Twice a week
What percentage of water did you change? 25%
Do you vacuum the substrate or just dip out water? I sucked out poo and algae from the substrate with a turkey baster.
What additives do you use? Seachim's Chlorine Remover

Water Parameters:
What are your water parameters? Please give exact numbers. If tested by pet store please get exact numbers. "Fine" or "Safe" won't help us help you.

Ammonia: 
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Hardness (GH):
Alkalinity (KH):
Haven't had time to check since I got back, as soon as I got my fish out of immediate danger I started looking for help. I did a large (50-60%) water change right before I left so that her water wouldn't get to dangerous levels while I was gone, so they should still be in safe ranges.

Symptoms and Treatment:
When did you first notice the symptoms? She was stuck in her cave when I got home about half an hour ago.
How has your Betta’s appearance changed? Large lacerations on her body, crushed and damaged fins, gaps in fins.
How has your Betta’s behavior changed? Lying on side and gasping
Is your Betta still eating? No, she can't
Have you started treating your Betta? If so, how? I don't have any way to at the moment, it's midnight. I will seek help from the fish store as soon as possible.
Does your Betta have any history of being ill? No
How long have you owned your Betta? Was he or she a rescue? 3-ish months. I got her from the fish store so she wouldn't be able to bully the other fish in her tank.

WARNING: GRAPHIC/UPSETTING PICTURES


----------



## pratfaller (Nov 19, 2014)

Oh my goodness that is terrible! Do you have her betta cup still or another small plastic container? What you could do is add a little bit of the water to it and let it float inside the main tank. That way she'll be able to breathe without needing to swim while also retaining the temperature from the surrounding water. If the black bowl you have her sitting on is plastic, it should suffice too. Otherwise, I would maybe mix 1 tablespoon of salt per gallon of water to keep her wounds clean. When you go to the pet store you can also buy something called stress coat by api (although any other equivalent will work). It acts as a slime coat and may help her wounds stay covered enough to heal. This looks pretty terrible though and I'm sorry you had to come home to this.


----------



## KnittyFish (Nov 30, 2015)

Yeah, the fish store people gave her to me in a bag and not a cup, so that's not really an option. I do have a tupperware that I can float though. The bowl she's on is glass. I'm assuming you're referring to aquarium salt and not table salt? I'll have to wait until 8:00 for the pet store to open, but I plan on getting my fish some help as soon as possible. I'll also get her some stress coat.
At this point I'm not even sure I want her to survive, she's so badly injured it might just be better if she didn't have to suffer. I dunno.


----------



## pratfaller (Nov 19, 2014)

Yes aquarium salt is what you should use because table salt likely has additives like iodine that aren't good for them. The Tupperware will definitely work though! There isn't much else I can really suggest to help. If you feel like she is beyond help, you could always humanely euthanize her by either slicing her head off or smashing her with a large rock. These are absolutely miserable ways to do a fish in (and I speak from experience ;-; ) but probably the least painful way to go. The alternative is clove oil which isn't readily available. It's your call and I totally understand if you don't have the stomach to do it.


----------



## KnittyFish (Nov 30, 2015)

I've got her in the floating tupperware now and I think I'll wait at least until I've talked to the fish store people before I decide whether to euthanize her or not, although she might not live long enough even for that. I've got the light off now so I don't screw up her day/night schedule too much (she doesn't need that stress on top of everything else), but her breathing seemed to be weaker when I was trying to get her into the tupperware. She still seemed to be fighting me when I tried to get her in, so she might just be calming down from the stress of being stuck and me getting her unstuck and messing around with her tank, but I doubt it.
What does clove oil do? The grocery store is on the same bus route as the fish store so if that is what I choose to do then it'd be accessible, but I'd like to know how much my fish would suffer before I subject her to that.


----------



## pratfaller (Nov 19, 2014)

Clove oil is an essential oil that is generally found in health food stores. Sometimes they don't stock it (at least where I live). It is often used in oral meds like oragel because it acts as an anesthetic. It will put your betta to sleep and eventually kill it in high enough concentrations. There are many threads on the process that can be unearthed with a Google search. There's a number of steps to do to ensure that your betta actually goes out peacefully and not in agony. 

I forgot to mention that. Keeping the tank dark is very good. Since the grocery store is on your bus route, you could swing by and pick up some rooibos tea if they have it. It has to be pure rooibos and not have any additives like caffeine or other flavors. It has tannins that are similar to IAL and will help your betta recover. If not, I've heard you can use pure un-caffeinated green tea instead. I haven't used green tea before, but there are lots of threads on that as well.


----------



## KnittyFish (Nov 30, 2015)

*Update*

I went to the fish store and got my fish some stress coat and some antibiotics called Betta Revive. The person there who helped me said that the temperature probably dropped while I was gone and my fish was probably trying to hibernate. I noticed that the temperature was about 72 F when I got back and it's normally about 76 F, so maybe he's right. He also said my fish might be okay if I'm careful.
After I added the antibiotics and stress coat she seemed to be breathing easier. When I left for the store this morning her breathing was very shallow, but now her breathing seems deeper and more relaxed.
I think that unless she gets worse I won't euthanize her.
Anyways, she still can't eat so I was wondering how I could get her some nutrition. At this point she hasn't eaten since Tuesday evening, which was about five and a half days ago. I have frozen blood worms that I can thaw out and betta pellets with 35% crude protein. I can go to the store and get other food if I have to.
As far as heating goes, I have put a thick towel around her tank and her tupperware is floating next to the heater so she can stay warm. Hopefully my tank will be back up to normal temperature or even higher soon.


----------



## pratfaller (Nov 19, 2014)

I'm glad she's still hanging on and seems to have slightly improved. Bettas are tough little fish! It's always hard to feed bettas that refuse or are incapable of eating food. I would try chopping up a single bloodworm into really tiny portions to see if she can eat that way. You can alway stick the pieces with a blunted tooth pick or skewer and wave it in front of her face. If she still can't eat it, then stop and try again later. Bettas can go for a long period of time without eating so I wouldn't fret too much yet. Just keep her warm as possible and change the water in her cup once or twice daily. When I was quarantining my sorority girls in their cups, I would use a turkey baster to remove half of the water from the cup. I would then refill it with fresh water (still using the baster) before sucking out another 50%. It is a good way to change out the water without needing to disturb them very much. Just make sure to be slow and gentle during the refilling process because they are easily blasted around. It helps to aim the water against the cup wall to slowly fill it up.


----------



## KnittyFish (Nov 30, 2015)

*Update*

My fish died.


----------



## NickAu (Sep 28, 2015)

Hi sorry to hear about your fish.



> She should not have been able to get to the holes, they were covered by fake grass expressly so she couldn't


Bettas just love squeezing into tight places.

This is why I am not a fan of these artificial ornaments and caves rubbish.

Here's what I think, Get rid of the cave and get another Betta and do not blame yourself these things happen.


----------



## pratfaller (Nov 19, 2014)

I'm sorry that she died.  What matters is that you tried the best that you could with what you had. We don't know how long she was stuck like that and it was obviously too hard on her body. Sometimes unfortunate things like this happen. I recently gave a friend of mine a beautiful half moon betta for her birthday because her old one died. The d*mn thing decided to hop out in the middle of the night and she found his shriveled up corpse in the morning. :/ I understand if you don't want to keep the cave after what it did, but you can also plug the holes up with silicone or hot glue to prevent this from happening again. You can always get another betta especially since the tank is still clean and cycled.


----------

