# Traumatized betta, need some help



## oXsonriksXo (Oct 3, 2009)

Well, about 3 weeks ago i bought an algea eater from petco. Within those weeks he got Huge! and before when it was little, my betta use to harrass it from time to time. Yesterday when i got home from work i saw my betta naked to the bare scales! and his back fins all shreded. What should i do do bring it back its health? would it be more hummane to just flush it down the toilet? i dont want to give up on the guy. I just flushed the algea eater down the toilet, im not putting my dwarf frogs at risk, or my other female betta. I have a 10 gal. tank heavily planted with live plants. I have my male betta in a .5 gal right now.


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## Kittles (Feb 8, 2010)

LOL. WHAT. 

Are you for real? This is awful, and hilarious, and everything else I can't think of presently. Firstly, no. You should not flush your betta down the toilet, although I'm unsure of its chances of recovery. Keep him in clean water in the .5 gallon and place the tank in a dark place, or wrap a dark colored towel around it. I'm not sure if you could add aquarium salt if he's missing most of his scales - I don't know how that would effect him. That's about all I can suggest, but I thought I should contribute something before anything worse happened. 

As for the algae eater (Chinese Algae Eater?), it's a good thing you got rid of it, but shame it wasn't sooner, and more... appropriately. Perhaps you could have returned it to the store it was purchased at. Speaking of which, if they were selling it as something else - I've heard of stores mislabeling and selling them as Otos (I think) - you should riot and hold them responsible somehow. I would be outraged. However, if you did in fact buy a properly labeled CAE, then that is quite unfortunate, as they do get to be quite large and extremely aggressive - obviously. 

I hope your fish is able to recover and I'm sure various members will be able to give more thorough advice. Sorry about the incident, as well.


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## Starbright (Apr 26, 2009)

Oh my gosh. 

The first thing that caught my eye was, "I just flushed the algea eater down the toilet." o_o
- That's completely inhumane. The algae eater was basically burned alive by the chlorine and God knows what happens as it's going down the sewer system. Ripped? Shredded? Don't want to think about it > <
- Basically... don't flush. Look up other humane ways on how to euthanize fish, or give it to a family fish store or Petco.

Since your betta is now scaleless, I don't suggest salt. I'm not familiar with other medications so I'll leave that for someone else to answer >.<" Just keep him in the half gallon right now and change the water daily (or until someone else answers/helps you).

Next time, please look up which algae eater to buy and which are compatible with the fish in the same tank =/ Otos are amazing and peaceful, for example.


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## oXsonriksXo (Oct 3, 2009)

Alright thanks guys. The guy at petco told me it was ok to have that algea eater if i had a 10 gal. tank. I guess he just wanted to sell me stuff because he also wanted to sell me tadpoles. Im not much of a fish expert so i trusted his word. After that algea eater did to my once splendid betta, i dont regret flushing it down the toilet. I figure they have some random idiots run the fish section at petco. They have AFD's in tanks that are like filled to the very top with water.
They also have tanks that have turtles and fish in them, dont turtles eat fish?


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## reaperss06 (Jan 31, 2010)

wow I have never heard of an algea eater to be aggressive, I'm sorry to hear about your little guy. Hope he gets well.


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## Kittles (Feb 8, 2010)

"Algae eater" has become far too common a name for fish, when really it should remain solely as an adjective instead of a noun. 



> wow I have never heard of an algea eater to be aggressive


Depending on the genus of "algae eater," the species may or may not be aggressive. Otocinclus and Corydoras, for example, contain very docile and small catfish, whereas the Gyrinocheilus (CAE) and Loricariidae contain progressively aggressive and larger catfish. No idea if my scientific terms are correct, but the point remains.

Also, oXsonriksXo, was it mentioned to the employee that this fish you purchased would be coexisting with various other fish? Because if the employees at your Petco are blindly hawking these to misconceived customers, that's criminal.


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## Mitsufishi (Jul 1, 2009)

oXsonriksXo said:


> im not putting my dwarf frogs at risk, or my other female betta. I have a 10 gal. tank heavily planted with live plants. I have my male betta in a .5 gal right now.


Im wondering, does this mean that before the incident you had the ADFs, the female, the male, and the AE, in a 10 gallon tank? I know most people talk about not housing a male and female together because the male will go after the female, but a while back my bf put a female in with my VT, after about a week and she literally tore him up. All his fins were gone!!! We had to get rid of the female and nurse the male back with salt baths. Just wondering if that was the case and it wasnt the AE.


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## oXsonriksXo (Oct 3, 2009)

Mitsufishi said:


> Im wondering, does this mean that before the incident you had the ADFs, the female, the male, and the AE, in a 10 gallon tank? I know most people talk about not housing a male and female together because the male will go after the female, but a while back my bf put a female in with my VT, after about a week and she literally tore him up. All his fins were gone!!! We had to get rid of the female and nurse the male back with salt baths. Just wondering if that was the case and it wasnt the AE.


I did, but the .5gal contained the female, the container was floating on the water. It had to be the AE, unless dwarf frogs are agressive. My betta died dthis morning =[ i went to petco and bought some guppies, now i have to keep my female betta in the .5 gal.


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## oXsonriksXo (Oct 3, 2009)

Kittles said:


> "Algae eater" has become far too common a name for fish, when really it should remain solely as an adjective instead of a noun.
> 
> Depending on the genus of "algae eater," the species may or may not be aggressive. Otocinclus and Corydoras, for example, contain very docile and small catfish, whereas the Gyrinocheilus (CAE) and Loricariidae contain progressively aggressive and larger catfish. No idea if my scientific terms are correct, but the point remains.
> 
> Also, oXsonriksXo, was it mentioned to the employee that this fish you purchased would be coexisting with various other fish? Because if the employees at your Petco are blindly hawking these to misconceived customers, that's criminal.


The guy did not look like fish expert at all. He's just an expert at selling stuff from the fish section.


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

This is why it is so important to be an "informed consumer" especially when it come to live animals and a responsible pet owner.

It is our job and responsibility to know these things and not rely/expect the employees or a company that only wants our money to give correct information.......

Never flush a fish down the toilet...this is bad for the environment and cruel.......

The fish only did what a fish will do by nature....please research before you buy live animals...its the responsible thing to do......


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## xxabc (Feb 1, 2010)

You could've returned the "algae eater" (I'm suspecting CAE, but meh, don't know too much about those) and laughed as you returned it if you really wanted to feel better. I've been told flushing a fish down a toilet is illegal, more so for the environment rather than immoralities. I feel sorry for the algae eater. It didn't deserve that. Also, flushing is the least humane way to euthanize as well. And I agree, males and females shouldn't be kept together unless 1) You are highly experienced with betta keeping and completely ready for backup plans, and/or 2) you are breeding. 

Sorry for your betta loss. 

I've been told corydoras cannot be exposed to aquarium salt too long as they're scale-less, so i see why it makes sense not to use aquarium salt with a betta without scales. At the same time, it may not be the same for both of them? I have no idea, I'm pretty curious about this now. 

Why did you have to put the betta in the 1/2 gallon? IMO no betta belongs in less than 2.5 gallons (although 1 gallons can work). You can make it work with the female betta and guppies if she is not too stressed. If you want to keep her in the 1/2 gallon, please make sure you keep up with the water changes, or ammonia will go through the roof. Also, ADFs are fully aquatic... they don't live on land. And yes, that salesman probably was _only_ a salesman selling things. This is why research shall never hurt.


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## Sella (Mar 21, 2010)

Whatever happened in your tank was not any of the fishes fault but your own. They were only doing what seemed natural to them. Please research your future pets so this won't happen again. Flushing is a terrible th ing to do.


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