Help!!!!

Akuma223 · 06-19-13, 12:57 PM

My Betta fish Ruby jumped out of his tank this morning and I just found him! He is leaning heavily on his tail fins and doesn't look good. His eyes are all cloudy and he was rather dry when i found him. Any tips please? I've had him for two years and don't want to loose him, I'm really attached to him. I have him in an 2 inches of water right now, the water is warm and from his tank. Help please.

Lupinus · 06-19-13, 01:19 PM

Unfortunately, there isn't a whole lot of things you can do beyond adding some tank water to a separate container to give him a rinse and then getting him back in to his tank ASAP. How long are we talking out of his tank?

I assume you keep good water parameters- no ammonia, no nitrites, and nitrates that are under 30? What do you keep on hand as a water treatment? What's your setup like?

Akuma223 · 06-19-13, 02:52 PM

He lives in a ten gallon setup with a filter and a heater, water temp is at 82. To be honest I haven't the slightest clue as to ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. for water treatment I have tetra aquasafe plus. I'll return him to his tank.

sweatshirt · 06-19-13, 03:01 PM

I agree. Since I doubt you can bring a betta to a vet or something, the only thing you can do is keep your eye on him.

Lupinus · 06-19-13, 03:20 PM

In the near term then, just get him back to his tank. If your filter is adjustable you may want to reduce the flow a bit to make the current in the tank a little more gentle.

Some other things you can do, both to help him heal if he makes it and in general for better luck with your fish-

Hit up the pet store (any of the big ones should have it) for a water treatment called Prime, it'll be in a red and white bottle. It's an all in one water treatment that will do the same thing as the Tetrasafe in terms of chlorine and neutralize other chemicals that the Tetrasafe doesn't. But it will also detoxify ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates for 24 hours(which if you have any, is what will help him near term). It also mildly helps with the slime coat. It's not terribly expensive and is highly concentrated, so a bottle lasts a LONG time, especially with a smaller tank. A full cap will treat fifty gallons of water, so just fill the cap to the first thread and dose the tank volume. For water changes or top offs you can use less than that, four or five drops in the container you use to add the water.

Another good thing to keep on hand would be an API master test kit (little more pricey than just the Prime, but honestly something every fish keeper should have on hand), it'll be the one that looks like a little science lab kit. Avoid test strips. That'll help you get numbers on everything to better monitor the tanks water parameters and if anything is out of whack. At least it'll help make sure you don't have any ammonia or nitrites in there, everything else is much more dependent on stability than specific numbers.

Akuma223 · 06-19-13, 09:51 PM

Thanks very very much for the tips, I'll right down those items and look for them tomorrow. Ruby is looking great already, he is swimming around actively and just ate like 5 pellets for me. Hopefully he stays healthy and doesn't try to swim in air again.

I'm surprised he got out to begin with considering the open area of his hood is only about maybe an inch around the filter. I will cover it now.

Lupinus · 06-20-13, 03:29 AM

Glad to hear he's doing better. Bettas are tough little guys.