chickadee

Triton was chasing one of his tankmates and ran smack into his cave and damaged his eye. The damage was not readily apparent until the next day and when I went to feed him his eye looked ready to explode. If I had not seen him bounce off the cave I would have thought he had a terrible disease of some sort, but I think he scratched his eye and it got infected as it was very reddened. So now I have 4 regular tanks and 2 hospital tanks running.

I am giving him doses of Maracyn and Maracyn2 for at least 5 days and the tank is uncycled so he is getting daily water changes and twice daily testing to make sure the water quality is not making the eye worse. The tank is about 5 gallons in size although it is not a fish tank but a large plastic bin as I was out of containers to put fish in. It has a filter and two 25 watt Stealth heaters in it as it does not have a lid and so does not heat easily. It also has an airwand that is about 12 inches long so the water is oxygenated.

He is not eating and will not swim much as yet. I am hoping that when the meds kick in and the swelling goes down a bit he will start doing both. I find myself taking my little flashlight and going out to the tank two or three times a night to check on him. Never could stand to have sick kids....

Rose

AggieYen

Oh no.. it's amazing how much can go wrong with the little ones!! It's amazing how well equipped you are for any eventuality. *awe*

Hope he feels better soon!! I'm never sure who feels worst.. the kids or us.

COBettaCouple

aww, poor little guy! we hope he's on the mend and eating very soon!

LZ Floyd

I can only imagine how much that must have hurt. Their eyes don't have a whole lot of protection. They're not surrounded by a socket - they're more like surface-mounted.

Our best go out to you and Triton - get well, kiddo.

Mike

nmwierman1977

Aw, Rose that's too bad. It must've been pretty shocking for you to see that happen. You're right though it's a good thing you did see it happen. Feel better soon little Triton. Natalie

0morrokh

Poor guy, sorry to hear about that. Let us know how he does.

COBettaCouple

how is Triton doing?

chickadee

His eye is fine but he is now so afraid of me that he will not eat for me. All that happened was that he was netted and taken to the hospital tank and he is so skittish now that I cannot be anywhere he sees me or he goes bananas. I am afraid he will hurt himself again so I have not tried to hand feed him. I have just sprinkled the food on the surface and let him see if he will eat it. Still not more than a couple of worms or pieces eaten in a day on his part but anything is better than nothing. He has to have frequent water changes as this filter is uncycled and I could not use Bio-spira on it as I was medicating. This complicated the med dosages tremendously as some of you have had experience with this. I am just reluctant to put him back in his big tank yet as I am so worried that he is so nervous he will just get reckless again.

Rose

COBettaCouple

aww.. poor little guy.. he's sure giving you a time, isn't he? i hope he settles down soon.

LZ Floyd

Good to hear that Triton's eye is fine.

As for his skittishness, I wonder if his merely being in the hospital tank is contributing to it. I get the sense that Triton doesn't get his usual full view except for looking upward. If so, by the time he sees you, it may surprise him. Even in clear Plexiglas, GB would be a different fish in his Kritter tank. With him, it helped to put something familiar from his Hex into the Kritter tank when he was in it. But with Triton, the more objects in his environment, the greater the possibility of another collision, especially if he's tending to run at times. At least Triton's eating some and that sounds like a positive sign.

As for medicating the tank, it is a pain when the tank isn't the size the meds are packaged for. If measuring the right dose isn't challenging enough, there's always a large percentage of leftover meds that end up going down the drain as waste (particularly unpleasant if the wallet is a bit light at the time). Add to that the need to do water changes the manufacturer directs you to avoid, and it's a wonder the fish gets any amount of meds the maker has suggested on the box.

We wish you both the best.

Mike

Barbrella

Awww, poor little guy. I hope he's going to be okay.

nmwierman1977

Aw,poor little Triton. Maybe mike is right though.Maybe the reason he's flipping out so much when he sees you is because he can't see as well with his peripheral sight and he's in shock when he does turn and see you. I hope that he comes around for you soon. At least he hasn't completely stopped eating. That's always a good sign. Keep the faith Rose. He'll pull through for you soon. Natalie

chickadee

Triton is eating like a little pig and the hospital tank is now totally cycled since it had some seeded filter material in it to help it along. He now has a castle and a small plant in there but is not ready to be put back in the big tank yet I think. He seems to be more comfortable with me but won't take his food from me. He just wants me to drop it into the water and leave so this is what we are doing for the time being. I think at the first of the week he goes back to his other tank and then we start with the hand feeding again whether he likes it or not. I miss my quality time with him. It makes me feel like a failed mommy.

Nate is doing great and I may try to move him into the divided tank with Ariel next week too but this will really be a stress for him as he has never been in there yet. So this is going to be an experience for us both.

Rose

pamd

So glad to hear Triton is on the mend and eating like a little pig! Hopefully his fear of you will leave soon. Maybe after you move him back to his old tank he'll be a whole lot better.

It would make sense the fear was greatly aggravated by the eye condition plus being in the unfamiliar environment. Our Dear and Beautiful Rose, you might have looked really, really strange and scary to him, especially at first. I think of him looking out of a damaged eye, through water and at an unfamiliar angle at that! Poor little guy!

Sounds like you've done well. You say it's not time to remove him from the hospital tank, and I'm pretty sure your intuition is right. You know a whole lot more about bettas than me, and you certainly know Triton!

Anyway, thanks for the so-far great news. You're no failed mommy! You've been a Miracle Mommy to even have saved him from the eye injury.

Good luck with moving Triton back to the big tank, and also with Ariel and Nate!

Barbrella

Oh my goodness, don't even think such a thing! Your fish are SO lucky to have ended up with you!

0morrokh

Ditto. Glad Triton's feeling better.

COBettaCouple

Hey Rose! Good to hear an update on little Triton! How does his eye look now? all healed up? you're a great Betta mommy, they just have those personalities that make them such little characters is all.. we love them, but they sure can drive us buggy.

nmwierman1977

I am so glad to hear that Triton is doing better. Everyone is right, you are one of the best Betta mommy's ever. You take great care of all your fish and I'm sure they all love you for it, even Triton.
Natalie