Betta Fish In Terrible Condition After Getting Stuck

HI guys, I have an emergency. Literally just this morning, I woke up to find out that somehow my 1.5 year old betta had gotten himself STUCK in the castle he likes to sleep in in the crack above it. In his tank, there were remains of his tail that either got bitten off or strewn off in his struggle to get out of the crack. I finally managed to pull him out, but he's practically fin and tail-less with only tatters remaining. His color is, understandably faded, and overall he's in TERRIBLE condition. He's just laying on his side, and he tries to swim down but he can't. His body also seems bloated though it could seem bigger b/c he's missing his beautiful tail and fins.

He was perfectly fine the night before. He ate his food without any problems, he was swimming and active, and overall he's always been an incredibly healthy betta. I have no idea what happened to him and why he decided to get himself stuck in the crack, and I need your honest opinion on whether there's ANYTHING that can heal him at this point because I'm amazed that he's still alive and fighting for every breath. I thought for sure he was already dead because I don't know how long he was stuck in that crack.

 

HI guys, I have an emergency. Literally just this morning, I woke up to find out that somehow my 1.5 year old betta had gotten himself STUCK in the castle he likes to sleep in in the crack above it. In his tank, there were remains of his tail that either got bitten off or strewn off in his struggle to get out of the crack. I finally managed to pull him out, but he's practically fin and tail-less with only tatters remaining. His color is, understandably faded, and overall he's in TERRIBLE condition. He's just laying on his side, and he tries to swim down but he can't. His body also seems bloated though it could seem bigger b/c he's missing his beautiful tail and fins.

He was perfectly fine the night before. He ate his food without any problems, he was swimming and active, and overall he's always been an incredibly healthy betta. I have no idea what happened to him and why he decided to get himself stuck in the crack, and I need your honest opinion on whether there's ANYTHING that can heal him at this point because I'm amazed that he's still alive and fighting for every breath. I thought for sure he was already dead because I don't know how long he was stuck in that crack.

I've had fish before do that, perfectly healthy and they got them self in a jammy and died. Nothing you can do, just very unlucky. I'd recommend keeping the water EXTREMELY clean, two 50% water changes a day, if you have the time. Minor salt will help with the healing process as well, along with negating any possible bacterial infection. Fins are all soft tissue, so if he pulls through it should all grow back with time. An of course common sense, try and eliminate any possible stresses, keep water changes the same temp, maybe even the light off more than usual etc.

 

I've had fish before do that, perfectly healthy and they got them self in a jammy and died. Nothing you can do, just very unlucky. I'd recommend keeping the water EXTREMELY clean, two 50% water changes a day, if you have the time. Minor salt will help with the healing process as well, along with negating any possible bacterial infection. Fins are all soft tissue, so if he pulls through it should all grow back with time. An of course common sense, try and eliminate any possible stresses, keep water changes the same temp, maybe even the light off more than usual etc.

I really feel terrible. He's trying so hard to swim and get upright, and he's taking gulps of air, like this guy is fighting to live still, and he definitely still had a lot of time to go on if he hadn't put himself into that situation. I don't want to put my hopes up, but it hurts to see him have so much spirit still.

 

I really feel terrible. He's trying so hard to swim and get upright, and he's taking gulps of air, like this guy is fighting to live still, and he definitely still had a lot of time to go on if he hadn't put himself into that situation. I don't want to put my hopes up, but it hurts to see him have so much spirit still.

Sometimes when I see that in fish, it makes me happy to know they're so optimistic. Hopefully he makes it, best of luck by the way your describing it hopefully your little warrior pulls through All you can do is your best to keep that fish alive, the rest is in his hands, or uh, fins.

 

Be sure to take the castle out, you may want to get a betta leaf so he can rest on that. Any updates on him??

 

Be sure to take the castle out, you may want to get a betta leaf so he can rest on that. Any updates on him??

Still alive but just lying on his side and breathing hard. I'm worried I might've injured his swim bladder when pulling him out from that crack. I wish I had something to just split the castle open, but I didn't, so I know I hurt him a lot when pulling him out but gah, it seems worse to just leave him stuck and potentially starve/suffocate to death that way. I've already thrown the castle out completely even though that was his favorite sleeping spot. He does have a betta leaf in his tank that he would rest on for short naps. He's alive but very, very unwell

 

Do you have any aquatic vets near you?? They may be able to help could you post a pic of him??

 

No, no aquatic vets around me. This is what he looked like when I finally got him out of the crack and quickly placed him in my hospital designated area to check and see if he was still breathing. Clearly not his real home, but ugh. Ugh.

 

He does look terrible I don't know if he will make it... It looks like some of his scalles were ripped off. You may have to humainly uthinze him if he doesn't improve, in the next few days, so he doesn't suffer. I am really sorry keep us posted

 

His scales look like they're sticking out a bit on his belly/underside in the photo, but I can't tell if it's poor photo quality or what. Does he have scales sticking out/up?
It's possible he might have got an infection already, but that would be a really fast infection and rather surprising to me. Of course, you don't know how long he'd been stuck, so the stress could have weakened his system and worsened when he was further traumatized by being pulled out (which was necessary, so don't feel guilty or bad, though I know it's hard not to be in such cases).
Since his fins are so badly damaged, it's understandable that he'd have a hard time swimming, like birds with damaged wings and/or lots of missing feathers can't fly.

It's possible a med could help but I'm not sure if you could get anything beneficial in time even if he isn't too far gone.
And even though bettas are designed to survive in low-oxygen environments and can take in oxygen from the surface, I suggest adding an airline or airstone, very gentle, to provide plenty of oxygen in the water since his system is weakened and he struggles to swim and might not be able to get air directly from the surface.

 

His scales look like they're sticking out a bit on his belly/underside in the photo, but I can't tell if it's poor photo quality or what. Does he have scales sticking out/up?
It's possible he might have got an infection already, but that would be a really fast infection and rather surprising to me. Of course, you don't know how long he'd been stuck, so the stress could have weakened his system and worsened when he was further traumatized by being pulled out (which was necessary, so don't feel guilty or bad, though I know it's hard not to be in such cases).
Since his fins are so badly damaged, it's understandable that he'd have a hard time swimming, like birds with damaged wings and/or lots of missing feathers can't fly.

It's possible a med could help but I'm not sure if you could get anything beneficial in time even if he isn't too far gone.
And even though bettas are designed to survive in low-oxygen environments and can take in oxygen from the surface, I suggest adding an airline or airstone, very gentle, to provide plenty of oxygen in the water since his system is weakened and he struggles to swim and might not be able to get air directly from the surface.

So his scales are not sticking up. The angle of the camera/light makes it seem that way, but I def checked for that when I got him out of the castle. I'll get him a soft air stone to help with his oxygen. He's still alive, and good news is that he's not just lying horizontal anymore as he's gotten just a TINY bit more vertical. And I have no doubt my pulling him out also added so much stress to him, but I really couldn't think of any other options since making him stay stuck sounds 100 times worse. I know Lucyn said that sometimes it's just bad luck, but I can't help feeling so upset when he was so healthy the night before and he's still so young too.

 

Ugh that's tough....It is frustrating when they seem to be going along just fine then injure themselves out of nowhere...I hope he is able to recover!

 

So his scales are not sticking up. The angle of the camera/light makes it seem that way, but I def checked for that when I got him out of the castle.

Thought so, but just wanted to make sure. That's good though.

I know Lucyn said that sometimes it's just bad luck, but I can't help feeling so upset when he was so healthy the night before and he's still so young too.

Yep, I understand. I was upset when I saw my 3 month old platy pineconing with dropsy and kicked myself for not doing anything sooner when he puffed out nearly overnight about a week before the pineconing began... Even though there wasn't much of a way for me to tell he was developing dropsy and I'd never experienced dropsy first-hand before. He or she died a day or two before the med arrived.

 

I'm sad to say that after struggling for an entire day with torn tails/fins and wounds all over his body, he didn't make it Thank you for everyone who tried to help though.

 

Aw, poor fella.

 

Sorry to hear

 

I'm so sorry about your Betta. Swim in peace.

 

I'm sad to say that after struggling for an entire day with torn tails/fins and wounds all over his body, he didn't make it Thank you for everyone who tried to help though.

I am so sorry about your fish. Swim in peace

 

So sorry for your loss!

 

HI guys, I have an emergency. Literally just this morning, I woke up to find out that somehow my 1.5 year old betta had gotten himself STUCK in the castle he likes to sleep in in the crack above it. In his tank, there were remains of his tail that either got bitten off or strewn off in his struggle to get out of the crack. I finally managed to pull him out, but he's practically fin and tail-less with only tatters remaining. His color is, understandably faded, and overall he's in TERRIBLE condition. He's just laying on his side, and he tries to swim down but he can't. His body also seems bloated though it could seem bigger b/c he's missing his beautiful tail and fins.

He was perfectly fine the night before. He ate his food without any problems, he was swimming and active, and overall he's always been an incredibly healthy betta. I have no idea what happened to him and why he decided to get himself stuck in the crack, and I need your honest opinion on whether there's ANYTHING that can heal him at this point because I'm amazed that he's still alive and fighting for every breath. I thought for sure he was already dead because I don't know how long he was stuck in that crack.

Try water conditioner with stress coat.

I'm sad to say that after struggling for an entire day with torn tails/fins and wounds all over his body, he didn't make it Thank you for everyone who tried to help though.

So sorry..