Healing A Betta Fish

Hi, everyone, I brought home a betta fish on Valentines day, I had been watching him at a pet store for around a month. He was a sickly gray color and was always curled on his side gasping a the surface of the little cup he was being held in. I watched him look like this for almost a month, and then decided I could not just leave him like this. (I tested the water in the little cup he was in and it was at 1ppm of ammonia).So I bought him, he is currently in a nearly 2 gallon heated and filtered temporary tank with gravel from my other betta's well established 5 gallon. ( we bought him a 10 gallon and are having trouble with the filter and heater working properly).This little guy has a little more color to him and is finally starting to eat. My biggest concern for him is the fact that his gill have been burned by the ammonia he had been living in and he really doesn't leave the bottom of the tank much.. Right now his water is at 0ppm ammonia, <.25 ppm nitrite, and <5 ppm nitrate. I am changing around 25-50% of his water daily and using prime to make sure it stays clean and safe. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on how to help him heal or if he will even heal from this.

 

Continuing with daily water changes and prime will help. If possible, moving him to a bigger tank now would also be better; more water volume means more waste dilution. Moving gravel from the other tank won't help much, the vast majority of nitrifying bacteria is in the filter. Unless you have sponge filters, you can take a bit of filter media from your established tank and put it in the new tank.
He probably would appreciate some live or silk plants with large leaves to rest on.

 

Ammonia burns take time and clean water to heal.

 

Thanks for the quick replies. Unfortunately the heater I bought for the 10 gallon is not working correctly ( set at 78F but only heating to 70F) . I did not want to add him to the tank until I could exchange it. He has a silk plant, a marimo moss ball, and a little cave with him in his tank .

 

Thanks for the quick replies. Unfortunately the heater I bought for the 10 gallon is not working correctly ( set at 78F but only heating to 70F) . I did not want to add him to the tank until I could exchange it. He has a silk plant, a marimo moss ball, and a little cave with him in his tank .

Try unplugging the heater and letting it rest for an hour or snd plug it back. This has worked for me in the past

I had a broken heater for a few days once and added water a few degrees warmer slowly everyday with water changes. Obviously not too much warmer or it could lead to shock and stress but a few degrees and added slowly should be fine.