HELP Betta sucked up during water change

I was doing a water change, when I looked in the water in the bucket I saw a strip of red and so I stopped paying attention to the tank to examine it. As soon as I realized it was a strip of my bettas fins I looked back at the tank and saw him in the smaller tube struggling against the current. I was panicking and I couldn’t think straight, I immediately broke the syphon by taking the vacumm out of the water thinking he would shoot back into the tank with the water but he got stuck in there without water.

I put it back in the water so he could breath and that’s when I realized I could just disconnect the smaller tube from the big one. I should have just done that in the first place. I’m guessing he was stuck there for maybe 20 or 30 seconds before I found him.

When he got free, he swam into a corner between my sponge filter and a rock. He’s been there for about five minutes without moving, I can’t see his gills to see if he’s alive and I don’t want to disturb him.

What do I do?? Should I put my water change on hold so he can have time to regain his strength, if he’s even still alive? I’m panicking right now. Should I check to see if he’s still alive?
Update: he’s still alive thank goodness, but he looks really banged up. Lots of missing scales and ripped fins.
I need to finish my water change but I really don’t want to stress him out. Should I put him in a container covered with something so it’s dark and less stressful while I finish my water change? Or would that just be more stressful?

 

My guess would be to keep him in there when you do your water change if you have to continue it then treat with some Aquarium salt to help him heal.

 

My guess would be to keep him in there when you do your water change if you have to continue it then treat with some Aquarium salt to help him heal.

I don’t have any aquarium salt or any kind of treatment on hand, the closest place I could get something is 4 hours away and it’s late.
Almost all of his top fin is ripped off and lots of missing scales. I have a preset heater that keeps the water at 76 degrees, i know this is a bit chilly but the same problem as the treatment, an adjustable heater is 4 hours away.
Is it possible for him to heal if I maintain pristine water conditions, with a constant temp of 76?? Or will I definitely need a different heater and some kind of treatment?

 

I think he might heal but it sounds like he is in bad shape. I have only had a fish in that shape and it didn’t make it so I don’t know too much on this subject.

 

I would slowly finish your water change. Don’t take any more water out, but add water back in so it’s filled to the top. For now I would monitor him. Doing another water change tomorrow would be a good idea, but you may want to get a mesh breeder box and siphon the water out through the breeder box (so the betta doesn’t come in contact with the siphon) to prevent this from happening again.

 

If there is a Walmart nearby they tend to have aquarium salt in their fish section.

 

If there is a Walmart nearby they tend to have aquarium salt in their fish section.

Unfortunately I live in the middle of nowhere, so no Walmart.

 

Just keep his water as clean as you can. I would get some Indian almond leaves to soothe him more. You can put a chunk of pantyhose on the siphon intake too. I've done this too. They are tricky buggers.

 

Dont worry about salt. That will just cause stress. Very gently pour temperature matched water back in the tank. Pour it over a strainer to break the water before it hits the surface. Turn the lights out or dim. Make sure there's no strong currents. If you have methylene blue I would suggest a bath, but if you don't have any meds just leave him be. Hopefully he makes it. I know how much this sucks <3 in the future, Bettas are far too curious to leave alone with an active siphon. Always watch him next time. I hope he gets better

 

You can watch him all you want they teleport into the tube I swear!

 

I am so sorry this happened to your boy! I actually had a friend who had the same thing happen to her Betta! Poor girl was missing scales and big chunks of her fins. She lived for another week or so before she passed :'(

Sending my best wishes your way!

 

Sorry about what happened. I'm sure I would've panicked and done the same thing. I would order aquarium salt online, its less than $10 for a regular sized package. You will probably need it in a few days as well as now. I personally use Stress Guard for would healing, it is an antiseptic and protects the slimecoat too. Also catappa leaf tannins is naturally soothing and beneficial to wound healing.

 

Frequent WCs will help him heal, clean water is the best preventative measure. I personally would only use salt if his wounds start getting infected. Could you post a pic of him and what is your tank size? Assuming your tank is cycled I would do a PWC every 2 days or so until he is fully healed.

 

Frequent WCs will help him heal, clean water is the best preventative measure. I personally would only use salt if his wounds start getting infected. Could you post a pic of him and what is your tank size? Assuming your tank is cycled I would do a PWC every 2 days or so until he is fully healed.

My tank is 33 gallons and cycled, It’s been up and running for about a year now.
I ordered stress coat+ and Indian almond leaves, they should come in four days.
Sorry I can’t get good pictures, he has patches of white/missing scales and his color all over is a bit paler than usual. Almost his whole top fin is ripped off and hanging on by just a small section, there are a few strips of his bottom fin missing too.
Whats weird is that after this morning his behavior is totally back to normal, he’s eating fine and just as active as he usually is despite what bad shape he’s in.
I can take out 5 gallons every couple of days, and when the stress guard comes should I treat with that? I’m not exactly sure how to use it, he‘s in a community tank and I don’t have a separate tank to treat him alone.

 

My tank is 33 gallons and cycled, It’s been up and running for about a year now.
I ordered stress coat+ and Indian almond leaves, they should come in four days.
Sorry I can’t get good pictures, he has patches of white/missing scales and his color all over is a bit paler than usual. Almost his whole top fin is ripped off and hanging on by just a small section, there are a few strips of his bottom fin missing too.
Whats weird is that after this morning his behavior is totally back to normal, he’s eating fine and just as active as he usually is despite what bad shape he’s in.
I can take out 5 gallons every couple of days, and when the stress guard comes should I treat with that? I’m not exactly sure how to use it, he‘s in a community tank and I don’t have a separate tank to treat him alone.

He doesn't look as bad as I thought he might. Just keep his water super clean for a few weeks and put your leaves in when you get them. I would change 50% water every 2-3 days.

 

He doesn't look as bad as I thought he might. Just keep his water super clean for a few weeks and put your leaves in when you get them. I would change 50% water every 2-3 days.

Thank you so much! He was my first fish and I’ve never dealt with any kind of fish injuries before, I might have been overreactin. I’m glad there’s hope, I’ll do the 50% every couple days

 

If you have any on hand, you could try an Epsom salt bath for him. This would be to relieve any pain he might be in, but if he doesn't look to be in pain you probably don't need it. There are lots of tutorials on YouTube for measurements and dosing. Best of luck!

 

I had a goldfish that always tried to get vacuumed up. I ended up using a gladware container. I put tank water in it then scooped up the fish and floated it in the tank. I'd release him as soon as I was done siphoning before I started adding water back. It saved me stress.

 

I agree with clean water and time. I wouldn't be removing him for any kind of dips. He doesn't need to be stressed any more than he already has. I wouldn't add salt either at this point. You have been given some good advice as to how to siphon the water out without fear of this happening again. If that doesn't work dipping the water out might work better.

His fins may not grow back exactly the same but as long as you don't see any kind of infection he should be alright.

 

My tank is 33 gallons and cycled, It’s been up and running for about a year now.
I ordered stress coat+ and Indian almond leaves, they should come in four days.
Sorry I can’t get good pictures, he has patches of white/missing scales and his color all over is a bit paler than usual. Almost his whole top fin is ripped off and hanging on by just a small section, there are a few strips of his bottom fin missing too.
Whats weird is that after this morning his behavior is totally back to normal, he’s eating fine and just as active as he usually is despite what bad shape he’s in.
I can take out 5 gallons every couple of days, and when the stress guard comes should I treat with that? I’m not exactly sure how to use it, he‘s in a community tank and I don’t have a separate tank to treat him alone.

He looks surprisingly good, the duller color is likely stress related and normal. That's definitely a good sign that he's active and eating again!

I didn't realize your tank was that large, every few days should be just fine to help with healing, I would just keep an eye on it. As far as I know you can treat the whole tank with stress guard, it shouldn't harm the other fish.

 

I'm so sorry to hear about your betta, that sounds like a nightmare and I'm glad he is mostly acting normally, I hope he heals up well. I saw that someone had mentioned putting pantyhose over the end of your siphon and I wanted to mention that there is a cap you can buy in different sizes that snap onto the end of your siphon tube to help avoid this, in case you want to give it a try and maybe feel a little less stressed during future water changes. It's called the save-a-fishy safety cap and you can find it here:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JFZXXGY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_lM3-FbA82MBVK

Good luck!

 

I'm so sorry to hear about your betta, that sounds like a nightmare and I'm glad he is mostly acting normally, I hope he heals up well. I saw that someone had mentioned putting pantyhose over the end of your siphon and I wanted to mention that there is a cap you can buy in different sizes that snap onto the end of your siphon tube to help avoid this, in case you want to give it a try and maybe feel a little less stressed during future water changes. It's called the save-a-fishy safety cap and you can find it here:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JFZXXGY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_lM3-FbA82MBVK

Good luck!

That's cool!!

 

Lots of good advice here, I just wanna throw in that if you have a lot of current anywhere you should try to baffle it completely temporarily, there's a chance he will shred any damaged fins off the rays trying to swim against too much resistance. Also what are his tank mates? Nobody that will bully him I hope?

He's looking a lot better though, tell him get well soon for me !

 

For what it's worth: this little gal got her entire tail bitten off last year.
These pics aren't even the first day (there's a tiny bit of regrowth). She survived and has a mate and is such a cutie! She still has lacy fins (named her Lacey) they grew back but they aren't super strong but she's doing great a year later. I know it's not the same thing but fish are resilient! Best of luck!

 

Not sure if anyone's mentioned it, but I'd turn the light off to encourage him to rest and to make things more calm for him. Monitor him, but don't give him too much attention.

 

Lots of good advice here, I just wanna throw in that if you have a lot of current anywhere you should try to baffle it completely temporarily, there's a chance he will shred any damaged fins off the rays trying to swim against too much resistance. Also what are his tank mates? Nobody that will bully him I hope?

He's looking a lot better though, tell him get well soon for me !

Thank you! He’s with a school of very chill corydoras, and he has a sponge filter.

Heres an update for anyone who is interested!
I needed to find something smaller to put him in while he heals so that I can do 50% WCs every 2 days or so and doing that in my 33 gallon would be very difficult, I don’t have the best set up for re-filling the tank. I just find the biggest pot In the kitchen and go back and forth filling it up and slowly dumping It over and over, it is a lot of work but I can handle it once a week.
So this is what I figured out!



I couldn’t take him out of the tank because I only have one heater and the Cory cats need it too. I also have the light turned off and will leave it off for a while.
I‘ll see tomorrow if it’s going to work but I’m hoping that I can do the water change in the bag (as long as it doesn’t have any holes) separately from the larger tank, and this way he can stay warm.
If it fails I‘ll either find a stronger bag or use a tupperware container instead.
Im not sure if you can see in the pic but he made a bubble nest! It’s a wimpy one but it’s the attempt that counts XD
Im no longer freaking out and based on his behavior I think he has a very great chance of survival, he’s very very active and strangely it seems that he’s even happier than he was before he was injured.

Thank you all for so many helpful replies!

 

I am very happy to hear that he looks to be doing well. Since this is a very lightly stocked 33 gallon tank I don't think you need to be doing water changes as often as you would if it was a much smaller tank. Keep a close eye on the numbers. As long as you aren't seeing ammonia or nitrites and your nitrates are staying down to 20 or less you should be able to hold off on the every couple of days water changes. Once weekly should be sufficient.

You may want to invest in some tank only buckets to make it easier on your self. I too still use buckets to do my water changes. I have a 2 gallon, a 4 gallon and 2 5 gallons. I have been using these same buckets for at least 20 years. They get used for nothing but my water changes.

I use the 2 5 gallon buckets for waste water. I can only lift and pour 4 gallons so that is all I put in each bucket. As the siphon is filling one I can dump the full one and repeat until I've taken out 24 gallons from my 55 gallon tank. Once a month I take out 32 gallons.

I use the 2 and 4 gallon for my fresh water. I sit the 4 gallon in my kitchen sink and fill it there. I temp match and add my water conditioner and in my case Equilibrium to the bucket as it is filling. I set the 2 gallon in the other sink. Once the 4 gallon is full and ready I dip water from the 4 gallon into the 2 gallon and carry that one to the tank.

It may sound complicated and a lot of work but I've got it down to the perfect system for me. Sadly I am reaching the point to where water changes are getting harder on me so have started considering hooking up a hose to my faucet to refill at least the biggest tank. The small ones are a lit easier.