I'm traumatized . . . and so are my fish!

[Spacebug75]

Oh, the unthinkable has just happened. My boy Bones somehow got over the divider and got in a fight with his neighbor, Vandy.

I can't believe he managed to do it because I keep a plastic mesh on top of the dividers too to prevent jumping. There is a small gap where it meets the filter that I didn't think they could jump and get through at the same time, but I guess that's how it happened.

Anyway, Vandy's caudal fin is ripped in two places. One place goes nearly all the way to his body. Bones has two chunks missing from his anal fin and one chunk missing from his caudal fin. Both boys went back to their normal routines shortly after I got them separated and both had a good appetite for dinner.

They're living in a ten gallon heated, cycled tank that's been divided three ways. My question is, should I do anything to try to treat their fins or should I just watch to see that it heals on its own? If I need to treat them, will it hurt my third betta who also shares the tank?

[DragonFish]

Dang, I'm sorry....I know how stressful a divider mishap can be. Its never fun. :/

To be completely honest.....if they're both acting normally and eating just fine, theres not much need to do anything(except a through divider inspection obviously). Maybe an extra water-only change along with your regular weekly to keep things a little extra clean if you feel the need, but I find plain ol' warm, clean water often does a lot more then most people think.
I've had divided tanks for a long time and I've gone though several divider mishaps and fights....and I've found that for the most part, they heal up just perfectly fine when left alone.

[Spacebug75]

Thank you for the advice. I feel better knowing I'm not the only one having experienced this. I've lowered their water level and for now, I'll throw in that extra water change and let them heal.

[DragonFish]

No problem. ;) And don't worry, you're not at all alone. Divider mishaps happen.....its sadly just kind of a part of keeping divided tanks. It happens eventually somehow. Thankfully, I've never had, and rarely hear of, one that ends with a death.

Actually, I've recently had a couple of divider mishaps just like yours over the past week(second time was my fault for not fixing the divider properly the first)....same deal, cycled, divided 10 and all that. The damage done looks a little worse then it actually is, and they're both eating and healing fantastically well left alone in their respective sides of the tank. ;)

[Spacebug75]

I'm glad to hear they don't usually end in death. It's been a long time since I was as panicked as I was when I walked in on the two of them locked in combat!

[DragonFish]

I've heard of a few cases of death, depends on the situation of course, but with most of the instances I hear of(and all the ones I've experienced), the fish survive and heal up just fine. Personally, I often find that the damage done looks a little worse then it actually is.....though it is certainly terrifying to find them taring each other a new one. Little buggers, scaring us so badly....xP