Help!!!!

[tekstrand24]

Today when I came home I looked in my aquarium and I could not find him. I searched some more and found that he had swam to the top off the aquarium and swam down this very small hole in the heater and had gotten stuck at the very bottom. I quickly took the heater out and pull it apart and got him out. I have been watching him all night and he seems fine. He is eating and swimming around like normal. However he has a pretty good amount of scales missing one his back. Will those grow back? Is there anything I can buy him?

I am going to go get a new heater and will post pictures of the one I have later. Any help will be appreciated.
Thanks

[onekatietwo]

I'm not quite sure because I've never had fish lose scales.

The most important thing is to REALLY stay up on water changes. With the scales missing, he'll be more susceptible to disease and infection. I've also read that it helps Bettas out to turn the heat up a little bit when this happens. No idea if that is true though.

There are also products designed to facilitate this type of healing, but I have no experience with any of them.

[dramaqueen]

Try a little bit of aquarium salt and like onekatietwo said, keep the water very clean to avoid infection.

[aunt kymmie]

I once had a fish get stuck behind a moss wall that I had made for the back of my tank. By the time he managed to free himself (with my help) he had quite a number of scales missing along his back. The only treatment I provided was nice, clean fresh water at water change time. The fish eventually grew back the missing scales. I try to avoid medication unless absolutely necessary and in your case medication wouldn't be needed unless infection set in. Stay on top of water changes to avoid infections and your fish should recover nicely.

[tekstrand24]

How soon after would be ok for a water change. It is about time to clean the whole tank but I don't was to stress him out so soon..... Should I just do a 50% for now?

My other question is how do you tell if it gets infected

[aunt kymmie]

What size tank are you keeping your betta in and what is your normal water changing schedule? If it's time to do your tank I'd go ahead and do it. A little stress at water changing time is alot worse than risking infection!

[tekstrand24]

It is 6 gallon. I just got him about 2 weeks ago and have been busy with finals and have not done a change yet.

I went a head and did about a 60% change with him still in the aquarium and he seems fine. He is eating some of the blood worms i put in and checking everything out.

Even though I just cleaned it the water is not as clear as before... Will that clear up or did I mess it up?

[aunt kymmie]

You did your change as normal, using the same water you always do, with the same water conditioner as you always have? What type of substrate do you have in the tank? Sometimes when I do my water change I get a little too heavy handed on the gravel vac (I have sand substrate) and the water is a little cloudy for a few hours and then settles down.

I'm glad you left him in the tank when you did the water change. I never remove fish when doing water changes. Fish love clean fresh water and I know it's less stressful for your fish than removing him. I know that when keeping bettas in smaller containers the fish has to be removed but 6gl is a nice size for a betta so moving him isn't necessary when doing water changes.

It's a good sign that he's eating and moving about. Just continue to keep a close eye on him and I think all will be well.

[tekstrand24]

Ok thanks for your help