my betta got stuck in the filter and is injured - need advice

[brittany124]

Hi all, for some background- I have owned this fish for about 6 months now and up until a week ago I had him in a 1.5 gallon tank with a heater and filter. About a week ago I purchased the fluval chi 6.6 gallon aquarium and moved him to that. It also has a heater and I add the fluval water conditioner and biological supplement as well as a tbsp of aquarium salt. He has been doing great and seemed very happy with all of the space in his new tank.

I went to feed him at 11am this morning (I last saw him at midnight last night and he was fine) and he had disappeared. At first I thought that he had jumped out and one of the cats had gotten him, but I decided to take the filter apart just in case. There he was, sandwiched in between the filter media and the sponge. I have no idea how he could have gotten in there- none of the openings seem big enough for him to fit, and I don't know how long he was trapped there- at the longest it would have been like 10 hours. Anyway, at first I thought he was dead but when I picked him up he wriggled a bit so I put him back in the water. He seems to be ok except for a piece of scale missing above his right eye and a couple very small tears on his fins. He appears to be swimming fine but does seem weaker than usual. He is normally very active and social and darts all over the tank. He is still swimming around now just more slowly.

I have gotten quite attached to him and I really hope he can pull through but I'm not sure how to proceed from here. Any advice? I have attached a couple pictures of the wound on his head though they are not the best quality.
Thank you for your help

[mjoy79]

I know some people with better injury knowledge can help you - but your post is prompting me to go make sure my fish can't jump into any filters - i might use tape/saran wrap.
I'm sorry about your little guy and glad he's relatively ok!

[earthworm88]

Sorry to hear that you betta somehow got sucked into the filter. It must have been a traumatic experience for him and you as well. As I was reading your post, the first question I had for you was why did you use AQ salt in your tank? With a wound like that, the AQ salt solution definitely came in handy. However, most people will tell you not to use salt of any kind unless you are treating an ailment or problem.

If I were you, I would put him back in the original 1.5 gal tank you have and just put in a gal of water pre-dissolved it with one teaspoon of AQ salt to help ward off any infection (add water conditioner of course). The trick to making him heal fast is very clean water. If you have Stress Coat, add that as well. Feed him high protein food will help with his fin. I am sure he is still recovering from the trauma so may appear weaker. Just keep an eye on him for other developments.

The "Betta ER docs" will probably shed some more lights on this for you as well. Good luck! Hope he feels better soon!

[Myates]

^^ I think you pretty much hit it on the nose there earth :)
Side note with the AQ salt, if you use it regularly, it will decrease it's benefits for when the fish truly needs it when it is sick/injured. Salt in freshwater long-term can create even more salt resistant parasites and and bacteria. Just clean water with a dechlorinater is all that is needed when you do water changes :)

I do hope he gets better, he's such a cutie. Good luck to you!

[brittany124]

Thanks for the advice. I initially started adding the aq salt a couple months ago when his tail started to tear at the ends and I was worried that he had fin rot. That seemed to improve, but I continued to add it because I was advised by someone who said it added essential electrolytes for the fish and helped with general health of the aquarium and disease prevention. Being not very experienced with aquariums, all I have to go on are things I read online and what other people tell me. It can be confusing!
So far he is hanging in there and his behavior and activity level are pretty much back to normal. How long do you think I should keep in back in his smaller tank?

[dsgems]

Originally Posted by brittany124

Thanks for the advice. I initially started adding the aq salt a couple months ago when his tail started to tear at the ends and I was worried that he had fin rot. That seemed to improve, but I continued to add it because I was advised by someone who said it added essential electrolytes for the fish and helped with general health of the aquarium and disease prevention. Being not very experienced with aquariums, all I have to go on are things I read online and what other people tell me. It can be confusing!
So far he is hanging in there and his behavior and activity level are pretty much back to normal. How long do you think I should keep in back in his smaller tank?

Sorry he got hurt. Same thing happened to mine almost 2 weeks ago. (he is doing great) I don't know how he got in there. He scraped scales off the side of his head, and his eye on the other side was puffy. I was really scared, But he just started to heal. All I did was a fifty percent water change using water conditioner Betta Plus Nutrifin. He seems to be perfect now. I hope yours heals well too. Best of luck!!