Okay, you can relax, RJ is still alive, but apparently came close to death yesterday.
So I went to wipe his tank down with these algae wiping-off wipes, and so the algae was coming off the tank walls and getting in the water, so I decided I'd get RJ into the cup he was bought in and fill it up with clean water while I clean his tank. So, (mind you, this isn't the first time I've done this -- this was just the first time it went wrong) I got my net and tried to get him out, but he kept hiding behind his plants, so I got my dad to get him out. We put him in the cup immediately, and RJ just sank to the bottom and turned over. I flipped out and my dad came upstairs and dumped him back into the tank. Then he took the net and was kind-of swishing RJ around "trying to give him oxygen" because he was just laying at the bottom, I don't remember if he was breathing.
I quickly called Petsmart and they asked me:
"How cold was the water in the cup you put him in?"
"It was from the tap, I don't know."
"Did you put water conditioner in it?"
"No, because I thought he'd only be in there for a few minutes."
"He's probably gone into shock. If he passes away, that's why."
I was so scared, but RJ eventually was fine, I changed his filter, washed his biofilter a little and wiped off pretty much the whole tank with him in there. He's back to normal and acts like nothing ever happened, which is a good thing.
So my question is: Has this ever happened to you? And also, he did this before, but do your bettas like to lay on around their live plants? I swear RJ is like, obsessed with his haha. He'll lay there for a minute, then swim and lay there again unless he feels my movement in the room. "Food!" I'll bet he's thinking
So I went to wipe his tank down with these algae wiping-off wipes, and so the algae was coming off the tank walls and getting in the water, so I decided I'd get RJ into the cup he was bought in and fill it up with clean water while I clean his tank. So, (mind you, this isn't the first time I've done this -- this was just the first time it went wrong) I got my net and tried to get him out, but he kept hiding behind his plants, so I got my dad to get him out. We put him in the cup immediately, and RJ just sank to the bottom and turned over. I flipped out and my dad came upstairs and dumped him back into the tank. Then he took the net and was kind-of swishing RJ around "trying to give him oxygen" because he was just laying at the bottom, I don't remember if he was breathing.
I quickly called Petsmart and they asked me:
"How cold was the water in the cup you put him in?"
"It was from the tap, I don't know."
"Did you put water conditioner in it?"
"No, because I thought he'd only be in there for a few minutes."
"He's probably gone into shock. If he passes away, that's why."
I was so scared, but RJ eventually was fine, I changed his filter, washed his biofilter a little and wiped off pretty much the whole tank with him in there. He's back to normal and acts like nothing ever happened, which is a good thing.
So my question is: Has this ever happened to you? And also, he did this before, but do your bettas like to lay on around their live plants? I swear RJ is like, obsessed with his haha. He'll lay there for a minute, then swim and lay there again unless he feels my movement in the room. "Food!" I'll bet he's thinking