Will poor gumby make it?

[Menolly]

I know Betta's are generally very hardy fish that can survive many conditions, and I apologize if this has already been discussed, but I'm not sure I have time to fully read the forums to find out what's going on with our betta, Gumby.

We've had gumby since march of last year. When we got him, he was very bedraggled. but since until now he has seemed to be doing fine.. he moved around a fair amount, he was eating regularly, etc... I didn't worry too much about it.

www.jmasseyj.org/gumby

those are the pics of him now, we thought he was dead, but when we went to move him, he moved and showed he was still alive. however, he only seems to be moving one side of his body.

I cleaned the 2.5 gal tank that we have before taking the pics, since I think our son tried to feed gumby, because the water was extremely dirty. (our son is 3) So I cleaned the tank, and he's still moving a bit, but not like he used to.

We have a special aquarium power strip that turns the light on and off automatically, so it's not on all the time. we keep the temp of the water at about 78-80 degrees, easy with the central air and heat in the house.

in all honesty, he looks to me like he had a stroke. he can no longer get to his favorite spot which was the space behind the filter between the back of the filter and the wall, because he cannot seem to swim down from the stop of the water.

you'll see how pathetic he looks in the pictures. I'm worried that he will not become healthy again. Please help me!

[crazy4fish]

are there any cemicals in the water that you didnt know about? is the water in balance? when you cleaned the tank did you use soap? and not to be rude but did your son do anything else besides feed him?

[Menolly]

I did test the water, but only after I did the full cleaning/conditioning of the water. and no, I do not use soap when I clean the tank. I only use water, and I always condition the water after a full cleaning.

As for my son, he likes to pet our betta, but he knows not to grab or anything. I always taught him to only have one finger in the water, and not to go past the surface. until the day I posted, Gumby was acting fine and normal, as far as I could tell.

unfortunately, today I noticed Gumby wasn't moving at all. even when the water was disturbed slightly, he no longer moved his fins. it seems it was indeed too late for gumby.

Thank you for your reply. I think we will try again with another betta, and my son will no longer be taking care of it. :P and we'll see how we do.

[crazy4fish]

i'm so sorry about Gumby i hope you have fun with your new fish though and by the way, you are doing everything right when cleaning the tank. good job :D