Barely breathing, looks paralyzed - help!

[callistra]

I'm sorry. :( It sounds like he got shocked from the sudden change in water parameters and couldn't recover.. Sorry for your loss :(

[sandybottom]

i'm sorry you lost your little friend.i know they are small but i still mourn them when they pass. especially the feeling of helplessness it brings, when you do everything you can to save them. i don't want to seem insensitive but i had one more question. you mentioned that he was gray. was he that color when you got him? if you are too upset to answer, thats ok.

[LittleBlueFishlets]

Originally Posted by sandybottom

i'm sorry you lost your little friend.i know they are small but i still mourn them when they pass. especially the feeling of helplessness it brings, when you do everything you can to save them. i don't want to seem insensitive but i had one more question. you mentioned that he was gray. was he that color when you got him? if you are too upset to answer, thats ok.

He was in dark blue water at the petstore, but he looked blue. When the employee dumped the water and refilled it with tank water, he turned very pale with dark stress stripes. By the next day, he was briefly blue with redwash - but it was a fairly intense blue/red. So no, he wasn't always gray.

As he got sicker, he retained some color, but it faded to a lighter version. It wasn't until tonight that he turned gray....

I just looked at him now, and even though he died two hours ago, I see remnants of blue on both his body and fins. There's actually more color now than there was when he died?

Are you asking because of that 'mystery' disease? He doesn't look like the picture in that thread. If you want or think it would be helpful, I can take a picture of what he looks like now.

[LittleBlueFishlets]

Not great pictures, but:
1) This is what he looked like the day after I got him.
2) This is what he looks like now, two hours after death. (His colors got a lot brighter after he died, actually. I don't know why that would be?)

[SuperNoob]

oh sadness....stupid pet store employees. They are really starting to become my enemy.

[TheCheese909]

That's the mystery disease if i ever saw it. The big black patch on his side and the blackening of his tail. Wasn't the pet store employees fault entirely, though that was a bit messed up for them to do.

Fortunately you didn't do anything wrong, it seems like it might be an inherited disease, possibly. But it kills very quickly.

I'm really sorry, but i'm glad he went to a home where someone actually cared about him.

[callistra]

Yeah that's that blue fish fast rot thing huh.. or ammonia burns. Look in the sticky though. Sorry it effected him :(

[LittleBlueFishlets]

Is it contagious?????

Last night, I washed everything down with bleach, rinsed well, rinsed with vinegar, and rinsed again. I put it all outside so it would air dry. Will that be enough to kill anything he had?

I have two other blue bettas. Both are healthy. I do not want them to get sick!

[callistra]

It's possibly a very quick moving columnaris so yea it would be infectious.

Bleach solution 10-20% will kill just about anything so that should be good. I would make sure to throw anything away that was porous though.. rocks and ceramic ornaments because they can hold onto the bleach and leach it over time.

[TheCheese909]

We honestly don't know if it is or not or what exactly it is. It could be or it might not be and it might just be hereditary.

You seem like you did a good job at cleaning up after so you should be okay.