Fish in hot water and now his fins are falling apart....

[BazookaJoe]

So I was cleaning out my betta tank and in doing so, he jumped out of the net and into the running hot tap water. I got him as quickly as I could but knew there was damage done. Lurked through the posts here yesterday and did everything I saw. I went to clean his tank tonight and in doing so, his fins basically fell off, leaving strings. I'm very worried that this is beginning of the end for him and I feel terrible for not being more careful. Please be honest with me as to if he even has a chance to get through this. If not, what is the best way to put him out of his misery. Thanks.

[sainthogan]

If it's just his tail and fins, I would say he's going to be alright with time. I can only guess that the water was much too hot and that he may have damage from the chlorine. Did he hit anything in the sink, like the drain, that may have caused damage? You can use clean, warm water, along with an aquarium salt treatment (10 days only) to help heal and stave off infection.

My female jumped out of her tank and spent at least a half an hour on the cold hard floor, her fins and tail were a mess, but with time, and clean, warm water, they grew back. Looking at her now, you'd never even have known that she jumped out.

[BazookaJoe]

Thanks, I'm just a little worried. I haven't seen him eat anything yet since it happened. He bounced around a little but from the time he jumped to the time i got him back in the water was under 30 seconds. He's been rubbing himself along the the bottom so I know that he's feeling some irritation. I haven't done the aquarium salt or the vitamins yet, just wanted to get more info to try and save him.