[asterflint]

My betta jumped out of his tank tonight. I came into the room, and when I come in he gets frantic because it's usually time to get his food. Yet I went on my laptop for a while before I went over to him, and then I noticed he wasn't in his tank, but fell about two feet on to a piece of clothing. I'm not sure how long he was out of the tank for, he was still wet when I found him. It could have been up to 30 minutes, I guess. When I put him in, it was like he was paralyzed. He didn't move for a few minutes, save for starting to breath again slowly. Then he swam around the tank in jolts really fast for a little bit, and now isn't moving but is breathing really hard. He seems to have fuzzyness on him; I think it's from the clothing that he fell on. What should I do? Should I add aquarium salt or some water conditioner to de-stress him? Right now he's suspended near the heater. Before he kept floating to the top. Will he make it?! Please help!

 

[bettafishfinnatic]

my boy dmIo jumped out of his tank before to.. well bowl that is. it was the first day i brought him home and i was sure to fill up the bowl 5 inches below the top. so i left the room for 5 minutes and wouldn`t you know it he was just flopping on the plastic bag... so i gently scoop him up and put him in the water... then he did AGAIN!!! so i put a peice of paper on top of his bowl for the night so he couldnt jump out... he is fine now and i think it brought us close together.

if you see him by the filter maybe his trying to get it to some how suck the fuzzies off.. or maybe if he is rubbing and or running around the plants, he is trying to get them off as well.
well i hope that this experience brought you to closer together!

 

[shadowpony]

Keep him in warm, clean water. Use something to rebuild his slime coat, which may have been damaged. No bright lights,the dark is calming. I would also suggest a lid.

 

[ZackyBear]

+1 to Pony

I bet it shocked him pretty badly when he realized there was no water on the other side Please keep us posted~

 

[bettafishfinnatic]

ya mine was only out for liike 30 seconds not a half an hour... so +2 to pony

 

[EllaFish]

This happened to one of my fish too. I noticed the fuzzyness as well and was worried. It is just some kind of super-thick slime coat, like a big band-aid. Adding aquarium salts may help. My fish (crowntail) started losing her spikes.. they just got skinny and fell off. This required no treatment and she was back to normal in a few days. All of the things you are describing are just what I saw, and you shouldn't need any meds unless you start seeing some infection setting in. (This did not happen to me, but I would imagine that it would make the fish more vulnerable.)
Good luck and may your fish have a fast and easy recovery!

Oh, one more thing- your fish might be tired for a couple of days, so put a leaf hammock or a suction cup near the surface for him to rest on.

 

[ZackyBear]

I would actually hold off on the AQ, Ella. It could stress him, and a stressed fishy is more prone to getting sick.

Unless you see something seriously wrong, like fungus, open wounds, or anything then just warm clean water will help him go back to his old active self :3

 

[asterflint]

Thank you all so much for your help!!! It made me feel so much better and was such a great help .

I've left him be and kept the room dim. He stayed near the top on the suction cup connected to the heater. Should I turn off the filter? I read somewhere that you should to stop the water movement when something like this happens.

He still has the weird white fuzz hanging off of him. I came back into the room later and found him at the bottom just lying there. He is still breathing heavily, and then struggled to the top to get a gulp of air before lying on top of the plants. He seems so tired, and is really breathing hard. Is that normal for those of you who had fish jump out? Ella, what did you mean by "tired"? Did he eat at all? Did he stay at the bottom of the tank?

I'm so scared, I hope he makes a full recovery!!!

 

[asterflint]

Should I get stresscoat for this? If so, any brand recommendations?

 

[Knitterly]

one of my females recently jumped ship and was out for long enough that I was convinced she was dead. I kid you not. When she twitched I just about jumped out of my skin!

Since she had already been in a hospital tank with aq salt, I popped her back in and let her be. Large pieces of dried up fin flaked off over the first few days but by now (about...10 days later) she's clearly regrowing her fins. Honestly, for about 36 hours, I thought she wasn't going to make it,but she did.

Take heart in that bettas are hardy little fishies. Don't worry about getting the fuzz off him. It'll come off as his skin heals and he gets his slimecoat rehydrated.

Her new fin growth has about doubled since I took this photo, just 3 days ago.

 

[EllaFish]

The "fuzz" is fine- even if it takes a while to come off. I don't think you need any stress coat stuff- I think that's for Bettas who jump out and don't get fuzzy.
By tired, I mean, maybe he's at the tank bottom, maybe he's on a leaf, but it's all normal as long as he still comes up to breathe from time to time. (Since they have gills, this could be a long time to time.) Everyone sleeps different.
I can't remember if mine ate very much at first, but if yours is not eating, try different foods and spread out the feedings more. If he NEVER comes up when there is food, this may be because it is tiring to go get it. If he's on the bottom you may want to try to push his food down. I have read that Bettas can live for two weeks without food, so while it is worrying, they usually pull through.

Thanks for the picture knitterly, at least I know my fish wasn't a special case. That's exactly what happened to my fish.

 

[asterflint]

Wow that's amazing about your fish! I noticed that my fish got a tear in his fins and a piece or two broke off in the water. Also, the fuzziness on him is in patches now and it may have increased. I'm not sure he got any cuts. Some people mentioned that you should use aquarium salt when your fish jumps out, and some say not to. I feel as if I should because of the tears, but at the same time I don't want to upset him. He just lays on the bottom, breathing heavily but he's pretty lucid. I'm still so scared, but he's still alive after two nights, which I'm happy about! I added some conditioner which had aloe and green tea in it. Should I turn off the filter? Or move him to a smaller tank so he can get air better? He struggles to get it. He's currently in a 2.5 gallon tank. Thanks to all for your suppor and answers!

 

[Knitterly]

if he's spending a lot of time on the bottom struggling to breathe, I'd say smaller bowl and add some aq salt since it is supposed to help with gill function. I dont' think it would ever HURT him to use aq salt...

 

[Tazman]

I would also check the water parameters and see if anything is amiss in the tank as well. There is usually a root cause for fish jumping, be it a small amount of ammonia or "dirty" water issues.

Glad he is back in the tank and doing well, it can take a while for it to get back to normal, assuming no major damage was done.

I had a BristleNose Pleco who spent a few days stuck in my bioball chamber on my wet dry sump. To this day, I have no idea how it got in there as the hole from the filter pad chamber to the bioballs was tiny! I forgot to put the prefilter cover on the overflow pipe which allowed him to get into the sump.

Lowering the temperature a bit can also help, the higher the temperature the less oxygen in the water..if you do lower the temperature do it slowly and only by a few degrees an hour.

 

[asterflint]

I'm trying all of these ideas! I am putting him in a 1/2 a gallon for a while until he is able to move better. I added the conditioner and some salt (I diluted it a bit...does that make a difference?) and I'll be moving him soon. Wish me luck!

Hopefully he jumped just because he was excited and not because of the water levels. I had changed his water the day prior to when he jumped, but I'll be getting it checked anyways.

I really appreciate all of you giving me helpful advice!! Thank you guys lots!

 

[asterflint]

I transferred my betta...he got really stressed out and it tired him out so much. He has a LOT of fuzziness, and I think maybe a sore on his back. Should I not have transferred him to the hospital tank with the salt??

 

[asterflint]

PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!

My betta jumped out AGAIN. I can't even believe it. I have no idea what's wrong, I put him in a clean, conditioned, hospital tank with a heater and salt. I was leaving him alone because I didn't want to stress him out, but when I went to check on him before I went to bed, I saw that he had somehow jumped out. My betta was still wet. He lost some more of his coat, and when he was put back in, he swam around but is now is on his side, breathing really heavily. At least before he was upright.

I'm basically having a breakdown right now, and I really don't want to lose this fish, especially on my account, and because my father gave him to me. Please help, is there anything extra that I can do?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? I feel like the worst person right now that my poor betta is suffering so much. I thought he might have had a chance of pulling through since he survived four days after the ordeal, but now I just don't know.

Help!!!

 

[Maura]

If you don't have a lid, get one. Make a lid if you can't get a lid.

If you already have a lid, don't open it. Your fish is now a known jumper; don't give him the opportunity to do so.

 

[Knitterly]

If you don't have a lid, get one. Make a lid if you can't get a lid.

If you already have a lid, don't open it. Your fish is now a known jumper; don't give him the opportunity to do so.

Ditto to this. Go get some plastic needlepoint canvas from a craft store or walmart if you have to. Put something on top of it, like a pencil, or a shell, or something small. Just a little bit of weight will hold it down.

ALL of my bowls now have plastic covers since I know Boomer is a jumper. With my last male, I didn't have to cover it since he was a calm, placid guy who never jumped.

 

[asterflint]

Yeah, I had a top on it but there was a small space where he got out because the heater was sticking out of the smaller tank I had him in. I didn't think he would try to get out again because he had been so immobile and tired lately.

Sadly though, he died a little later. It's so sad, knowing that this could have been prevented. You never know they're jumpers until they're out of the tank!

Thanks to everyone who commented and helped!

Rest in peace to my little red betta.