About a week ago I thought I had found my son's betta Rock-N-Roll dead in his tank. After struggling with chronic SBD issues for months, I found him lying motionless on the bottom of his tank and not at all responsive. It turned out that he was still alive, but in a very weakened and compromised state, not eating for several days and barely moving at all. I was convinced that he was in his final days or maybe even final hours and in order to make him as comfortable as possible, I lowered the water level in his tank and neglected to adjust the thermometer accordingly, which resulted in the water temperature going up from 78 degrees to 85 degrees.
Well, some kind of a miracle happened because each day since then he has been gradually growing stronger and becoming more active. He still spends quite a bit of time hiding/resting inside a silk plant that I turned on its side but I am definitely now feeling like he's going to make it. He is eating regularly, pooping, and increasing his activity level. And he is no longer spending large amounts of time laying in a u-shape on his side as he used to.
So, my questions....
1) Is it ok to keep him in such a high water temp (85) long-term? It really seems to have done a lot for him and thinking he is still somewhat fragile I am hesitant to make any more big changes right now.
2) Is there any harm in keeping his water level low as long as I do frequent water changes? It is a 2.5 G tank but I think there is only about 1 G in there right now, maybe less. The heater is meant for 2 G and up but it's adjustable and it seems to be giving stable temp control even with the lower water volume.
3) Any other recommendations of things I can do to help his recovery?
Well, some kind of a miracle happened because each day since then he has been gradually growing stronger and becoming more active. He still spends quite a bit of time hiding/resting inside a silk plant that I turned on its side but I am definitely now feeling like he's going to make it. He is eating regularly, pooping, and increasing his activity level. And he is no longer spending large amounts of time laying in a u-shape on his side as he used to.
So, my questions....
1) Is it ok to keep him in such a high water temp (85) long-term? It really seems to have done a lot for him and thinking he is still somewhat fragile I am hesitant to make any more big changes right now.
2) Is there any harm in keeping his water level low as long as I do frequent water changes? It is a 2.5 G tank but I think there is only about 1 G in there right now, maybe less. The heater is meant for 2 G and up but it's adjustable and it seems to be giving stable temp control even with the lower water volume.
3) Any other recommendations of things I can do to help his recovery?
