A pet store surrendered this little guy to me today. I came across him a week ago and couldn’t stop thinking about him, so I’ve spent the week setting up and cycling a 6gallon tank. All water parameters are in healthy range (ph, ammonia, nitrate and nitrites).
He is bent in a curved shape, with his tail pointing down he looks like an ‘S’. He is floating on the top and looks lifeless until you touch him and he swims away. Have tried thawed blood worms and he has no interest in food.
I am a Vet Tech so have some common sense, but not much fish experience. I have been reading about swim bladder and other potential causes and treatments, but don’t want to put him through any unnecessary stress. Swim bladder examples online look to have them bent side to side, my guy is bent up and down.
Any ideas on what this could be?
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1g5mi76
Posted by NovacaineXo
3 Comments
Does he stay bent when he’s swimming? That indicates a spinal injury or deformation and there’s not a ton you can do to heal that.
Does he show any symptoms other than this? Anything that looks like discoloration? White fuzz? Are the tips of the fins ragged and red or black in color (it’s hard to tell from the pictures)?
As for helping him. No matter what’s up with him, the foundation for helping is clean, warm water. You’ll want to keep the water pretty warm. They can tolerate up to 85F but I always go for 80 so there’s some buffer room. Do weekly 10% water changes.
For food, try different things. I’ve got a little dude that hates blood worms but will devour fly larva and daphnia like nobody’s business. Garlic juice or Seachem Garlic Guard can help get their appetite stimulated. Just soak whatever food in it for around 10 seconds and then try to feed.
Seachem stress guard is a good well rounded thing to have on hand. It helps keep them chill and helps fight off infections.
If he’s having issues with feeling lethargic, which it sounds like he is, giving them a safe place to hang out near the surface. Betta hammocks can be found at pet stores and you can suction them to the glass pretty close to the water line. You can also do it with a suction cup and a free-floating life plant like anubias or you could get him a floating betta log.
Since you don’t know what’s wrong with him, it would be a good idea to have a couple wide-spectrum antibiotics on hand and/or some of the basic treatments. The ones I keep on hand all the time are Maracyn and Maracyn Oxy, Kanaplex, and API Fin and Body. API general cure is good too but I don’t keep it stocked as regularly because it took me a while to go through it with multiple rescue bettas.
Finally, if all else fails and his quality of life seems poor or he’s slowly declining, clove oil is your safest method of euthanizing him that’s not just smushing him. There are a lot of helpful guides for dosage on this sub.
Bent spines can mean Fish Tuberculosis, so Antibiotics may help.
Another disease that can cause bent spines is Whirling, but he’d have neurological issues and would swim in really weird whirling motions (Parasite, “Myxosoma cerebralis”, has no confirmed cure).
Crosscheck the symptoms with these.
And if you have any cuts or small wounds, disinfect them after working on the tank, Fish TB can infect humans so proceed with caution. ^^
Does he stay floating on the top or is he able to swim down and stay there instead of floating back up?