Bettas out of water?!

[BettaFishFever]

Hello everyone of healthy betta message board and moderator staff. i'm new to the board.. and i found many usefull things here.. but.. alas.. scanning through practically all the messages here i have yet to find an answer to what i'm looking for. Anyways..

i've had various bettas over the years usually 1 or two at a time and never had any problems untill this morning. I came down stairs and found they're bowls shattered on my kitchen floor and two partially dried up fishes.. obvious victims of a Kit-kat attack (that's one of my cats). Though i don't know how long they've been lying on the floor i've stuck them back in water, though one(Fritz) seemed to start of being fine the other(Fronze) is not so well.. I know i may loose Fronze to this tragic incident.. but Fritz i'm concerned about now, he started off swimming and acting normal as soon as he was returned to water as the previous nigh i had prepared second bowls for them to go in as it was water change time, but now he's seeming rather sluggish and well turns on his side.. though the situation seems completely bleak and hopeless, i was wondering what i can do to help little Fritz survive. And what if there is any such info on the subject , that in case they end up out of water again for any reason via my cats or little 3 year old hands (Fritz lived through being carryed around in my sons pocket one day surprisingly) how long they can stay out of water before the situation is in fact out of one's control to saving them. Thanks

[BettaFishFever]

little update for anyone who's come across my thread:
Fritz must be a super fish with super powers or something cause acting on instint and a phone call to another betta lover.. a small dose of stress coat has revived Fritz to his normal self.
Fronze how ever did no make it, and when having the chance to look at him more closely while wrapping him up, it seems bettas can't survive a cat bite.

TQ

[amanichen]

BettaFishFever said:

i was wondering what i can do to help little Fritz survive.

Hey, well there's not much you can do for a fish that's been out of water. Basically you'll want to get it back into the same water as quickly as possible and don't bother it for around 4-6 hours. Turn off the lights too.

Don't use any medications, but watch the fish for any fungus or bacteria. If you see any (fungus), go ahead and medicate, but not till the fish has fully rehydrated. The exception to this is if there are any physical injuries -- a reduced dose of melafix might be in order, but again, you have to be careful dosing a dehydrated fish.

[helen]

yesterday i found my poor little betta on the kitchen table with my cat playing with him!! i was sure he was dead, he could have been out of water for up to 20 minutes. i put him in a little cup with water from his tank and rushed to look on here for help. when i saw this thread, i followed your advice Amanichen, gently put him in his tank and wrapped a towel around it so it would be dark and kept him that way for several hours and when i checked he was swimming again, but just to make sure i kept him covered up till this morning.he was hungry and had even made some bubbles during the night. he is back to normal except that he is very nervous. i am just lucky that the cat didn't injure him. when i had my other betta she never tried to catch him so i don't know if she hooked this one out or he jumped but it was a horrible experience. needless to say i will never leave the lid open again. thanks so much for your great advice and so glad i was able to save my little friend, i have only had him since saturday..

[amanichen]

I'm glad it helped =)

I think I'm going to sticky this thread because I think it might be useful for future reference.

[Randi]

OK. after these stories I am not so worried about my problems. I have never herd of a fish out of water for that long

[caray63]

I think the moral of this story would be: 1) never EVER leave the tank/bowl/whatever without something on top to keep the fish in since Bettas CAN and DO jump out of their tanks at times... even some plastic canvas (used by cross stichers to make craft things) can let air in but keep the fish in as well... 2) Gotta cat- and kid-proof the tank as well. We had our two tanks on the top of the computer hutch, and thought they were safe from our cats, til we came downstairs onetime and found one of the cats "hunting" one of the fish and batting at him/the glass -- poor fish was extremely nervous and jumpy ever since. So now they are on the top shelf in our china hutch (has glass doors that close) and they're completely safe from the cats...

Glad your Fritz survived! He must be one scrappy little betta!

[Ella3]

:)Thanks to Amanichen for your helpful comments on this thread. Unfortunately, I had to look this topic up this morning in hopes of saving my Cammy. I am totally baffled at how this happened. I went to feed my girls this morning like usual. I've commented before that they are always eager to eat and always come right to the top of the tank. I started to divide up the pellets and said, "Why do I only see 3 fish?" I had rearranged the tank on Saturday and thought that maybe one was in the cave. They have seemed to use the cave more since I rearranged the tank. My son walked over and said, "Mom! One is on the floor!" I looked down and there was Cammy. She had been out for awhile because she was rather dry. I have no idea how or when she got out of the tank. I have no openings in the tank except the tiny part where the heater cord sticks out. I just can't believe that is where she got out. It seems almost impossible. Plus, she wasn't really lying close to that opening. Maybe she wiggled farther down? I just have no idea.

I've followed the advice and she is in the dark and quiet in a little gallon critter keeper. She is swimming around some and resting some on the bottom. I hope that she will be okay. Her poor fins just looked matted together, but they are opening up some now. I feel like a bad Mommy, but I swear that I really have no idea how she got out.

Wish me luck and hopefully I'll have good news to report!

Thanks,

Ella

[teresa]

Good Luck! I hope Cammy recovers well and that you have no more houdini incedents.

[Ella3]

Thanks Teresa!

So far she seems to be doing okay. She has eaten well for 2 meals. She is swimming some. Her fins still have a point to them where they were stuck together. I'm hoping that will get better.

I ended up putting a cover over the little opening where the heater cord comes out of the tank. I'm paranoid now. That is the only place I can figure that she jumped out. It is really strange though. You are right.....she is a houdini.

Ella

[Ella3]

Oh I meant to say that she is still in the kritter keeper too. THat has a tight lid that fits the entire bowl!! ;D

[ickyfishywishy]

i thought i would add a strange thing that perrywincklez did while he was verry sick, he would jump on to the top of a leaf on his plant and sleep OUT OF THE WATER..... that realy scared me,,,, i dont think he was doing that for fun keep an eye on any betta that looks like hes trying to kill himself!!! :S

[bettaamatuer]

ella3,I am glad that your Cammy is recovering. Good Luck.

[Ella3]

Thank you. She more than recovered....she's doing great and ruling the tank. I was so worried about her because she just looked awful when I found her. I isolated her and started treating her with Melafix. Her fins became unclamped and then I noticed holes all over her poor fins. It was almost a complete line of holes appearing like a stripe through the fins. She was in a separate tank for 2 weeks. In that time I think she caught sight of one of my males. I didn't think that she was that close to him because he never acted like he saw her. She didn't really seem to look his way either, but I started noticing her looking fat. I was so worried that she was starting to get dropsy. One night my daughter was checking on her and started yelling for me to come and look. She was dropping eggs and it looked like snow all over the tank.

Since then she has recovered beautifully with her fins totally grown back. She has rejoined her two sisters. The first night she was flaring at them and doing some chasing. Things have settled back down now and they are getting along great.

That's the update. Thanks for the well wishes!!

Ella