a little while ago my little brother got into my betta fish tank and tried and failed to "hold him" well then my fish just kind of sank to the bottom of the tank breathing really heavily, its happened before but i was worried because it looked like he was suffocating so i put some of his tank water in a container and then put him in it, which was probably not the best idea but if he was going to die anyway then it didn't really matter, well he started doing much better when i did so it must have been the right thing to do, anyway while he was in there he wasn't eating and then his tail started falling out. eventually his whole tail had fallen out and then he began to eat again so I put him back into the tank and he is doing fine now his tail is even starting to grow back. I would just like to know why his tail fall out like that.
What happened to my Betta fish?
- Thread starter SMRT
- Start date
Either the handling of the fish tore the tail (they are pretty prone to such tearing) or it might be an infection from either something on your brother's hands, or just from stressing the fish out and/or removing the slime coat and something getting in.
Melafix from Petco should help the tail heal up (or at least prevent anything from retarding the regrowth).
Sadly your Betta's tail may never be quite a nice as it once was. Once they get damaged, they're never quite the same. However, it will regrow enough to allow your Betta to move freely and to live a good life.
It might grow back to full, but I've only had one do that out of all the ones I've had to deal with.
Melafix from Petco should help the tail heal up (or at least prevent anything from retarding the regrowth).
Sadly your Betta's tail may never be quite a nice as it once was. Once they get damaged, they're never quite the same. However, it will regrow enough to allow your Betta to move freely and to live a good life.
It might grow back to full, but I've only had one do that out of all the ones I've had to deal with.
How interesting. Glad your Betta is doing better after his encounter!
The only thing I can think of, is when your brother was attempting to "hold the pretty fishie" he may have accidentally torn the long tail some how so that it wasn't noticeable, but it affected the health of the tail. The tear spread through the heavy tail fin which would account for the stress and not eating, but when the tail fell off your betta was no longer suffering from that heavy dragging pain. He brightened right up and started eating again. And then his tail grew back because betta regrow damaged fins. It's part of their recovery process as a fighter, good healing time.
That's my theory anyway.
The only thing I can think of, is when your brother was attempting to "hold the pretty fishie" he may have accidentally torn the long tail some how so that it wasn't noticeable, but it affected the health of the tail. The tear spread through the heavy tail fin which would account for the stress and not eating, but when the tail fell off your betta was no longer suffering from that heavy dragging pain. He brightened right up and started eating again. And then his tail grew back because betta regrow damaged fins. It's part of their recovery process as a fighter, good healing time.
That's my theory anyway.
That happened to my fishy too. Your little brother probably had bacteria on his hands and it got onto your fish causing it's tail to fall off. The tail will grow back but it does take lots of time. If you want you can get medicine at a pet store for something called "fin rot" it'll help your fish get the vitamins and what not to help your fish grow its tail back a little bit fast. Good luck. 