New betta fish -- a small surgery

Well, I was getting bored with my new betta fish swimming in the bowl. As you might have guessed. So, I wanted to know, what would happen if I punctured his eyes with a needle, but didn't actually take them out?

So, I did the procedure on the fish a few minutes ago. This is how I did it. I took him out of the tank, got him with my hands, had to grab in there for a minute to get him to come out, but of course, I got him out.

Then, I put him down on the bathroom counter and tried to poke his eye with a needle. Of course, he flipped over a few times in self defense, making it difficult for me to poke at his eye.

What to do? So, I held him down by his fins and let him squirm a little. This caused the fish to get tired, loose energy, and would make him less reactive to the touch.

Then, I successfully poked at his eye with my needle several times. I could see a little blood in his eye, too. The needle definitely went in, finally he let it go in, and it wasn't very deep.

Then, I flipped him over and made sure that I poked his other eye a few times. When I was done, I let him back in the tank. Now he's not moving much, he's staying near the top, in one place, and taking in air every now and then.

He's definitely not swimming. I'll have to wait to see if he swims around. If he doesn't, I've got some other options for him. I'm thinking now that his eyes are slightly damaged (I don't know how much, he can still see I'm pretty sure), wouldn't it be fun to put him in the cup, both completely under water, and on the side of the tank, to see how he reacts? This is something I'd definitely like to try.

I'm going to give him some time to recover and see if he starts moving around again. I think I've definitely stopped his bubble blowing for now!

He can still see, when I put my hand on the side of the tank, he darted around like crazy. I definitely think I've made him nervous.

Well, he's got a little time to recover, not much, and then maybe I'll finish him off. Of course, who wants to look at a fish that doesn't move around?

He's breathing a little fast. He doesn't swim smoothly now. He darts around the tank when he moves. I think that I really scared him. Poor little guy. Lets see how he does. Maybe even this small eye procedure was too much for him to take. I can see through his gills that he's breathing heavier than normal. I can only guess that he's recovering. Time will tell. He is flapping his front fins, so that's good for now. But he's definitely just staying in place.

I'm looking at him from the side of the tank. He looks sad. His eye looks inflamed. I think that he didn't think this could happen to him. Life does the strangest things. Sometimes life is unpredictable. One minute he's swimming all over the bowl, although slowly, the next minute he's at the top breathing air, trying to recover from having his eyes poked at.

If he doesn't recover, all I can say is, I'll have other procedures planned for him. It's going to be a busy night for this fish.

His right eye looks swollen. I guess it is irritated from being poked at. I don't know if I can stand to have a fish that has a swollen eye. We'll see how he does. Definitely his left eye looks better than his right eye. His eyes looked better overall before I started poking at them. I almost wish I hadn't done it, but its too late for that now. I'm afraid his right eye might get infected. I think it's time for the cup for a few minutes. Maybe soon.

OK, I put him in the cup. But there is some air at the top for him. I'm going to see if he finds it. Of course, I've got to wait to finish him off until my sister leaves for the evening, I don't want her knowing that I killed my fish tonight.

So far, he's at the bottom of the cup. I'm going to keep my eye on the time. It's kind of hard to see him. I think I'm going to change the water. Maybe poke him the right eye again.

OK, I took his right eye out completely. I think that wasn't too good for him. He's swimming slightly on one side near the top. Bleeding a little bit on the eye socket where I took the eye out. I should have left it in, even if it was swollen. He's jerking in his movements, too. I can see he's not going to last the night and I'm going to have to get another fish tomorrow.

He's swimming in circles near the top. I know he is in not too good of shape. I never should have messed him up in the first place. Now he'll never swim to the bottom of the tank. Of course, unless I put him in the cup and make him stay there. I don't want to mess up his other eye, that would be totally unfair to him. I am thinking about putting him in the cup though.

Now he is moving around a bit, slowly on the top. I want to put him in the cup but I think he is not ready yet. If I put him in the cup now, it could finish him. I want to give him some recovery time first. Then see how he does in the cup.