Promises Broken

I know I promised I'd never do anything to this new betta fish. Well, I kind of went back on that today a little, right now. Because of my new job and all the stress I am feeling and the allergies and what seems to happen to me every spring/summer with the bad air here and my anxiety, and the fish jerking in the tank, I thought I needed to calm him down some. He was practically climbing the walls of the bowl when I moved him from the tank to the bowl, and I don't know why.

So, I chased him with a spoon and took him out of the tank a couple of times. The second time, I poked his eye with a toothpick and he immediately flipped back into the bowl. Now he is moving around, but much more calmly. Could this be because he's tired now?

The first time I took him out with the spoon, he flipped onto my desk, my mouse, and even the keyboard. Finally I was able to pick him back up with the spoon and put him back in the bowl.

This fish used to have no fear of me. It didn't know what I did to the other betta fish. Now, it's definitely fearful. I don't know if I'll be able to get this fish to eat ever again. Well, of course, we all know that there's an answer for that, don't we?

So, we'll see how it goes. I like the way the fish is swimming around much better now that I chased it around with the spoon and took it out of the bowl twice. I didn't really do much else to it, so there should be no permanent damage to the fish.

Now, I'm considering taking the fish out a third and maybe fourth time. Once I start it's hard to stop. I'll keep you posted. Hey, the fish made it one month, that's about the longest time of any fish I've had in awhile.

A new betta has arrived today

Today, I got a new betta fish. I really want this fish to do well. So far he is swimming around normally in the bowl. Of course, this is always the way it starts, the fish always starts off doing well, then usually progresses downward as the days go by.

So, I have some personal committments for this fish that I want to say. First of all, I am determined not to physically injure the fish. I don't want to poke its eyes out, poke at its gills, put a toothpick in its mouth, etc. If the fish gets worse, it will be because of its own behavior. And the lack of heat in the water, too, I would imagine. So, in the bowl that it's in, I want to give this fish every imaginable advantage. Then let's see how it does.

That's all I can say for now, more updates on this fish will follow.

Update -- not looking good for this fish

Maybe I won't have to do it for him. Now he's laying on the bottom of the bowl on his side. He's still breathing but that's about it. I think this is definitely towards the end of his life. Now he just swam up to the top to get air. He's a little to one side. I think his best moments are behind him. I think that he is weak. He can swim up and get air, that is good. But he really can't do much else. I can tell that he struggles to swim up. He's back near the bottom now. He swam up a little, I pushed him back down a few times. It was with little effort. He's back on the bottom, slightly to one side. He's breathing a little bit heavy, moderate gill movement.

I took him out and put the toothpick in his mouth a few times. Now he's back on the bottom on his side. Still breathing, but, not in very good shape.

I took him out and poked him again in his mouth with a toothpick. He's in worse shape now. He's at the top of the water vertical and not moving at all.

Now he tried to swim toward the top and then sank down to the bottom. I think he really is near the end of his life. So sad.

Now he was able to swim to the top. He's staying at the top now.

He's really weak. He's at the top, slightly on one side. Just sitting there and taking in air occasionally. He's still breathing, but that's about it. He can't seem to move that much.

He's at the bottom now, head first. He's still breathing but i know he can't be doing that well.

Now he's at the bottom on his side. He can't seem to swim up to the top at all. His skin is pale. I think it's almost over for him. He'll be dead soon. He can't swim up for air anymore. It's very unfortunate. He doesn't have any strength left in him.
I saw him struggle for a little bit and then stop. Poor thing can't come up for air. It's just a matter of time now until he's gone.

That's it. The fish is dead. I can see no more gill movement.

Damaged internal organs?

I think I may have damaged one of the fish's internal organs when I poked him in the gill membrane. Possibly the liver? I'm not sure. But this would or could explain why the fish is not swimming around very well. Seems like he often floats to the top or floats to the bottom. Don't know if he's going to get much better. Of course if he doesn't improve eventually I guess I'll have to end it for him, don't want him to suffer indefinitely.

Anyway, he's not choosing to move very fast. I can see where he lost some of his fins when I took him out of the bowl, flipped him over, held him down, and poked him. I know he was trying to resist. In the end, of course, he lost out. Would it be any easier on him if I just put him in a cup for him to try to recover?

I don't know what to do with this fish. He seems not healthy enough to live well on his own, yet, not damaged enough to die. What should be done with him?

So I chased him around with the spoon for awhile, and kept taking him out of the water and poking at his eyes slightly with a toothpick. I think I've damaged one of his eyes at least. Now I think I've definitely done some damage to one or both of his eyes. I took him out. He kept flipping over. But I kept poking at his eyes. Going to take him out and test him again. I think I got him. Damaged both his eyes, now he can't see at all.

He's doing the same thing it appears, swimming up to the top and staying against the side of the bowl. Now of course, he's much more tired than before. I might see if I can scoop him up and poke him in the eyes a few more times. But I haven't really pinned him down yet. Only one time. I know that's something that really weakens a fish.

Well I think he can't do much now. He's got two blind eyes. He's been picked up out of the bowl about 15 times, approximately. He's almost out of energy. He hasn't been hit over the head though, thats a good thing.

Right now he's at the bottom of the bowl, contemplating his fate. He's lost a few more fins. He can't eat. He does seem to be able to swim straight, although it is of course in spurts. He couldn't swim smoothly since his first treatment. I see the scabs from where he was poked in the gills. I dont know if he could withstand another one of those treatments today. His fins seem very clamped now. Of course, he's lost more fins, so there is that, too. He's on the top on the side of the bowl, as is usual for him since his first treatment.

I've noticed he keeps jerking from one side to the other when he swims. I don't want to kill him now because my sister is here, I don't want her to think I killed the fish. Although I probably will later.

He can't do much at all. I'd say his options are really limited right now.

I fooled him temporarily. I put the spoon at the top to block his surface air. Because he couldn't see, he probably thought the spoon was everywhere. He went to the bottom. Because he still can't see, he probably doesn't know where the surface is, or if he can get there. He'll probably try again. Eventually. Now I'm going to leave him alone and see if he does.

I think he'll be gone later this evening. For one reason or another. I'll keep you posted.

He just scrambled up to the top. But he hasn't taken a breath yet. That's good, he hasn't given up -- yet. His fins are looking a bit rotted. I think because he lost many of them. Now he swam to the other side of the bowl. At least he can still swim to the top, and he can still get air. Those are two good things.

No more bubbles now. And I think no more pellets ever for this fish.

He's back at the top of the bowl now. His gills are still moving. He's no longer breathing heavily.

It sure would be good to hear this music while the fish was swimming around but I know that's not going to happen again.

I see the fish swim a little bit every now and then, but mostly he just stays in the same place. Now he's on the bottom, slightly to one side. I think he can't hold himself up straight if not for resting on one side of the bowl.

Here is the fish, back at the top of the bowl, now slightly vertical.

I just don't think he's going to last. If all he can do is sit at the top / bottom and breath, and can't eat, then that's not very much of a life. I think I should end his life for him soon. Because he's probably not going to get any better than this.

Fish update

Well, the fish is no better. He's at the top of the bowl, against one side, taking a breath every now and then. He's not moving his front fins. Rear fins are somewhat clamped together. He's not moving around that much. He pretty much stays still.

So he swam to the other side of the bowl. Now he's doing pretty much the same thing as before, floating on the top of the water on the side of the bowl. He wasn't moving much before, but after this treatment, now he's almost not moving at all. Again, I should have left him alone. He was doing somewhat ok, although he wasn't eating. Has he lost the use of his left fin? Nevermind I saw him moving his right fin slightly. He went to the bottom briefly but then just floated back to the top.

Now he floated back to teh bottom. Now he's coming back up to the top, to take a breath of air. Now he's back to staying on the top at the side of the bowl. Anything he does, he moves slowly. I think he is distraught. Of course he didn't think this could happen to him. His eyes are less alert than previously were.

It seems like his fins are even more clamped together. And when he swims up for air from the bottom, he swims vertically. He's not dead, but he's a far way from where he was just a day ago. I think this fish's better days are over.

I "fixed" the fish today

I did it. What I talked about yesterday. I took the fish out, laid him on one side, and poked him in that red area behind his gills. I think I did it several times. Then, I put him on his other side and did the same thing.

Now I put the fish back in the bowl. He's definitely not doing as well. He's at the top against one side of the bowl. I wonder if he can still swim around? At first he was swimming somewhat wildly, but now he has settled down. Oh, when I put my finger on the wall of the bowl next to him, he starts swimming wildly again. But then he calms down and moves back up to the top. I wonder how he will do now. Now he's just staying at the top. Wonder how long he's going to do that for, or if that's all he's going to do. If that's all, then I may have to poke him some more. For now, Im just going to let him be, and see what he does. Oh, and he's not flapping his fins anymore. I wonder if he's in pain? Or just shock, that he could be so easily controlled. He can't seem to swim calmly anymore. I wonder if this is permanent, or temporary? He seems to be a little bit to one side. I think he's using the wall to keep himself straight. So, he's definitely got some problems now. The fish is obviously having trouble swimming on one side, and has to compensate by swimming harder on the other side. And he seems only able to swim around the sides of the bowl. I hope he improves. But, I wouldn't count on it. He's slightly to one side. That's not a good sign. Who would have known that a few pokes on the red part behind his gills could make him act this way? I didn't think I hit him that hard. Apparently for him, it was painful. I think I may have to end it for him later today if he doesn't improve, because being just on one side is really not good, it means there is something wrong with the fish. Also, now it appears that his fins are more clamped together. I thing he is definitely in a lot worse shape than before. He must really be hurting. I didn't mean it like that.

I think this is the start toward the end of this fish's life. It's a shame. But it's true today that he was barely moving around, not eating, and not blowing bubbles. I'm thinking these fishes really don't do well in a bowl, they really probably need, like I've read, a tank with a heater and a filter, etc.

I'm sure I have permanently injured this fish. He is not acting like he was before. Now, his fins are clamped and he can't swim calmly, when he swims it looks like a great effort on his part. He swims quickly to the top to get air, then swims back down. I think one side of him is injured, because he struggles slightly to swim not sideways. He doesn't move his fins as much as he used to. When he's still, he doesn't move them at all. He mainly sticks to the sides of the bowl when swimming. And he likes to stay at the bottom.

About treatments for your fish

I just want to say that if you enjoy watching your beta fish swim around the tank/bowl, if you enjoy watching it move, etc., then you shouldn't do any of these "treatments" as described in previous posts.

Your fish will more than likely not be the same after a treatment. They are very sensitive fish and they just can't see to take much in terms of these kinds of things.

So if you're considering poking / depriving oxygen / chasing / or any other related behavior, think carefully about the consequences.

The fish is pretty to watch swim around. I'm willing to say that if you do something to the fish, you're going to wish you hadn't done it later. And, you can't take it back. Sometimes, the fish will never recover. Then, you may want to repeat the same or related behaviors again with the fish, which will certainly result in the fish's untimely death.

Then, there will definitely be no way you can take it back. So, just think about these things before harming your betta fish in any way. It would be best, like I said, if you did none of these things at all, and just left the fish to swim as it does and live life in a normal everyday way.

You don't really have to "wonder" how the fish would feel / react if you did x or y or z to the fish, chances are, it wouldn't be as good as it was before. It's that simple.

Fish have a lot of energy although they don't always use it, they can be very energetic when swimming away from an attack, or trying to escape. However, that will deplete their energy and also weaken the fish's defenses, that means the fish will have less energy and less resistance later towards a future attack.

This will eventually lead to the extreme weakening of the fish, to the point where it can barely swim around. You may see a fish like this swim in short bursts, swim slightly on one side, something like that. If a fish is swimming on one side, that is really bad, and the damage I would say is probably irreversible at that point. Then, you might feel like you want to end the fish's life and put it out of it's misery. The idea is to avoid getting to this point in the first place.

So that's the advice I have for you this evening.