Ajax is certainly a jumper. This time, he’s gotten himself into trouble. Of course his tank came with it’s own little lid, however it didn’t completely cover the top of the tank, and gaps were left. I didn’t think his aim was good enough for him to get out of the tank, and stupid me didn’t cover the gaps. I feel absolutely terrible. Thank goodness, bettas have a heavinly organ called a labyrinth organ. This means that should a betta jump out of the tank, he can gulp air and get oxygen this way. Therefore, labyrinth fishes will never suffocate if they jump out of a tank, they will die when their lungs dry up. I found him in a box with some crepe paper. He was pretty dry, only barely sticky from his slime coat. He was stuck to the crepe paper, so i put it in the water to soften, and eventually Ajax pulled himself away. The poor thing is still mainly in one piece. His fins didn’t tear off, but they spit and some rays have stuck together. His eyes are cloudy and I fear he may be blind in one eye. He appears to have minimal sight in the other. Hopefully this will heal in time, and he will still have vision in at least one of his eyes. I have turned off the filter, as he is so weak I don’t want to make him swim against the filter in the state he is in. I have also removed the carbon from the filter and administered Melafix to the tank. Melafix is an antibacterial medication. It should help prevent his wounds getting infected and speed up the healing process of his fins. As I watch him now, about 15 minutes after the incident, he has gotten most of the fluff off his body. He has only just started to become active and is begining to swim a little bit. Before he was just lying on the bottom of the tank, recooperating from the ordeal. Tomorrow afternoon I will head down to the pet shop and pick up a larger bottle of Melafix. I will probably be treating him for one or two weeks. Tonight I will feed all the fish frozen brine shrimp. I am hoping Ajax will be tempted by the meal, otherwise he probably won’t eat for a day or two. On Thursday I will be getting some live food. From what I remember, my petstore currently stocks bloodworms, black worms, white worms and brine shrimp. For now I have covered the tank with a fry screen-like netting, but within a few weeks (hopefully) I will be getting a lid custom-cut lid for not only Ajax’s tank, but for the 18g community aswell. I leave you today with this message:
If you’re going to have a betta, COVER THE TANK!!! Don’t be stupid and make the same mistake I did. Don’t assume it will be okay. Chances are, it will not. It is in the betta’s nature to jump. They jump from one rice paddy to the next in the wild. I’m incredibly lucky to have found Ajax in time and he will probably make a complete recovery, but if it happens again I might be too late.
AQUARiUM 