HELP!!! Strange Betta Wound

[montanafish gal]

P.S. and your betta told me to tell you he also wants to stay in the 55 gallon for the rest of his life.

 

[BagelDog]

I'll send your novelty sized check in the mail shortly.:lol2:
Seriously, I'll send something out your way. You deserve it.

I suppose I was looking for someone who has heard of or been though the same ordeal. Is this common? Will I do it again if I overfeed him? Could it have been one of his tank mates?

I agree with your use of Occam's Razor. I think it has to be a simple problem with a simple fix, but everyone just says,"ewww!" and forgets to add any feedback. I guess I was alarmed by all of the responses with nothing but gasps.

Right now I feel confident in my treatment of fasting, clean water and isolation to allow the wound to heal. What I'm more interested in is the cause of all this.

There will still be a mystery prize for the member that can give me a bit more insight about my betta. Keep the answers coming!

Is my situation that strange that no one will even attempt advice?

 

[paperdragon]

Is my situation that strange that no one will even attempt advice?

I vaguely recall seeing a mention of a similar injury once well over a year ago, and I can't remember exactly where I saw it, how it happened, how it was treated, or even what species of fish it was. So, yeah, it's a pretty strange situation.

 

[LeahK]

Right now I'm getting ready to send LeahK a box of randomness outside of the contiguous U.S. for her to open, only to be disappointed in. (She doesn't know this yet.)

lol. I'm waitin'....

Is my situation that strange that no one will even attempt advice?

That's probably the case. This has happened to me before, when my fish get some problem that really is off the radar. People are hesitant to throw out advice when they're unsure if it would be good advice or bad.

Is this common? Will I do it again if I overfeed him? Could it have been one of his tank mates?

I'm going to throw caution to the wind and offer my opinions on your questions:

I don't think it was caused by overfeeding. I think if an over-full tummy had caused a wound that goes all the way through his skin, he'd be dead. That would pretty mean that his stomach had exploded. I can't imagine a piece of food in his stomach pushing itself outward and causing the relatively clean would that's he's got.

So, I'm guessing the wound is a puncture would and it came from the outside. Maybe it was his tankmates, though that seems unlikely. Maybe he poked himself on something sharp in the tank. Any candidates you can think of?

Or, this could be some kind of weird flesh-eating bacterial infection, although again, I don't think he'd look so pretty if that were the case

Anyway, sorry no one else has had an answer for this. In any case, you've done a great job healing him up. In that second pic, the wound looks much smaller :thumbsup:

 

[bettaobsession]

Argh! uggh! sorry i dont have any advice just wanted to wish you good luck!

 

[colematthewmala]

Wow, sorry to hear about that, that sounds pretty serious and unfortunately it sounds like there's a high risk of him dying. I wish you and your betta the best. sorry

 

[BagelDog]

Every other fish keeping problem I've ever had I've been able to hop on the AC and within an hour or two get some solid advice. I was getting pretty frustrated with the lack of responses to the first thing I didn't think was a dumb question. I guess I really was scaring people off with my broken/bionic betta.

Everyone, thank you for the responses. Even your bewilderment was reassuring.

So if anyone cares to know, our experimental betta is named Goldie. This name came from my 4yr old. She wanted to name some of my fish so we started brainstorming. Initially she wanted to name everyone of my goldfish "Goldie". After she tried "Goldie" on the first the goldfish we managed to find better names. Then I asked her what she wanted to name the betta, her response,"GOLDIE!!!". At that point I gave up and laughed at the irony of the name.

I'll update with pics this morning.

 

[Dangerdoll]

The problem is this is a very unique situation, I am sure. I am going to agree with Montanafish in that there is a puncture wound to the fish but would be more apt to think the puncture is before his stomach. I would think if his stomach was punctured, it would be a instant (or close to it) death. I would make sure he is getting enough food to pass this wound today but then I would forego feeding him for a few days and let that heal up, making sure your water is pristine so that it can heal.

 

[Jspigs]

I am sorry to hear about your Betta.

I am still a newbie so I can't be of much help but I do agree that the wound was probably caused by something sharp it the tank.

I would also like to say good luck in treating this problem.


EDIT: I also think that you should keep him in the 55 gallon until he heals up completely.

 

[lime_smash]

I agree with dangerdoll. Stop feeding for a few days to give the wound time to heal. If food is coming out of it everytime you feed and you are feeding every day then it has no time to heal. Never seen anything like it. Good luck.