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I gave my girlfriend, about a year and a half ago, a betta which has as of late become 'lazy' if you will and spends most of his day laying down on the gravel, or up against a decoration. He had been doing this for about a month now.

Last week, somehow, and dont ask me, the bottom cracked and the water obviously left house, leaving the fish to plop around left and right for I dont know how long, her father found him in the small tank, alive.

Since then he became a tad more 'inert' if you will. I decided to take a look at him and took him to the LFS, the lady there seems to think something related to temperature drop could be the reason. Costa Rica for some reason has been chilly the last few months and even when the sun is out, your hands tend to be cold, that kind of stuff. Nothing like a US winter, but cold for our standards. For example, at night the temperature has gone down to about 15 degrees Celsius.

To put it best, now that I have had him for three days, he seems to be parazlyed from the 'waist' down. He eats, he really doesnt move much, when I put food in for him he shakes his way up to the surface to eat. Other than that its mostly laying down. Aside from this, he seems to have a couple veins *or whatever they're called in fish* near his tail that are bleeding. You can see the little red lines.

She told me to treat him with triple sulfa to try and help him out. Im wodnering, if youve seen this before, if you have any recommendations, as simple as they may be, Id like to help him out.

Thanks for your time and patience.

Try some melafix and primafix (OK to use together) - just a few drops of each for a small bowl, and see if that helps. It does sound like he might have gotten too cold. Lower the water level in the bowl a bit to make it easier for him to get to the surface.

Is there aeration in the tank? Make sure there is some water movement for him too, only slight though, dont want him pushed around the tank. What is the temp of the water? I agree that he may be cold too.

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Before you criticize someone walk a mile in their shoes. That way you're a mile away and you have their shoes.

Cold he may be, but id be surprised if it caused actual paralysis. Maldigestion and inactivity yes, but paralysis would be highly unusual. I think mycobacterium could be a real possibility here.

To me, he just sounds like he is aging with a few bumps in the road. The trick will be flattening the bumps while keeping the fish happy If you bought him from a pet shop originally he's be over 2yo by now, and the pet shop boys start to go downhill and pick up all manner of things around that age.

15*C is low, but the lack of water is just as worrying. Work on keeping him warm and stable for the next two weeks before you try too much medicating. That is awfully low and he'll need time to recover. The fin problem is actually a whole body problem that will need attention, but I would be wary about doing it just yet.

Is he bright and active? No dullness or colour loss? No grey areas where the flesh has died while he was out of water? Is he shimmying it like it is strapped to a paddlepop stick?

"Paralysed" on one side from the middle back towards the tail isn't abnormal for the older guys. It isn't great, but it usually comes right with clean water and warmth if it is going to come right at all. If it is both sides and he looks stiff as a board behind, you are probably dealing with either physical damage from the trauma or a systemic infection that'll be hard to stop. In a young fish they are difficult, in an older fish more so. Given the red fin streaks, I suspect the latter. They almost always come hand in hand with infection.

Are his fins a bit thickened and not functioning or flowing as they should also?

Keep the water clean and warm and feed him something fibrous and meaty (I'd lay off bloodworms if he'll take brine shrimp, just for ease of processing. You need to get/keep his body strong enough to handle meds if you are going to try that. Warm clean water should help him sort himself out. If you are putting lots of additives in the water, I'd reduce the ones you need and stop the ones you don't. The less things he has to process, the better.

If you can get something more modern than tri-sulfa, I'd use that as tri-sulfa is likely to knock the stuffing out of him as help him. If you can't find anything else, try convincing him to take it orally. IME it has more of an effect on streaked fins and other infections while reducing the wear on the rest of the fish.


I have a feeling that he is not going to come fully good at this stage. If he's fighting fit you might be able to make him more comfy and active, but after the bodily stress of a tank break, he's not going to be at his peak. I have my fingers crossed for a weak opportunistic infection

(hope I haven't rambled or repeated much, I'm kinda dozy)

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Could also be mycobacterium taking its usual many months to rear its ugly head, many betta farms are riddled with the stuff. That could unquestionably cause spinal deformity and paralysis, in cold temps without a truly functional immune system , he cant resist it forever.

Indeed it could be.


For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett