Need advice for hurt fish

[Dana G]

I'm not sure what to do in this situation. I'm new to the hobby.

I have had my betta, Fred, since January. I recently added some buddies for him to the tank (blue dream dwarf shrimp). I have had the shrimp for about 2 months. I noticed some had white dots and their heads recently. After researching, I discovered this is a parasite and dosed my tank this morning with API General Cure.

A few hours after that, I'm watching my Fred chase the shrimpee crew and he gets sucked up the HOB filter intake and just shreds the heck out him. I had quickly unplug the dad gum filter because he couldn't get free. He is really torn up and looks like he has a gash on his side. He swam to bottom and stayed there for a long time. He didn't even come to the top to breath. I turned off the lights in the tank and the room and he is hiding in the top corner where all the dwarf sag grows. 

I cleaned the tank this morning before dosing Api. I'm not sure if I should do another water change to get rid of the parasite med , or just add some ichx and some maracyn to keep him from getting an infection. Everything I've read online so far says clean water and aquarium salt,  but I'm having a hard time believing salt in open wound is good thing. I'm at a loss as to what to do. ????

After the accident,  I read about pantyhose over the intake and did that, but a little to late. (I'm totally kicking my own butt) Just ordered the ACoOp sponge filter so this doesn't happen again. 

Please any advice is appreciated. He looks so hurt. I wish there was an equivalent to tylenol for fish.

 

[Pete]

Sorry about your betta. Keep the water with the parasite meds. Dosing salt is a good idea. Ich-X probably isn't needed since there's no fungus or ich. Maracyn is good to keep on-hand but probably should only be dosed if you see signs of infection. 

From the Co-Op blog post: https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/aquarium-salt-for-sick-fish

Quote

Level 1 Treatment

1 Tbsp Salt per 3 Gallons of Water

Add 1 tablespoon (Tbsp) of salt per 3 gallons of water. You can pour the salt directly into the aquarium or hospital tank, but some people like to dissolve the salt in a small cup of water first. This level of salt is like using Neosporin topical ointment for a small cut (in other words, it’s not very strong). It’s used to fight mild cases of bacterial and fungal infection. Plus, it gently irritates the fish’s slime coat, causing the fish to make more beneficial mucus that can block some parasites and microorganisms from reaching its body.

We’ve kept and sold thousands of fish at our fish store, and this level of salt is safe for virtually all fish – except anchor catfish. Keep the fish in the salt solution for 4 to 5 days, and then increase the concentration if there’s no improvement.

 

 

[Dana G]

Thank you for your reply..

Dosed the salt accordingly. Fred is swimming around now, albeit a bit awkwardly. Such a shame. He had such gorgeous long flowing fins. His fins were about 2.5 almost 3 inches of long flowy blueish green purdyness lol. He's a half moon black orchard, so the petco cup said that he came in. I think he'll be ok.