So this happened . . .

[Epiphanaea]

 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

You are such a godsend for this fish. I love seeing rescue stories like this ❤️ 

[Epiphanaea]

She(?) is perking up and was eating as of this morning.  I want to vlog her progress.  There are hints of color in her fins, it could be dramatic.

[Epiphanaea]

His/her eye seems to be - re-inflating?  I could see that she still had some ability to move the muscles comprising the socket, but I think she might get the whole eyeball back (though probably not sight in that eye).  She’s also showing a small speck of intense blue on her back, and some hints of variegated color in tail and fins.  Might be marbled / koi?  Or might just be coming back in patches.  

[Odd Duck]

Tiny fishy brain, “Well I don’t want it now.  You ruined it when you dumped out my toxic waste home waters.”  😆 

You could add more IAL leaves, and if you have any extra plants, you could float some in there and get her more comfortable quicker.

[Epiphanaea]

Her (still not sure on that) remaining eye is still looking a little puffy so dosed with kanaplex this morning.  Hopefully that will take care of any bacterial component to her fin issues, too.  I gave her a couple big sycamore leaves, which she seemed to enjoy, and a river rock.  I baked leaves and rock before introducing, so the rock had any moisture baked out of it, and thus was releasing tiny bubbles.  This was apparently very entertaining.  

[Epiphanaea]

 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

She looks so happy! Cute she found a tunnel in the leaves when they were floating. The tannins are looking very good. And 👍 👍 for the name. I am a big fan; have several of her albums. 

[Epiphanaea]

Find the fish.

 

Edited October 13, 2023 by Epiphanaea

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 10/12/2023 at 8:48 PM, Epiphanaea said:

Find the fish.

 

Is this the same tank?  Looks great!  Found her.  She loves it.  And check out the bubble nests!

Any change with her eye?  Maybe no ocular tissue was left or, not sure..?

Edited October 13, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Epiphanaea]

Sad update, guys - I had to euthanize Dolores today.

The below is going to be a complete trauma dump with graphic medical detail.  I think it could potentially provide some other fish owner useful info to give their fish a more peaceful end, though, so here goes.

I’M SERIOUS, MEDICAL GORE AND STUFF WITH EYES.  TURN BACK NOW.

Dolores’ remaining eye had a small bump and some swelling from the time that I got her.  It increased over time.  I was never sure if this was scar tissue from pop-eye that recurred and got worse, or a tumor.  Kanaplex seemed to reduce the swelling slightly, temporarily, but it always came back worse.  Didn’t know if that meant I was treating the wrong thing or that I was creating antibiotic resistance.  Was not treating currently, eye looked very swollen but stable, not increasing.  

This morning during feeding she began thrashing and trying to burrow or press that eye against the substrate or glass.  The other eye - the previously ruptured, desiccated one - swelled slightly as this occurred, so there was obviously some significant intracranial pressure occurring.

As we were obvious at the “fix this or euthanize” stage, I caught her and attempted to make a very tiny puncture in the top edge of the eye where the swelling was worst, in case this was fluid buildup due to infection and it could be at least temporarily resolved by alleviating the pressure.  (My cat is diabetic, I have sterile insulin needles on hand).  This produced no result; despite being translucent, the swelling was solid tissue, not fluid.  

At that point I decided to euthanize.  I had euthanized a goldfish with clove oil before and it appeared to be a painless experience for them.  Unfortunately and rather traumatically, this did not prove to be the case with Dolores; she began thrashing in great distress.  I had read that benzocaine was used as a fish anesthetic; I had benzocaine oral gel, which was obviously not the ideal format to administer, but I applied that to her eye and also around (but not in) her gill area.  This calmed her very quickly.  Once she seemed completely anesthetized - not responsive to touch - I added more clove oil to attempt euthanasia.  And more, and more, and more benzocaine, and she was still breathing shallowly but regularly after several minutes.  

Because of that, I thought maybe I had jumped the gun on euthanasia - aside from the eye, she was obviously strong and had a will to live.  At this point I need to explain that I worked in a veterinary hospital for over a decade, over a decade ago - not a *good* hospital, the place was a complete clown show with a borderline sociopathic owner, but I was young, dumb, and poor.  The upshot of this being that I got a lot more practical medical experience than me and my high school diploma probably should have.  One of those experiences was performing a post-mortem resection of an eye with a mass in it, to be sent out for histopathology.  My qualifications to do this were “being the person who didn’t have fits of the shudders at the very idea.”  But I had done it, and neatly and professionally.  This was on a decease rabbit.

All of this is to make myself sound a bit less psycho for even thinking of attempting eye surgery on my fish - but  I could try this, right?  How different could it be?  (Spoilers: very.) Fish is completely knocked out and the other option is death.  So I did try, but further spoilers: xacto knife blades are actually not comparable to surgical scalpels, betta fish are extremely tiny, and there’s a reason surgeons have all manner of clamps and not just cutting instruments.  I am not sure if the bit of anatomy that defeated me was connective tissue or tumor (or connective tissue tumor), but it extended into the socket and I could not hold any of it - her head, the tumor, her eye - well enough to cut it.  Plus, if it *was* tumor, and extending into her skull,  I was doing her no favors.

So I stopped trying, and as she was already out, added yet more clove oil to the water.  And waited.  *And she started to wake up,* because FML.  Slathered her entire head in benzocaine.  She quieted, and eventually stopped breathing, but it took just way too long and eff using clove oil ever again, I will be stocking liquid benzocaine from now on.  

In summary: don’t use clove oil to euthanize betta fish, it apparently does not (not always?) work on their nervous systems the way it does on goldfish.  I recommend benzocaine.  Canker sore gel will work in a pinch.  Also inbreeding is bad and humans suck for doing it.  She was less than a year old.  
 

But, on the plus side, she had a *good* short life, and didn’t die in a cup.  Swim on, little zombie fish, your watch has ended.
 

 

[jwcarlson]

Sorry to hear, @Epiphanaea, but glad you gave her a good life while you could!

I have terrible luck with bettas, but every once in awhile one of them suckers me (or the kids) into buying one and it just never works out for long.  I don't think they're typically very healthy from the drop.  There's been a thread or two here about betta longevity over the past couple of years.  Part of it is probably just the roll of the dice with the particular betta as well... there's bettas that live fairly long lives in tiny tiny enclosures and no heaters.  

Personally, I squish the heads of small fish when euthanizing them.  I know it seems violent, but as a hunter and wanna be farmer who has raised and harvested a decent numbers of meat chickens and had to euthanize a few egg layers as well... I think it's the fastest and most humane way.