As you may or may not know, I came across an all-black betta that I could not get out of my mind.. well, we went and got him and he appeared to be on death's door. I drove an hour to get him and was quite upset that they didn't tell me he was ailing. The shop gave him to me for free and I resolved to do my best to save this critter. (He appears to be a Melano).
When I tested the bagged water that he was given to me in, I could not believe my eyes! His ammonia was 8.0!!! I kid you not. I tested it twice and I still can't believe it. Nitrite in the bag was .25

The little thing is sitting in front of me in sparkling clean water now and he has improved a bit. His mouth is open, he can close it, he just won't. He was head down at the bottom and only coming up for air but now he is at the top and breathing fine, he just isn't moving much. He will move if disturbed. I gave him a bit of bloodworm, he wants it but seems too weak to bother.

What can I do to help him? Is he damaged beyond repair? Even if he is going to die, I would like to be able to ease his discomfort until then. I must say, right now he looks as if he has a chance.

CALLING ALL BETTA EXPERTS!!!!!

Here is a photo of him. you can see his mouth is open. The poor fish.

The horrible test results Have you ever seen a worse result??

Oh that is so terrible. Ammonia poisoning I've never seen that color on the chart in reality.

His mouth open is screaming "poisoned".
I'm no betta expert at all but clean water has to be the best antidote till one gets here hun. He hasn't given up and depending how long he was exposed....Hang tight!

He is a beauty and good for you (and him) that you rescued him. Even in my worst times of cycling, I've never seen the tester turn that color. I don't know if bettas get ammonia burn like goldies, but if so, he may turn out to be blue or something, lol.

Good luck with him. I hope he improves quickly.

Thanks guys! so far he is holding his own. He is moving around a little more, and seems more stable in the water. He seems to have eaten the piece of worm I put in there.

I have to say.. the open mouth really bothers me. at first I thought he had a piece of gravel caught but I can't see anything in his mouth. the gravel in his bowl was blue. I don't see any color in there. He is probably just sore and is pumping water through to help himself out a bit.

It's a reaction to total gill shutdown. I have seen it in my fry. The mouth will eventually close as the gills heal.

Do you think he will heal? Is it likely that he will have permanent damage?

It's hard to say. It depends how long he was in ammonia that high and how strong he was initially. But the fact that he has improved even ever so slightly I think is reason to be optimistic. You should know by tomorrow. My large fry was about 3 days with his mouth gaping like that after a salt overdose but went on to a full recovery.

Thanks Imo, I hope he makes it through the night. He is still going along and I have him in the kitchen where it is warmer. Fingers and fins are crossed over here.

Fingers and fins crossed here as well...

well, it's 3 am and I am about to head for bed. I checked on my patient and he is no worse. Hang on little one!

It's another day and he is still with me. He seems more comfortable this morning and i have taken him out of the cup and moved him to Dickey's old bowl. Unfortunately, I can't put a heater in there with him so I have his bowl wrapped in a towel for now. His mouth is still open but his sides aren't heaving like bellows now.

I gave him a blood worm and at first he ignored it, and then he seemed to wake up a bit and realize there was food in the tank and has eaten the whole thing. I am going down to the LFS today and buy him a new tank and filter.
I think he may stick around I am being cautiously optimistic.

Wow, I really hope he makes it. Bet you're glad you went back to get him! I didn't know about their mouth being open like that so it's something else to watch out for.

Us talking about bettas made me want another one, so I went to the lfs today just to look around. A gorgeous black and red betta followed me home, so I named him Ali (as in Mohammed Ali) and have set him up.

Its all your fault Chickey.

Hows the little guy doing today? I have a feeling he'll be just great now that you have him home!

Ha Ha you got bitten by the betta bug! I assume you have photos???????

My boy is moving around quite a bit! He still looks like a floating corpse but he is making an effort to rouse himself and go to different areas. His mouth is still open. He is still all clamped up though.

I feel so bad for him!!

Yeah, and I started a thread about "fish addiction" and I'll post them there. I don't want to hi-jack your thread.

It may take a little while for your buddy to get better, but I believe he will. I mean, you drove an hour to get him, right? The guy at the lfs (who is pretty ill-informed but he does have eyes) told me today that occasionally they get white ones, but they have never gotten a solid black betta. So maybe you have a rarity.

Either way, he's lucky to have you taking care of him, and he'll be better off with you than at the lfs.

Still crossing my fingers!

I was drawn to him because he was so black. At first I thought he was just dark blue, but he is definitely black and maybe some dark grey. I don't see any irridescence on him (that would make him a black lace betta) Time will tell.
If he continues to improve, he may change color a bit. I have to be honest, i haven't see him flare at all so I don't know if he has other colors to show me. He dosen't have very full fins and I don't know if that is because of the ammonia or not.
If he is a melano I will consider myself extemely lucky.

update: O.k. this is embarrassing...it's a girl not a boy.
the poor thing was in such horrible shape I didn't notice that it was a girl.

The fish is still with me. The injury from the ammonia burn was horrible. under a magnifying glass, the fish looked rusted. I was not sure she could even see. She had horrible red blotches all over and I could see that her throat was red and sore too. I felt so bad for her I almost got the clove oil. I decided not to give up on her and give her the best chance I could.

She is better now but still has a long way to go. She eats occasionally and I make sure there is at least one worm in the tank for her to eat if she feels up to it. She was on the surface for a while I think she was in shock. She is mostly on the bottom now. She moves around and tries to hide from me whenever I have to do anything in the tank. This is encouraging because it proves that she can see me. I would like to be able to give her some medicine but I have no idea what would help her. I don't want her to lose strength. She is in pristine water, I change it daily and check it for any sign of ammonia. She gets another change if there is even the slightest bit of shading on the test. So far so good I hope.

The water has done her some good. Hang in there girlie!

Poor lil thing! Girls are tough--sounds like a lot of improvement already. Be interesting to see if she stays that color once she is all healed up.

Oh. my. god. I must have missed this thread earlier-- when I read it I just kept shouting and shouting at Thomas while looking at the pic of the test result.

I cannot believe that. OMG! I wish her well... it will be a long convalescence with her.

I still can't believe the test result either! I can't believe this little fish is alive at all.
Although it is obvious that her outsides are improving, I am not so sure about her insides. Who knows what damage has been done internally. She may still die. It looks to me like she is making a huge effort just to lift herself up enough to get some air on the surface. I lowered the water level to make it easier for her, but she still struggles.

Whatever happens, I am so glad that you had the heart to rescue her. I can't imagine going through such horrible living conditions. At least you're giving her a chance.

I just read this too. The color on the amonia test floored me.

I hope she recovers well and healthy.