I was on a business call for around an hour and my 3yo is home sick. I thought she was napping on the couch. I came out of my call, went into the kitchen and noticed the 10g betta tank in my kitchen was completely opaque and white. I freaked out and asked my daughter what she did.
She showed me the empty half and half bottle and said she sprayed “perfume” aka Ms Meyers room freshener spray into the tank.
Betta’s fins are completely tattered if not gone and he was floating, barely clinging to life and being tossed around by the flow of his sponge filter.
I took water out of my 90 gal African chichlid tank which is way more alkaline — I kept my betta’s setup at a pH of 7 and the African tank stays at a steady 9 — anyway took that water and a little Java fern (it came from the betta tank, I rinsed it thoroughly) and put it in a jar, put my dying betta in that clean water. I added around 1ml of stress coat. I also gave him 2 granules of his favorite food. He won’t eat.
What else should I do? He’s swimming now and not flopping to his side any longer but his fins look so upsetting. And he is gray. Pectoral fins are tattered but he’s flapping them like a healthy boy. No interest in food.
I just love this guy — I’ve had him for almost 5 years and was a gift from my favorite boss — I want to ensure he survives this disaster.
TL;DR my betta was submerged in half and half and air freshener for maybe 30m to an hour. He’s in a jar with cycled African cichlid water. He seems to be perking up but what can be done in addition to stress coat and clean water. Note that water is of a different pH and temperature than he is used to.
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Update — I’m seeing what looks like burns on his head. Almost as if his skin is raw around his eyes and on his forehead.
Honestly, this may be a situation where euthansia is kindest. If his fins and skin are burned then his gills and labyrinth are too.
I’m terribly sorry this happened OP.
Maybe use this as a lesson to lock up all chemicals and medications. If your daughter had swallowed that rather than dosing your tank you’d have a much bigger problem. Child proof your home for your daughter’s safety.
If you don’t euthanize, and I hope you don’t have to, I can only suggest making up a round of water the way you normally would for the betta tank and try to get him back into water closer to what’s normal and out of the african cichlid water. Don’t worry about food for now, your fish just needs a clean environment as close to normal as possible.
Protect that cichlid tank somehow (hopefully up too high for 3yo to access) and maybe get the betta’s jar somewhere elevated as well. If you have anything larger than that jar available that is clean enough for fish use (maybe a water change bucket?) it will help with diluting any ammonia the fish produces in the immediate short term (the small jar will eventually lead to ammonia burns).
Edit to add – I checked the MSDS for Mrs Meyers Clean Day Room Freshener – it’s about 10-15% ethanol so that’s most likely the burn source, but a few sprays (vs half the bottle of half and half) may be a survivable amount. I probably would not add anything else at this point just try to maintain as large a volume of water as clean and neutral pH as possible.
Update: he is now in an 8 gal “fish water change” bucket (never used for chemicals) with RO water and 5ml of stress coat, I’ve also added an old suction heater I used to use when the betta lived in a 5gal. Removed the Java fern because I am worried about leftover residue from the cleaning supplies. Took a pump and micro air stone out of my African tank and added the air stone to the bucket. He seems to be swimming like his normal curious self, absolutely 0 flopping over — thank GOD. I am locking him in the master bathroom which my daughter can’t access with the lights off and gonna check every 20 minutes. So hard to concentrate on work, I want to sit by his side and watch him constantly now. What an awful day so far! Let me know if you all have any more tips and thank you so much to those who have replied!