Pop-eye

Question
My beta fish has pop-eye. I know that it can go away, but will it survive? It has been on the bottom of the tank and it's gills are moving so i know it is alive but what do i do?

Answer
Hi,
I'm really sorry to hear about the fish. I know how sad it is to see such an amazing animal suffer like that.

Betta fish are extremely tough and can recover from nearly anything quite well. The thing I would like to point out is pop eye is generally caused by poor water quality. Pop eye also would not have such potent effects. Your problem is probably due to water quality. Since I don't know about your set up, fish, etc. I'll give you a list of things to do.

Now:
Make sure the water is clean. If it is clean, turn the lights off, and an airstone and possibly some mild medications for popeye (their at just about every petstore) and hope for the best. FYI, stress coat is (in my personal opinion and expirience) a miracle product for this sort of thing. You should look into some.

If the tank looks dirty, we have a bigger problem. The fish is in a very delicate state where stress could very easily kill it. At the same time, if he is like this due to water quality issues, it is only a matter of time before that kills it. You have to do a water change. I recommend doing a very slow 50% water change using airline tubing. Make sure the water that is put back in, dechlorinated, same chemistry as the tank, and adding a little stress coat, medication, etc wouldn't hurt.

Best of wishes to you and your fish. I really hope he recovers. If there is anything I can do, please, do not hesitate to ask.