Pinholes in Caudal(tail) fin

[zaphekiel]

All righty.. so I just noticed a few tiny pinholes in Cella's tail fin, closer to his body and not near the edge of his fin. You can see light through them, so the holes go completely through the fin. So I dunno if this is tail biting or I've read that they can flare and rip their fins? I never see him flaring, except for ~10 seconds or so every other day when I show him a mirror.. though I will stop that until they heal. Here's my detailed info! I am just concerned because I will be out of town for 4 days and want to make sure he will be ok while I am away. His tank does have several live plants and 1 plastic decoration which I went over with a file to smooth any rough edges.

Housing
What size is your tank? 5gal
What temperature is your tank? 78 degrees
Does your tank have a filter? -yes
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? -no
Is your tank heated? -yes
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? -3 otos, which is overcrowded.. but I watch the parameters closely..

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? -NLS
How often do you feed your betta fish? -3x a day 2 pellets

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? -weekly
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? -50-ish%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? -Seachem neutral regulator

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?
-yes, 3 days ago, and did a water change yesterday. I use the API freshwater liquid test kit
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 5-10-ish -those two colors are so close!
pH: 6.8-7.0 -again colors too close for me to differentiate
Hardness: no idea
Alkalinity: no idea

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? -noticed some pinholes in caudal fin
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? -nah he's a feisty booger :)
When did you start noticing the symptoms? -20 minutes ago
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? -nope, I do have melafix on hand, though I know there are mixed feelings about this product
Does your fish have any history of being ill? -no
How old is your fish (approximately)? -14 weeks old.. got him from breeder so his age is pretty accurate

Thanks in advance!!

[callistra]

pin holes are usually indicative of ammonia burns. It looks like your water quality is good and maintained though. You're right the ottos are too much. They need to be moved into a 10 gallon if you want to keep them together. They're not going to stay healthy and happy there.

Is it possible they're being torn on something? Have you used the nylons test on everything in the tank?

Why are you using neutral regulator? That stuff tends to cause big swings in ph as it shifs throughout the week (personal experience provided here). Unless the ph of your water is naturally over 9 or under 6 you're much better off not treating with that .

[zaphekiel]

Originally Posted by callistra

You're right the ottos are too much. They need to be moved into a 10 gallon if you want to keep them together. They're not going to stay healthy and happy there.

Is it possible they're being torn on something? Have you used the nylons test on everything in the tank?

Why are you using neutral regulator? That stuff tends to cause big swings in ph as it shifs throughout the week (personal experience provided here). Unless the ph of your water is naturally over 9 or under 6 you're much better off not treating with that .

I love my little otos.. I had 1 for 2 months and to me it was worth getting 2 more so there was a group despite the small space.. I have a 20 gal in planning.. so no worries about their well being (plus I can get 3 more for a nice pack of 6)! I give them veggies every 3rd day and they are fat and adorable.. I remove the fresh food the next day so it doesn't affect my water parameters, since that can cause issues as well.

I will go over the decoration again tonight to make sure that is not causing issues. Everything else in the tank is live. I use the neutral regulator because I used to have this huge piece of driftwood and I was trying to expedite removing some of its acidity.

My tap water is right around 6.8-7.0 so it's not really neutralizing the pH. The driftwood made the tank close to 6.2 (no fish were in the tank yet!) so I was treating the wood in a bucket of water for a month or so to try and neutralize it. Since I had purchased the water conditioner I figured I might as well finish off the bottle.