Concern on new Betta's tail

[Arch]

Hi peeps,

I'm having some trouble identifying whether my new betta, Zeus is having a fin rot/ripped or is it just his natural pattern for his back tail. Here's an image of Zeus. I just bought him a week ago.



I did put some Indian Almond Leaves to accelerate his tail growth and do a 100% water change every 2 days. I used only aged tap water (2 days old) combine with anti-chlorine and anti-chloramine.

Housing
What size is your tank? I'm not sure. Guess it's about 1 litre of water?
What temperature is your tank? Room temperature
Does your tank have a filter? Nope. Bt I do frequent water changes.
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? Nope.
Is your tank heated? Nope
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? Lives alone.

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Combination of betta pellets (30% protein), daphnia and dried worms.
How often do you feed your betta fish? 3x a day

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? Every 2 days.
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change?
100%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change?
anti-chlorine and anti-chloramine

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?

Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Hardness:
Alkalinity:

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? Colors all are perfectly fine.
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? Normal. Nothing strange yet.
When did you start noticing the symptoms? When I bought him
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? IALs
Does your fish have any history of being ill? N/A
How old is your fish (approximately)? N/A

Other related questions:

1) Is my Betta type known as "Butterfly" rather than "Veil Tail" or a "Super Delta"?

2) If I were to breed Zeus, what color should I get for his partner? Maybe some good pictures or combination of colors would really help. Wanna make his breed look beautiful.

Hope to hear from you all soon. Thanks!

[Laki]

HI!! What an awesome fish you have there.

Fortunately, this is a simple tail-biting case. Open-shut.
Firstly, he will need a tank that is at LEAST one gallon but I would opt for a 2.5 tank. Pack it with plants and resting things. A heavy tail like that is sure to result in biting, therefore the IAL is a fantastic start.
Keep using IAL and keep up on water changes to prevent tail rot. Other than that, just upgrading his tank will give him something to do other than bite. :)

[Arch]

Ok thank you for your reply Laki. So during this period of him healing his tail, does that mean I should temporarily stop him from flaring his tail with other Bettas as well?

[LebronTheBetta]

Laki pretty much fixed your health issue. Please upgrade your tank, in the wild they don't live in puddles. They live in shallow water but they stretch mikes and miles across. Good luck in upgrading!

Your fish is a super delta or a halfmoon. Butterfly is a type of coloration, not a tail type. So he's a beautiful blue butterfly. Breeding takes a bunch of work. It can cost up to 500+ for F1. You should realize the cost and time that this hobby consumes. If you keep him in a liter "jar" then I don think you should breed. Go into the hobby a bit more for their care and history.

[Arch]

Thks for the reply LebronTheBetta. I will try to find a bigger place for him. :) Wah beautiful blue butterfly. Thanks again for the compliment.

So during this period of him healing his tail, does that mean I should temporarily stop him from flaring his tail with other Bettas as well?

[LeoTheLakerBetta]

Yeah I think you shouldn't let him flare at the others because it can stress him out and alos tear the new regrowth of fins if he's a real fiesty one lol. He's really pretty though; I hope his fins heal up fast :D

[Laki]

Yes I wouldn't try to make him flare. Healthy happy bettas flare anyway without agitation, they spread their fins out naturally.

Upgrading his tank will ensure a longer living happier fish :)

[callistra]

1 liter is a quarter gallon. You can't keep a betta in there long and keep them healthy. They need 2 gallons, or about 7.5-8l minimum.

They are also tropical fish and requite a heater, unless your house stays a constant temperature of 80f+, meaning no dips at night or peaks in the day. 76-82 with 78-80 ideal.

Daphnia is okay to feed once a week as a treat and/or to keep regular. Blood worms are okay to feed once a week in replace of pellet meal as a treat. Any time you feed freeze dried foods they need to be soaked thoroughly in some dechlorinated water to soften (10min) or they can cause constipation. Pellets should have the first two or three ingredients as whole fish, not fish meal or wheat. No matter what you feed you should fast your fish one day a week to keep them regular.

a 1/4 gallon tank needs 100% water changes daily and an upgrade asap.

Your conditioner should say it removes chlorine, chloramines and heavy metals if it does not say it detoxifies heavy metals you need a different conditioner.

IAL is great.

[Arch]

Crap I just realize some red stains at the back of his tail and his tail isn't getting any better. I think it's a symptom of fin rot.

The bad thing is I am no where near a pet store which sells API Stress Coat +. Any other quick and cheap alternative to heal Zeus problem? I'm 2 week away from getting back to my hometown.

[Laki]

The quickest thing you can do for him is change his water. Make sure its about 79-80F (nice and warm) and make sure you keep his water cleaned.. If he's in that .5 cell you should change the water completely every 2 days.