Possible fin biting/rot?

[wildflowerwall]

My little Betta has a huge hunk missing from his tail. At first i thought that he was biting his fins but it hasn't gotten any worse and this makes me wonder if that's what really happened. My next thought was fin rot but i don't see any discoloration and he isn't acting sick at all. Could someone take a look at his pic and tell me if I'm missing something obvious? I haven't had much experience with tail rot so perhaps I'm missing the discoloration?

Oh and before someone yells at me he does NOT live in the jar the picture shows him in...it was temporary just to clean his tank yesterday.


Housing
What size is your tank?---2.5 gallon
What temperature is your tank?---78/f
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?---none

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish?
How often do you feed your betta fish?-----twice a day

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change?----3 times a month
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?----

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?----no

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

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed?
How has your betta fish's behavior changed?---it hasn't
When did you start noticing the symptoms?-----yesterday
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how?---water change
Does your fish have any history of being ill?---no
How old is your fish (approximately)?---------1y/o

[Syriiven]

Looking at the pic I'd say his fin was torn on something, possibly a decoration. Some hard decorations can catch fins, but plastic plants are notorious for this.

I have a 2.5 and I give it a 50% and 90% wc every week (3-4 days apart roughly). 3 times a months, even doing 100% isn't enough as ammonia builds up quite a bit between those changes.

To treat I'd keep him in the jar (or something around 1gallon that you can keep heated) as a qt and treat him with 1tsp AQ Salt per gallon (pre-dissolved) and do 100% changes daily until you see white re-growth on his fin. After you see the white-regrowth, re-add him to his original tank and just do more water changes so that he continues to grow back his fins with good clean water.

[wildflowerwall]

Thanks! I just realized that I had put a new decoration in and on closer inspection it was rather rough in a couple spots that are easy to miss at first. Needless to say i have removed it and will most definitely be checking them better in the future. Also i will start changing the water more frequently as you said. This is my first Betta in a long time (last one was when i was a little kid) and i didn't realize that the water needed to be changed that often. I am doing my best to take good care of my little Natsu and give him a better life then the cup he was living in at the pet store...honestly I'm surprised he hasn't ever been sick before as the cup was filthy. If you have anymore tips i would be happy to hear them. -Thanks

[Syriiven]

Main thing for bettas is room to swim, warm, clean water, and nutritious food =) They are hardy, but I know the feeling of wanting to give them the best that you can. So for food I'd suggest omega one buffet pellets and some sort of frozen food, like frozen bloodworms. When it comes to growth, or re-growing fins, super clean water and a healthy diet is the best for them before you have to use any medications.

[callistra]

I am concerned about fin rot because your water change schedule needs to pick up a lot.. most people will tell you can't rely on a filter in a tank of this size and you must always do two weekly water changes of 50% and 100%.. You can try.. Best case scenario you may eventually be able to do twice weekly water changes of 50%x2 with siphon or turkey baster to remove debris from the gravel..

Careful daily monitoring and reliable test kits should be used. You need to be testing daily with a reliable drops kit for ammonia and nitrite and doing an extra 50% change any time you see either. In addition to this a weekly 50% with siphon or new fresh turkey baster that has never seen chems is needed to remove poop and other debris from the gravel. It is not enough to just scoop water off the top ever. I actually suggest a turkey baster or very small siphon because your tank is so small an average siphon will remove water too quickly.

First you will see ammonia, then nitrite. Eventually, hopefully, you will see ammonia fall and stay at 0 even after a week of no water changes, and finally nitrite. At this point you will be left with only nitrates after a full week of no changes and these can be kept <20ppm by twice weekly 50% change with baster/siphon. However, cycling will take up to two months to complete and many if not most people will tell you that you can't cycle a tank of this size and you will always need twice weekly 50% and 100% water changes or you will always see ammonia continuing to build and the cycle will never finish..

Also if you replace all filter media in your filter at once, as is the case with most small filters because they mostly only have one type of media, you restart your cycle every time: http://www.bettafish.com/showthread....on#post1424758