New betta owner, question about fin rot?

[xx0verthestarsxx]

Hi everyone. This is my first post on this forum. I have a Betta named Edgar and I got him approx. 3 week ago from Petsmart. I have him in a 2 gallon bowl with plants and gravel. He has a heater and a thermometer in the tank as well. The current temp. is approx. 78 degrees in his bowl. He is happy, eating, and blowing bubble nests. I do a water change once every couple days as well with conditioned tap water. I've never owned a betta before so I'm inexperienced. Anyway, I noticed a couple days ago after doing a water change that his one fin in the front is white on the tip. It doesn't look fuzzy, it just looked painted white. I'm going to attach a picture to this post, and maybe someone can help me determine what the cause of it is. I hope he's okay cause I love this little guy :)

[xShainax]

The white tip is normal. Almost all my betta's have them :)

[waterdog]

That's just coloration, normal. Once these guys get settled in to their enviroment, They do go through some amazing color changes (or we just pay closer attention and see more)

[bniebetta]

This is going to sound weird, but you may be doing too many water changes too often. It depends on who you ask, but most would agree that changing only 10-30% of the water is safe and necessary. You should still be scrubbing the bowl (without soap, it alters the PH) and cleaning out the debris, but as far as proportions go you should still be keeping a majority of the old water. It is not usually necessary to change the water more than once each week for tanks of this size unless you are not taking uneaten food out and letting it rot in there or the fish is ill. The infection may be because the frequent water changes have depleted healthy bacteria in the water that are necessary to help tank waste break down. Watch it very carefully, and If you decide that there is indeed a worsening or persisting problem, try salt bath treatments. Most betta keepers recommend medications as a last resort, especially because dosages can be really tricky and many people end up poisoning their fishy. If you decide you need medication, do a lot of research on what you are buying first to make sure it is for the right disease or infection and that it is safe for the fish. Good Luck! He looks really healthy and happy otherwise :)

[bniebetta]

All that being said, I actually agree with everyone else in that it seems like normal coloration. When you see changes is when you will want to consider treatment, although you will still want to be careful about the frequency of water changes :)

[xx0verthestarsxx]

Awesome! Thank you everyone. I actually haven't been doing them THAT often but I was going to start because I read a lot about fin rot and a lot of people were saying since my tanks small that I should start doing them that often. I've been doing a 50% change every few days and then a few days after the 50% I'll do a full change so it's like once a week. Is that normal for my size bowl? Sorry to ask so many questions.

[xx0verthestarsxx]

And anytime he doesn't eat what I feed him I take it out within a few minutes so nothing is sitting at the bottom of the tank.

[waterdog]

Sounds good to me!

[Picasso84]

Yes, that's just right

I do 2 50% (sometimes a third 50% -if needed) and 1 100% every week in my 1.75gal bowl