thanks everyone
alexxx, it took about 2 months for his tail to grow back to the length it is now. for a week i gave him salt baths once a day, and i've cleaned his bowl every day, adding aquarium salt and bettafix to it. i stopped treating him with bettafix this week, but i'm still adding the salt just as a preventative. i swear, i don't know how i ever went without it, lol.