Fin damage - Double halfmoon

[lcaley]

Nevermind, I'm back home now and tested my tap water's ph, and its about 7.8. Should I set it to 7.0 with something like this when I do water changes(slowly stepping it down of course), or just let him adjust to the higher ph?

Edit: I noticed this has diverged quite a bit from the OP, someone please let me know if I should put this in a different subforum. Thanks.

[flowerslegacy]

Hi Icaley - OldFishLady is a Super Mod so she'll move the post if she'll feels it needs to be moved, so no problem. In regards to the pH - it's okay at 7.8. Mine is higher than yours. While bettas are really soft water fish, they tolerate higher pH's just fine. They can live a long healthy life in a higher pH. It's more detrimental to their long term health if you try to lower it and then possibly create fluctuations in the pH levels. Fluctuating pH levels create a lot of stress for the fish and will do far worse damage. A stable pH is a healthy pH!

[lcaley]

Thank you :)

[flowerslegacy]

You're welcome :) I have a halfmoon who just started tail biting so that is what led me to open your thread.

[lcaley]

Just wanted to post (probably my final) update! The fins have healed, all except for the split in his dorsal, which is closing up nicely. I moved him into his 5g this weekend. It isn't fully cycled yet, but I've been doing enough 30-50% water changes that it'll be ok. The filter (even with a piece of nylons over the intake) was a bit strong, so I went this morning and got some sponge filter media, and shoved that up the intake pipe. Now it is just enough flow to barely move the biowheel, and he likes it much better. Thanks for all your help guys!

P.S. I don't know why the pic of the tank is sideways. The file on my pc has it turned, sorry!