What's wrong with his pectoral fin?

[Zappity]

Hi :)
So, today I noticed Mr. Bubbles' right pectoral fin is red on the ends and somewhat...pointed. I also noticed he isn't really using it unless he has to.
Is this fin rot? or what?


Housing
What size is your tank? 5.5 gal
What temperature is your tank? about 77F
Does your tank have a filter? No
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? Hikari Bio-Gold
How often do you feed your betta fish? 2 pellets twice a day.

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? Once a week
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? Around 50% w/gravel siphon
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Aqueon Betta Bowl Conditioner

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters? Not recently.

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

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? His right pectoral is pointed and red.
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? He isn't using his right pectoral much.
When did you start noticing the symptoms? Earlier today
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? No.
Does your fish have any history of being ill? SBD/bloat prone, but not since like, Sep.
How old is your fish (approximately)? Around...8 months, probably?
Here are a couple of pictures. In the first one, if you look closely, you can see it. and then the second one you can see how he isn't using it.
Please help. I'm thinking I should QT him in his cup and get some stress coat, and possibly 1 tsp of AQ salt, yes?

[Myates]

Poor guy.. thanks for bringing this to my attention, lets see about helping him out.

It could be rot or damage. It seems you take real good care of your tank and him.. does he have live plants in with him? As that could be how the rot formed, if there is a plant that has dead leaves or is dying. With live plants in the tank, you don't have to be doing as big of a water change- depending on how many plants you have. I would cut it down to about 30% per week, vacuuming once a month if you have plants that are rooted- as the plants will use the waste as fertilizer.

Back on topic- in case this is a bacterial infection (which sounds like it), go ahead and do the 1 tsp per gallon of AQ salt- daily 100% water changes, make sure to dissolve the salt prior to adding him in it, I would QT him or the plants as AQ salt tends to kill/harm live plants.
If after 5 days it seems as if his fin is getting worse you can up the dosage to 2-3 tsp per gallon.. continue treatment for a total of 10 days.

If by the 10th day it looks worse still then let us know and we can recommend medication. But lets try the salt first, as it's easier on the little guy.

You may or may not see instant improvement, but as long as it doesn't deteriorate more then he should be fine. If you start seeing clear fin growing then that's a good sign.

You can use the cup he came in- just premix everything in a pitcher or gallon water jug to help make water changes easier and measurements accurate.
You can also use kritter keeper, or a tupperware container that is soap residue free.. but the cup is easy as you can float it in the tank to keep him warm- jimmy it with the lid or something to keep it upright.

If it is an infection, once it's cleared he should use his fin normal once more..
poor little boy, he's a handsome one.

Keep up on the good care of him, and I'm sure of your other one too :) Keep us posted on how he is doing or if you have any more questions. I'm about to go for the night (you literally caught me just as I was going to x out lol), but will check on the thread in the morning. Good luck, take care!

[Zappity]

Originally Posted by Myates

Poor guy.. thanks for bringing this to my attention, lets see about helping him out.

It could be rot or damage. It seems you take real good care of your tank and him.. does he have live plants in with him? As that could be how the rot formed, if there is a plant that has dead leaves or is dying. With live plants in the tank, you don't have to be doing as big of a water change- depending on how many plants you have. I would cut it down to about 30% per week, vacuuming once a month if you have plants that are rooted- as the plants will use the waste as fertilizer.

Back on topic- in case this is a bacterial infection (which sounds like it), go ahead and do the 1 tsp per gallon of AQ salt- daily 100% water changes, make sure to dissolve the salt prior to adding him in it, I would QT him or the plants as AQ salt tends to kill/harm live plants.
If after 5 days it seems as if his fin is getting worse you can up the dosage to 2-3 tsp per gallon.. continue treatment for a total of 10 days.

If by the 10th day it looks worse still then let us know and we can recommend medication. But lets try the salt first, as it's easier on the little guy.

You may or may not see instant improvement, but as long as it doesn't deteriorate more then he should be fine. If you start seeing clear fin growing then that's a good sign.

You can use the cup he came in- just premix everything in a pitcher or gallon water jug to help make water changes easier and measurements accurate.
You can also use kritter keeper, or a tupperware container that is soap residue free.. but the cup is easy as you can float it in the tank to keep him warm- jimmy it with the lid or something to keep it upright.

If it is an infection, once it's cleared he should use his fin normal once more..
poor little boy, he's a handsome one.

Keep up on the good care of him, and I'm sure of your other one too :) Keep us posted on how he is doing or if you have any more questions. I'm about to go for the night (you literally caught me just as I was going to x out lol), but will check on the thread in the morning. Good luck, take care!

Thank you sooo much!! I will def go and get AQ salt tomorrow.
Yeah, he has a few stalks of Anacharis in his tank, I keep them held down with a couple of rocks. There were a few that were dead, but really they just lost their leaves. I've gotten all of the leaves since.
Thank you :) I'll have to post pictures of my little girly, still haven't gotten to that :)
Thank you again!! I will let you know how he's doing tomorrow :)

[callistra]

This was missed, unfortunately..your water change routine would be good for a 5.5g that was filtered and cycled but since you're not using a filter it's not. So even this large of a tank will need at least a 100% change once a week. Ideally you want to put a second partial change mid week or you will be seeing low levels of ammonia by the end of the week.

Hikari changed their formula and now it's mostly wheat. I point this out especially since he's prone to SBD. Change pellets to Omega One Betta Buffet (4 a day would be a good start) or New Life Spectrum Betta (5-6 a day since they're a lot smaller) and this may help your SBD. He's also on the cool side so warming up to 78-79 might help a little as well.

AQ sounds good for now. Good luck!

[Zappity]

Oh, and Myates? I forgot to ask..how will I acclimate him to the salt water? Even if it's the same temp, I feel like just throwing him into the salt doesn't seem like a good idea xD

Originally Posted by callistra

This was missed, unfortunately..your water change routine would be good for a 5.5g that was filtered and cycled but since you're not using a filter it's not. So even this large of a tank will need at least a 100% change once a week. Ideally you want to put a second partial change mid week or you will be seeing low levels of ammonia by the end of the week.

Hikari changed their formula and now it's mostly wheat. I point this out especially since he's prone to SBD. Change pellets to Omega One Betta Buffet (4 a day would be a good start) or New Life Spectrum Betta (5-6 a day since they're a lot smaller) and this may help your SBD. He's also on the cool side so warming up to 78-79 might help a little as well.

AQ sounds good for now. Good luck!

He hasn't had his SBD since I got him. But I'll look for those pellets today..I didn't know they changed that Hikari. I'll have to read the label.
I'm getting him a sponge filter in a couple of weeks, and he's had quite a few 100% water changes due to planaria and other things, but, yeah, I'll do larger ones until cycled/filtered..
thanks for all the info :)

[Myates]

Good catch- but for a 5 gallon unfiltered, ideally it's 1 50% per week and 1 100% per month, as a single betta doesn't produce a lot of ammonia. Especially since you have live plants- normally if it's under 5 gallons you would do a 100% weekly unfiltered, above 5 gallons it's 100% once a month.
(And just saw you were told the same thing lol.. I should read everything before starting to reply, instead of going bit by bit in a list lol

I wasn't aware they changed their recipe either last night, but did some research earlier today for another member and saw that Hikari wasn't all that good- I just didn't remember what this guy ate when I did it.

As for adjusting to the salt, float him in his cup in the QT container, removing some water from the cup and replacing it with water (salted) from the QT container- I would recommend doing that at least 2-3 times in a 20 minute period.
The same when done with treatment and taking him out of the salt. After the first time you don't have to do that- just acclimate to temp, since you're changing the water daily, the chemistry won't be a shock.

[Zappity]

Originally Posted by Myates

Good catch- but for a 5 gallon unfiltered, ideally it's 1 50% per week and 1 100% per month, as a single betta doesn't produce a lot of ammonia. Especially since you have live plants- normally if it's under 5 gallons you would do a 100% weekly unfiltered, above 5 gallons it's 100% once a month.
(And just saw you were told the same thing lol.. I should read everything before starting to reply, instead of going bit by bit in a list lol

I wasn't aware they changed their recipe either last night, but did some research earlier today for another member and saw that Hikari wasn't all that good- I just didn't remember what this guy ate when I did it.

As for adjusting to the salt, float him in his cup in the QT container, removing some water from the cup and replacing it with water (salted) from the QT container- I would recommend doing that at least 2-3 times in a 20 minute period.
The same when done with treatment and taking him out of the salt. After the first time you don't have to do that- just acclimate to temp, since you're changing the water daily, the chemistry won't be a shock.

I didn't know about the Hikari, either xD I've just always gotten it for my bettas so, I got those :P I'll look for those other pellets later today.

Okay, cool! Thank you so much! :) After lunch, we'll be off to Petsmart! :)

[Myates]

Ooh.. I wanna go to Petsmart too! Sadly, the closest Petsmart/PetCo are about 2 hours from me :( I love my fish, but I don't love the driving.. so I go the easy route and order online once a month for whatever I need lol

[Zappity]

Originally Posted by Myates

Ooh.. I wanna go to Petsmart too! Sadly, the closest Petsmart/PetCo are about 2 hours from me :( I love my fish, but I don't love the driving.. so I go the easy route and order online once a month for whatever I need lol

Aw, that sucks :( But I wouldn't wanna drive 2 hours either xD

(PS, will this salt work? http://www.petsmart.com/product/inde...uctId=10850845 )

[callistra]

Yeah that's the aquarium salt you need :)

At one 50% a week and one 100% a month there would be - a lot - of ammonia build up. This water change routine would be good for a cycled (not uncycled tank). My guy is in an unfiltered 5g. He poops very little. The bottom is bare and the poop is scooped up immediately after he goes and by day 6 there has been as much as .5ppm ammonia in his tank. 50% weekly would not be sufficient at all. Sorry. If you want to change so very little then I suggest investing in a good drops test kit and testing daily past the 4 day mark and any time you start to see ammonia you know you need to do at least a partial change. Then you will start to see how often it really needs to be changed.