Help.. tail biting?

[Cinderwolf]

Housing
What size is your tank? 2 Gallon
What temperature is your tank? 80-81
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? pellets ( don't knwo the brand anymore)
How often do you feed your betta fish? daily, 3-4 a day, then skip one day per week

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? weekly
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 conditioner and aquarium salt

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters? I havent tested it

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

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? His tail looks ragged but not discoloured
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? He wasn't keen on eating tonight, was holding his fins close to his body except when moving
When did you start noticing the symptoms? Just now
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? no
Does your fish have any history of being ill? no
How old is your fish (approximately)?I don't know, I got him the beginning of December. But he is pretty small.


When I went to feed him tonight, he just was acting weird, not excited about the food like he usually is so I turned on a light over his tank and looked at him, he was holding his fins close to him hen not swimming around and then I noticed his tail looked raggedy and not as full as before. It didnt look like it was discoloured at all.

I did a water change 2 days ago, and I added some more fake plants and changed his cave from a rock tunnel to a ceramic frog sponge holder ( minus the sponge) Other then that it is the same..

Help, what should I do?

[earthworm88]

Hi Cinderwolf,

Welcome to the forum! Sometimes they just drive us with distraction with all these going-ons.

Sounds highly possible that he is a tail biter, if you have a photo, it will help us to confirm. The only thing I can pick out from your sticky is the water changing schedule. For a two gallon, ideally you should do a 50% mid week and a 100% end of week. Sounds like he is clamping, a sign that he is stressed about something. So logically to think there is something in the water such as ammonia/nitrates build up (over time) or the new decor change stressed him out a bit? Most people recommend changing the decors every so often to keep the bettas from being bored especially if they are tailbiters. I hope he will start to adjust and like his new pad better. Hopefully someone will come along and give you more insights into this issue.

Good luck!

[Cinderwolf]

Originally Posted by earthworm88

Hi Cinderwolf,

Welcome to the forum! Sometimes they just drive us with distraction with all these going-ons.

Sounds highly possible that he is a tail biter, if you have a photo, it will help us to confirm. The only thing I can pick out from your sticky is the water changing schedule. For a two gallon, ideally you should do a 50% mid week and a 100% end of week. Sounds like he is clamping, a sign that he is stressed about something. So logically to think there is something in the water such as ammonia/nitrates build up (over time) or the new decor change stressed him out a bit? Most people recommend changing the decors every so often to keep the bettas from being bored especially if they are tailbiters. I hope he will start to adjust and like his new pad better. Hopefully someone will come along and give you more insights into this issue.

Good luck!

Thanks. I took a closer look at his tail and it looks all ripped up and I was reading on here about someone else with a similar problem and they mentioned the plants. Then I kinda had an a ha moment and realized I have plastic plants in there and he may be snagging it on there. Tomorrow I'm gonna do a water change and take out the plastic plants and see if that helps . Thanks for the advice on the 50%changes ! I will definitely start doing that. I am about to start cycling a 5 gallon for him, but til then he will be in the 2 gallon.

I will get a photo tomorrow when my camera is done charging.

Also, I did a 100% change on friday, would there be a build up that fast?

[chrissylee13]

they possibly could build up quickly. but i would say only if there's a lot of uneaten food or he's created a lot of waste.

[Cinderwolf]

Originally Posted by chrissylee13

they possibly could build up quickly. but i would say only if there's a lot of uneaten food or he's created a lot of waste.

There is never uneaten pellets, as I watch him eat the ones I give him. He always eats up all 3 Cept tonight when he ignored a few of them.

[Myates]

I personally do 1 100% every 4 days on my 2 gallons- I would have the water tested at your local PetCo/Petsmart on the 4th day and see if the numbers are low and in the safe range, if so you can get away with doing it that way instead of the mid-week 50% (even though that is actually the preferred and correct schedule).

Another thing I want to add is to stop use of AQ salt- over use, over exposure and constant use will lead to liver and kidney damage, possible failure as well as the fish and bad bacteria can become resistant to the good benefits the salt has when helping to rid/cure external issues- so if he develops fin rot due to the damaged fins, the best and easiest (on him and us) treatment won't be enough since the bacteria will be resistant to the salt.
Overall just not healthy to keep them in constant salt- does more harm then any good. Some people use it, but it's highly recommended not to.

High protein diet, a few drops of Stress Coat each water change and weekly water changes will help the regrowth of his fins- look for clear to white edging, as that is new fin.

With his behavior at this point, I suggest doing a 50% water change, add in a full dose of water conditioner for the volume of the tank, and see how he is in the next 12-24 hrs. If he starts to become lethargic even more, lays on the top/bottom and tilts, loses all coloration let us know and we can go from there on treatment.
But a lot of health problems can be fixed by a water change- something may have entered the tank and is affecting him, or he had gotten overly stressed on the last water change.

[Cinderwolf]

Yea, I am going to stop the salts. I'll do a 50 percent and take out the plastic plants to see if it helps.

[Cinderwolf]

I took a few photos of him. He stopped claming sicne last ngiht but his fins look worse and I noticed it is on his little side fisn too : ( I am pretty sure a plant wouldnt do that much damage so fast. So I was talking a few betta knowledgable peopel and we have come to the conclusion it is fin rot. What do you guys think?

[Myates]

Is there black on the edges of where the fins are missing? Rot doesn't tend to move too quickly.. it looks like fin biting to be honest, especially if there is no black edges to it.
Have to agree that a plant wouldn't rip those off generally, more split fins.. and him being a CT and it's the rays that are missing it just points to him doing it himself.

Funny thing is, if it were fin rot, the salt you had him in probably had taken care of it ;)

[earthworm88]

I agree with Myates on this. Looks like it is self inflicting . I don't see any black edgings on the torn part in the photos, do you see them? Perhaps try to redocorate again? Unfortunately tail biting is an issue no one really understands, but hopefully he will stop doing it for the sake of his fins and your sanity. Feed variety of food to encourage fin growth, if you keep the water clean, salt won't be necessary unless you start to see real rot.

Good luck!