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Blown fin?

1K views 9 replies 2 participants last post by  MollyJean 
#1 ·
I recently got a new tank from my brother, a 2.5 gallon hex he's had for years. He had a betta in it once, and there is a mirror on the side that, try as I might, will not come off, and I'm worried I'll break the tank pulling on the glue. I put a strip of paper between it and the tank for the last couple of days while I let him adjust, and planned on leaving it covered most of the time, but he was so active last night I uncovered it and let him have a go at his own reflection for about an hour then covered it back up. He's been hanging around that mirror ever since, not surprisingly.

My brother is over, and I wanted to show him Lunch's pretty frill.. so I uncovered it again.. and now poor Lunch has a white thing sticking out of his top fin. Looks like cartilage or something popped through his fin and is sticking straight up. I've heard of betta blowing a fin if they flair too much, but I don't know what it looks like or how to treat it. I mean can aquarium salt really do anything for something like that? Jeeze I feel like crap now. That mirror is never getting uncovered again!
 
#3 ·
his fin is flat now (he's a VT) cause I covered the mirror, but I'll try to get one.. I really don't want to uncover the mirror if I don't have to. Ya know? Whenever he goes to the top to get air and that fin brushes the top of the water, he does this jerking thing like he's in pain.. *cry*
 
#4 ·
OK got a couple of pictures, tell me if you can't see them, I might have to turn on permissions.

I looked at the pictures from a few days back and last week, and while he does have a small bump there. it's not defined and there's not a white spike coming out the top. The white spike doesn't show up in the pictures, for some reason, but it's like a thorn or something.





Anyone have any idea what this is, why it's like that and how to take care of it. It looks so.. painful.
 
#6 ·
Yeah I put a little in.. but it looks like a compound fracture.. you know one with the bone sticking out? I don't think salt is gonna heal that.. then again I might just be paranoid and it's totally normal.
 
#7 ·
Hmm I don't know, I've never heard of a fish doing that. I'd keep doing the aquarium salt and does the tank have a tank light? I'd shut that off and only turn it on for a couple hours a day until he calms down. Keeping the lights off will calm him down and let him heal faster in my opinion. If he's constantly stressed, he won't heal as fast.
 
#8 ·
Yeah, I've got the tank covered right now cause the house lights are on, and trying to keep him calm. As long as he's not flaring, it doesn't seem to bother him, but it still pokes out. I wish i could get a better picture.

The mirror is still on the tank, my brother had super glued it on, and while I've slid a piece of paper between it and the tank glass, so he can't see his reflection, he's just staying in that one spot and waiting for the other fish to come back so he can kick his butt. Ug.. I've created a monster.

I know the first line of the top fin always sticks out a little bit, but this just seems wrong, and I can't find anything on google.. Maybe I should just start looking really hard at normal betta pictures and see if it's normal.
 
#10 ·
Well he seems ok.. the spike at the end seems to be healed over for the most part, I can still see a tiny bit sticking out, and that first line of his fin bends so far forward it almost touches his back, but only when he flares. I think he'll be OK. Really just wish I knew if it was permanent. I may have over reacted a little, though.
 
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