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Clamped fins

1K views 14 replies 2 participants last post by  IrishRose2124 
#1 ·
Last night I did a routine water change for all my fish. Earlier woke up to use the bathroom and noticed that my little Poma isn't acting right. She's sitting at the bottom of the tank with her fins clamped! :cry: How in the world do I get her to unclamp her fins? I checked the water, the heat is normal and the test strips are normal. Help!!
 
#2 ·
Betta's will clamp thier fins when they are under stress, it is much like the fetal position for us. Some of the things that can cause clamping are: Untreated or poor water conditions, external parasites, stress form being played with or moved.
Does Poma have any tank mates in with her? Is she eating ok? How large is the container she is in? Do you treat her water before adding it? Clamping can be a symptom of a larger problem, so it might be helpful to post a image of her if you can.
 
#3 ·
She's in a 2.5 gallon tank with a heater, and no tank mates. She's doing much better now but her pectoral fins are still a little clamped. She's been eating just fine. Yes I add the conditioner before I put all the fish back in their tanks after water changes. I don't know how visible her pectoral fins are since they are really translucent and the images are pretty blurry :oops: she wouldn't hold still for me
 

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#5 ·
No she was defiantly acting odd last night. She would curl up under the rock decoration that's in her tank with her fins pretty much glued to her body. She would only move to get air, I was so worried she wouldn't make it :( She usually rests in her plants not at the bottom of her tank. I was really hoping she wasn't going into shock. She seems to be doing just fine, though I'll keep an eye on her today to see if anything happens.

And thank you! She's got red lip so it looks like she's wearing lip stick. Oh I love your avatar, sooo pretty!! :)
 
#6 ·
Thankies! Her name is Ann and she is top fish of my 10 gallon at the moment since Stella is under the weather (you wouldn't happen to know how to treat bite marks would you?).

If she is still acting funny later on today you might want to look vary closely at her, external parasites can cause clamping and can be treated. If you don't see anything, she may have just gotten spooked by something and is still trying to calm down.
 
#7 ·
Are these bite marks on her tail or on her body? I've had issues with tail biters and I usually just keep the water clean, lower the water temp a little and a a little bit of aquarium salt till the bite heal.
 
#8 ·
They are defiantly on her body, images on the thread: http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=60638
I have separated her into a quart container so that her sisters wont bother her (ironicly she layed eggs right after I separated her). I don't have any aquarium or epsom salt at the moment, but I might be able to get some today. I also don't have a heater but for some reason the fish don't seem to mind.
 
#10 ·
well I'm pretty sure those are bite marks. if she's active and not showing signs of a more serious illness then I think keeping the water clean should be enough and she should heal up on her own. I do recommend some aquarium salt until she's all healed up.
 
#12 ·
Oh and you said that you have a male that share the tanks with your females and he got out of his side for a little bit. I think that's how she got those bites. Maybe your male wanted to breed with her. Males usually nip and bite at breeding females. So sometimes they get a little banged up. I'm not positive that actually happened, but it's a good possibility
 
#13 ·
Your probably right, the only thing is that I don't think that he is sexually mature yet, because he has not been making bubble nets like my previous bettas have. He is also not eaten in a few days but is still very active in the tank. He puts the little pellets in his mouth and then spits them back out (he just ignores flakes). When Stella laid her eggs in the container, she really though me for a loop.
 
#14 ·
Well bettas are just full of surprises lol. I hoped my advice helped some and I hope Stella gets better :)
 
#15 ·
Update
Poma's made a full recovery and back to swimming around happily in her tank.
 
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