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Can't tell if it's fin rot or tail biting

1K views 13 replies 4 participants last post by  Sena Hansler 
#1 ·
My little guy is a blue/green VT... I came home from work the day before yesterday and he had a huge split in his caudal fin - right in the middle and nearly all the way up to his body, almost giving him a DT appearance. I didn't see any blood or discoloring around the split. I checked it out again yesterday morning and there was no change. When I got home from work last night, the edges of all his fins looked shredded and there was more shredding in some areas than in others. One area of his caudal fin was very shredded (maybe about 1/4 of an inch into the fin with just small strings of fin left) and I can't tell if there is any discoloration since the shredded parts are so thin.

I gave the tank a very thorough cleaning and soaked everything in the hottest water I could get out of my faucet. He's back in his tank now (moved stuff around in case he's bored and biting) and there were no changes this morning that I could see.

Would fin rot move that quickly and unevenly?


Housing
What size is your tank? 2.5 gal
What temperature is your tank? 78-80
Does your tank have a filter? yes
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? Aqueon betta pellets
How often do you feed your betta fish? 3-4 pellets per 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? usually 50-75%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Aqueon water conditioner

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters? no

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

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? shredded fins
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? it hasn't
When did you start noticing the symptoms? yesterday
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? no treatment other than a very thorough tank cleaning
Does your fish have any history of being ill? no
How old is your fish (approximately)? I've had him for 4 months
 
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#2 ·
when you say small strings, I immediately thing biting. IT is possible to be rot, but without a picture it's hard to see. The treatment either way is clean water, with possibly AQ salt if it turns to rot.
Can you get a picture?
Also, with you current set up, I'd suggest giving him a few changes a week (while recovering). I clean up my boys water every second or third day while he's biting like this, at least one full change a week while healing. (either full or half changes) Some people will even suggest full daily WC's, especially if you use salt. IF you do go with a salt treatment, do not use it for more than 10 days, as it can build up and damage his kidneys.
 
#3 ·
I wrote the initial post at work. When I got home, I noticed the more stringy parts are now gone and it still looks like he's losing fin. I'm currently making the 3 hour drive (the boyfriend is driving... I'm not posting and driving!) to visit my parents this weekend and I didn't want to leave Squishy alone with whatever's happening to his fins... So I packed up the little .5 gal that came with him, heater, thermometer, food, conditioner, and picked up some API aquarium salt.

I'm sure this will stress him, but I didn't like the idea of leaving him for 3 days with his rapidly disappearing fins.

I didn't bring a camera with me so I'll see if I can get one on my phone when we get there
 
#4 ·
Hi and welcome to the forum, chichi. The split up the middle of his tail sounds almost like blow out. Has he been flaring a lot lately? If you could get a pic like Silverfang suggested, that would be great.

Usually if rot moves that fast, you'll see quite a bit of discoloration (black) at the edges and the behavior will change. Has he been lethargic or reluctant to eat lately? If not, then my guess is biting/blowout.
 
#7 ·
His plants are plastic... They passed the stocking test, but of course it's possible. He also likes to swim behind the things that are suctioned to his tank, so I don't know if he somehow pulled it on the filter or heater.

I took some pictures last night and the flash showed me that there was a slight black edge on part of his fin that I wasn't seeing. I've got him in with the aquarium salts now. I'll post pictures in a few days since I can't resize on the phone... I'd still like to know if you guys think it's biting that turned into rot or something else...

No changes since last night as far as fin loss, so hopefully I caught it early enough.
 
#8 ·
Biting can cause fin rot or a secondary infection such as septicemia - usually from dirty water (ammonia build up). Tail biting can be caused by stress, boredom, heavy tail, heavy filter flow, illness (stress factor) etc...
Does he waste a lot of what he eats? like, is there usually left over food? Maybe you could do a 30% twice a week, to see if it helps :)
 
#12 ·
I've never had a betta bite at his fin injuries... I know Shiloh rubbed his face against stuff, when the two gashes were healing... So I am actually not too sure about that. However, the split in his fin was probably from over-flaring - commonly known as a blown fin. Some bettas will bite their fins after blowing their fin, because too much flaring causes stress.
 
#14 ·
Hmm a good way to put it =D which explains why some of the bettas that came to me with rot, had bitten their fins down.
 
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