Can Someone Confirm If This is Finrot?

[Zoonoo]

Sometimes I swear Gawain and his tank have had every problem under the sun.

A couple of days ago I noticed that his fins were looking more transparent than usual, and yesterday I noticed actual splits in his back fin. Today they have progressed into large splits with ragged holes. I took everything out of his tank to test it for snags. I was going to put in some Bettafix, but after reading some things on here it seemed like it might not be the best idea, and I want to be sure that finrot is what he has before I do anything else.
Part of my issue in diagnosing him is I am never sure if his fins are pink because of irritation or because of his natural coloring.





Housing
What size is your tank? 2 Gallons
What temperature is your tank? 82˚ F
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, when it needs it
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? None

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Betta Buffet Pellets
How often do you feed your betta fish? 2 pellets in the morning, 3 pellets at night

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? Weekly
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 30-50%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? NutraFin Betta Plus Conditioner

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

pH: 7.0
(Only one I know)

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? See above.
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? No change in his behavior, he's active as ever (I've noticed that he has not made any bubble nests recently however).
When did you start noticing the symptoms? A couple of days ago.
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? Not yet.
Does your fish have any history of being ill? He's developed strange curls on his fins before, but that's it.
How old is your fish (approximately)? Relatively young but I don't know exactly.

[shellieca]

Does not look like fin rot to me. If that is your filter intake in the 2nd pic, I would guess his fins are getting sucked into it when he's close to it. I suggest getting a pre-filter to put on it or pantyhose, anything that'll keep his finnage from being sucked into it. I would test for ammonia, nitrites & nitrates more so than Ph but use a liquid test kit.

[MistersMom]

looks torn not like rot

[Zoonoo]

Really, the filter? That never occurred to me, he did fine with it for the first month I had him, and I've never seen him have any trouble near it. But I did move some things in his tank that made the filter easier for him to get at. How could the filter cause holes like that, though?
And if it is the filter, should I turn it off for the night before I go to the store to pick up a prefilter? And what can I do to help him recover?

[MistersMom]

he'll recover on his own,a little bit of AQ salt never hurts though, and also there may just be something sharp in your tank...

[Zoonoo]

Okay. I'll go out and get some AQ salt, a water testing kit, and a pre filter if I can find one tomorrow.
Another thing, though. In the second photo you can see that part of his top fin is grey as well, which is a new development. I'm wondering if it could be very early fin rot on top of all the tearing, so my question now is if it would hurt to go through a treatment process with aquarium salt as though it were fin rot? I was thinking 50% daily water changes and the regular amount of salt. Would this bother him at all? I'd like to nip whatever that gray is in the bud as well as get these tears to heal...

[notsabrina]

I would try a little aquarium salt as well, just to be safe and so the tears can heal. My halfmoon unfortunately has fin rot, and at first it started off as ripped fins by accident. Didn't look too serious, but Then it reached a point where I was like ok this is definitely fin rot. So yeah! Just to be on the safe side a little salt will help :)

[shellieca]

Originally Posted by Zoonoo

Really, the filter? That never occurred to me, he did fine with it for the first month I had him, and I've never seen him have any trouble near it. But I did move some things in his tank that made the filter easier for him to get at. How could the filter cause holes like that, though?
And if it is the filter, should I turn it off for the night before I go to the store to pick up a prefilter? And what can I do to help him recover?

When they get close, rub against, or swim between the intake & tank wall their fins can get sucked into the intake arm causing damage. 2g doesn't give him a lot of room & a filter for that small volume of water creates more current than you may think, but I would still use a filter, just lessen its current as best I could. My VT male, in a 10g filtered tank, typically has a small amount of damage because of his getting so close to the filter intak. I keep an eye on it & make sure to keep the water clean with 50%+ water changes each week & so far no real issues. I don't add anything to the water other than Prime & ferts to any of my tanks.

[RedRaz]

Is that a 2.5 gal Aqueon mini bow? I have that same tank and filter. I took the filter out it's way too strong for my betta. My betta is fine without a filter because I keep up with the water changes. You could try not using filter and see how it goes. I do one 50% water change and one 100% water change weekly. I also use IAL which works like a charm. :)

Edit: It doesn't look like fin rot to me either. You would see black around the edges of the fins I believe. You might be seeing fin growth. A little AQ salt would not hurt. Also def use some IAL if you can.

[Zoonoo]

It's a 2-gallon Marineland Eclipse. Unfortunately I do need his filter, because as a very busy college student the most I can keep up with is the bare minimum of water changes. I adapted the water bottle filter baffle tutorial to fit my filter so there is barely a current left to bother him. I'm going to try tying some netting around the intake to keep his fins from getting stuck.
I am certain it's not new growth, though. His fins are looking way too ragged for that, and there are actually holes which wouldn't make sense for that.
I went and picked up some aquarium salt from the store today, as well as all new decor that I am 100% certain will not damage him and some blood worms (I'm going to see if any variety in his diet helps). I'll do a 100% water change today and clean everything out before starting the salt treatment.