fin rot? tail biting? could ghost shrimp do this?

[Chris430]

i check out my bettas every day, though ill admit houdini gets less attention. today i went to go take a couple pics of their tanks (just got the other into his 5 gallon. wanted pictures of both my 5'ers)

he has a lot of back fin missing!!
not like most, but way too much for it have not to happened quickly.
he doesnt often open them that much. when i got him he had them all clamped up. he started opening them up very quickly, but relatively. i tried to look at old pictures to see if maybe i just didnt notice how much is gone. ill post a now and then photo for you to see how much is just all of a sudden gone.
but. it doesnt have any darkness to it or like how i was told fin rot looks. but i dont think him or the ghost shrimp could tear him up that fast. im just baffled by what happened and what to do next... ive never had to deal with this before

i would feel really awful if i took him home in his dirty little cup only to make life worse for him :(

please help me. i really just dont know what my next step is


shortly after i got him and he started to get healthy



now as of today


what did i do wrong? how do i fix it? he seems to be in great health and spirits, but this is not right :(
i have a 2 gallon completely empty that he was in, but i have a heater and filter for it. i have a 3 gallon with gravel and dirty water still because baby blue just upgraded.
right now his tank mates are 1 mystery snail and there should be 4 ghost shrimp assuming he hasnt munched any

((i do work tonight, and i -have- to go to my moms and do laundry))

please help quickly. it would be awful for him to lose any more fin than ive already let happen :(

[ChoclateBetta]

How many water changes?

[Chris430]

okay, so im not the best at a real schedule for this. (( i dont work on a real schedule myself. i work nights at fast food, so i often dont even know what day or week of the month it is)) but i do change a gallon or two every two or three days and change most the water and rinse toys off and stuff every week or so. it also has a filter. it had one of those tetra 2-10's on it. now it has a similar sized but completely different filter. i just cant think of what it is.

sometimes i do this thing where i change almost all of it, fill a little and change again... i cant explain why but i get too nervous to put them in a little tank or bowl to do a 100% clean.

he gets the same water treatment as every body else. ive got ghost shrimp in his and a 40. three pygmy cories, three lyretail guppies, a mystery snail, and another betta. conditioned tap with bacteria starter. top fin brand

[ChoclateBetta]

If you have him in a two gallon 1 100 and every other day a small water change.

[Chris430]

he is in a 5 gallon. he did have a 2 gallon and i did change it more often than i do now, but this didnt happen til he was rehomed into the 5. the five had been previously housing other fish, but i cleaned it fairly well and none of the other fish were or are sick
(three pygmy cories and three lyretail guppies. were in the 5 while i set up the forty, now are in the forty establishing it for its future fish)

[ChoclateBetta]

A 100 and 50 percent or judt 1 100 is good. How much food is fed?

[Chris430]

i do betta flakes. i feed him for about three or so minutes, he seems to eat 5 or 6 flakes. i try not to let food sit around in there. however, i feed ghost shrimp in there, and they seem to finish a pellet a day. i try to find extras and get those out too, but i have found the occasional one pretty washed away under a rock or plant...

[ChoclateBetta]

Never feed flakes to Betta.

[Chris430]

they are betta flakes. sold for bettas. my bettas go crazy for them and the other one is striving. they also get a mix of bloodworms daphnia and misis. i have pellets, and i give them to blue occasionally, but houdini, the one in question, is a flake snob. wont touch the pellets

[ChoclateBetta]

They still should not be eating them. They also make .25 Gallon tanks for Bettas.