is my fish ok?

[beacon]

I bought this fish a month ago at Petco. He was a baby one, $1.99 fish. he has grown a lot since I had him and seems healthy. Today I noticed his fins seem to be breaking into points. Does he have a problem or is this this kind of fish he is supposed to be? he has a huge appetite, always begging. i am hoping he is ok.

[veggiegirl]

Hey there,

I can see the points that you mentioned and also are there a couple of holes in the bottom of his tail? If so it could be the begginings of fin rott. At this stage I would probably just keep a close eye on him but if his fins start breaking away more dramatically then don't hesitate to treat for fin rott. He is a cute boy, I wouldn't panic about him though, he looks pretty healthy otherwise but keep us updated on his condition.

[beacon]

Wow, thanks for your input. I hope he does not have that!! He is in a 2.5 gallon tank which is split in half and another betta is on the other side. That fish was an adult when I got him and so far his fins have not changed. I will look on this site to see how to treat fin rot if it gets worse.

I change a certain amount of the water every day and take away any poop/debris with a baster as soon as I see it. I give them spring water (our tap water will kill a fish) and wonder if there are too many minerals in it. Both fish are very active and always very hungry. Enuf where I wonder if I am feeding them properly.

[LittleBlueFishlets]

Do his fins look like the ones in the picture below? This is my female betta. She's happy and healthy. People here suggested that she's possibly a veil tail with a bit of crown tail mixed in.

[veggiegirl]

Hey again,

It sounds like you take good care of your bettas with all those regular water changes it is unlikely that your boy has fin rott because it is usually caused by dirty water. Your fish is only young so it may simply be that his fins are growing and also as mentioned sometimes if the betta has a crowntail gene in there somewhere the fin rays may grow out slightly from the rest of the fin causing the pointed tips.

[beacon]

Yes littleblue, my fish does look a bit like your girl. His top fin looks like the batmobile fins :)

Your fish is very pretty. I did not know girl betas had such long fins. My blue fish also has red front fins with white tips, though it's hard to see in the photo.

[LittleBlueFishlets]

Thank you! She has a little bit of the same batmobile-look, too. (See the blurry photo below.) When her fins started looking like this, I was worried that she had fin rot or something. But her fins looked ok, just ragged. Then I posted her picture, and people mentioned the crowntail-like bits. She swims around her tank like a kid on a sugar binge, so it's definitely not slowing her down! Since your guy is still a baby, it'll be really interesting to see what he looks like when he's grown!

[LittleBlueFishlets]

Hm, sorry to make it look like I was hijacking your thread with pictures of my fish. But I did freak out last month when she started looking 'ragged.' I read all the threads here about fin rot and diseases. But her fins looked healthy. (No black outlines, dead areas or actual rips/tears.) Based on what you've said, it sounds like your little guy is healthy also, and maybe just has the same type of genetics as my girl. Good luck with him!

Post more pictures as he gets older -- I really want to see what he ends up looking like.

[sainthogan]

It could be fin biting or he could be snagging his tail on decorations, etc in his tank.

[ChoclateBetta]

How many water changes?