All of my fish are tail-biting!

[labloverl]

I have 6 males.
1 agressive VT in his own 3.5 gallon. He gets a rip in his anal fin and his tail fin is chewed.
1 VT and 1 CT in a divided 5 gallon. The VT's tail is chewed and the CT's rays have either been broken off by the filter intake or he bit them.
3 CT's in a divided 10 gallon. 2 of them chew their tail, and the other has bent and mangled rays.

They've got plenty of silk plants in their tanks and a little terra cotta pot to hid in which they rarely do. They do have floating tubes made out of craft mesh which they all seem to use. They only thing I've done different is that I feed once a day most of the time instead of twice a day like I used to do.

[veggiegirl]

Hey there,

Is it possible that your bettas have fin rott? It is sometimes contagious. Also it does seem stange that all of them would be tail biters... maybe they are just hungry or bored if their feeding routine has been changed though I have never experienced this. I would be most likely considering fin rott, do they have any other symptoms like darkening around the edges of the fins etc.

Let me know how they go

[labloverl]

I've been monitoring them closely and I don't see any black edges. Their tanks are cycled also.

[veggiegirl]

Hey there,

Seems to be a bit of a mystery, All I can suggest is keeping a close eye on them for now which by the sounds of it you already are. Fin rott does not always cause the edges of the fins to go black so just keep an eye out for further damage such as holes or the fins breaking away, keep me updated

[labloverl]

Here are some pics I took.


The smokey black color on the ends of his fins are part of his coloring.

[Syriiven]

The only thing I could suggest is put new pantyhose over the filter intake if you're worried about it. Sometimes bettas bite cuz of pent-up agression, maybe you could use a mirror exercise to give them something else to have a fit at. but not for longer than a minute, no need to stress them out.

My VT Phy is a tail-biter, and it's been non-stop no matter what I do. So I just keep the water clean so it doesnt get infected and recently put him through some aq salt when i thought he was getting bad. I've been told Stress Coat can also help in keeping infection out for tail-biters, since they're initially re-opening sores that are trying to heal.

As for them all doing it at once...Iunno. Fish pheremone? xD

[veggiegirl]

Hey there,

You have lovely bettas! It is difficult to tell for sure in the photos whether or not they have fin rott, do they have any red marks on their fins that arn't usually there? Have their fins got much worse in the last day or so, with fin rott you can usually see a difference every day where their fins have broken away further. If you think it is fin rott I wouldn't hesitate to medicate because once their fins break away and it reaches the body you cant save them. Sorry I couldn't be more help but good luck and keep me posted

[BETTACHKALOVE]

extra water changes will prevent any infections. Even if tanks are cycle just do extra 50% water changes a week . Also stress coat by API would help. I would also add more protein food to their diet .

[LizzyP]

Don't medicate if something isn't wrong. Sometimes medications can do more harm than good if used improperly. Just stick to clean, warm, conditioned water, unless there are obvious signs of rot or infection. In the divided tanks, can they see eachother? That might be stressing them out causing them to bite themselves. Sometimes the long finned males chew their tails when they get too heavy or it's too hard to swim. Is there a filter in any of the tanks that produces a lot of water movement? Try baffling them with filter sponge or a water bottle (tutorial is around on the site somewhere. I'm on my phone or I'd find it for you). Again, if you haven't already put some pantyhose over the intake (where the water goes in the filter) to prevent those long fins from getting sucked up in.

Good luck.

[labloverl]

Thanks everyone!

It doesn't look like the fins are changing much from day to day. They don't look inflamed or irritated either.

In the VT's case I can even see crescent shape bite marks. All of the filters are baffled or shielded on the intakes and outflows, but I'll adjust them better when I do a water change.