Please help! Betta with Injured Fins

[Spooky25]

I was in the petstore today and saw a poor betta with a good portion of his tail missing. I felt so bad for him that I bought him in hopes of healing him. The cup that he was in said that he is a double tail but right now that is hard to believe. I have placed a photo of him in an album in my public profile.

Please take a look and tell me what I can do to help him! Thanks

[shellieca]

Usually clean warm conditioned water is all that is needed unless he has other issues but IME that'll take care of the fins. He's pretty.

[DragonFish]

+1 definitely. Clean, warm water does absolute wonders.

He is an adorable little guy. :) Can't wait to see how he perks up!

[Luimeril]

that's just some tail biting. :3 as the others said, clean warm water'll help. foods high in protein will, as well, such as bloodworms(frozen's better than freeze-dried), or pellets with high protein in them. :B

[Spooky25]

Luimeril what do you mean by tail biting?

[DragonFish]

Because the long, flowy fins on many male bettas are a trait selectively bred by humans for looks and showing, they're actually not natural for the species so bettas will often literally turn and bite at their heavy fins. This is especially common with Halfmoons, Doubletails, and even some Veiltails. It can be anything from a couple of nips to the ends of a bettas tail every once in a while, to your betta practically turning himself into a Plakat......and there are numerous possible causes.

In little plain cups where there is so little space, bettas can get easily get frustrated and bored, and also without much room to move often they'll see their colorful tails and just go after them. So its not at all unusual to find a betta with their tails chewed off in pet stores, like your guy, but most of them do perk up and leave their tails alone once they are in a nice proper environment IME. :)

[Spooky25]

I want to thank everyone for there helpful advice. I have been keeping my new guy in 76-78 degree water and have been doing partial (25%) water changes every other day.

It has only been four days since I got him and his tail has already grown back a small bit and his coloring has gotten darker. I will post pictures as his tail grows back so you can see how he is coming along.

One thing I did want to ask is if he tail damage really was from tail biting is there any way that I can keep it from happening again?

[Kithy]

Originally Posted by Spooky25

I want to thank everyone for there helpful advice. I have been keeping my new guy in 76-78 degree water and have been doing partial (25%) water changes every other day.

It has only been four days since I got him and his tail has already grown back a small bit and his coloring has gotten darker. I will post pictures as his tail grows back so you can see how he is coming along.

One thing I did want to ask is if he tail damage really was from tail biting is there any way that I can keep it from happening again?

Keep him from being stressed by not being in a very high traffic area of your house. Offer him plenty of cover with plants or caves.