beta fish losing tail?

[jden]

hey guys iv had a halfmoon beta fish for a few months now and everything was going well until i started to notice that his tail has been falling. I looked in the tank and the rocks were starting to turn green which i guess could be algae. I cleaned the tank once every week. Would the tail grow back because hes missing parts here and there.

[DragonFish]

Hmm....it sounds like tail-biting to me from your description, but it could possibly be finrot or maybe hes snagging his tail on something...HMs do have such large, delicate fins..

Could you please fill out this form and attach a picture if you can?
http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=49233

[jden]

HOUSING
-no filter
-temp around 70-80
-heated tank
-pebbles fake plants
-no mates

FOOD
-aqueon betta fish color enhancing food
-4 palets a day

MAINTENANCE
-change tank once every week
-add beta water conditioner

BEFORE


AFTER




TANK

[DragonFish]

Oh goodness......thats a nice big chunk missing there. But I'm not seeing blackened/dead edges and I'm fairly certain I see a little clear regrowth in that second to last picture, so I'm going to say he most likely shredded his own tail. While the plants he has do look plastic, which even the softest of run the risk of shredding fins, IMO that damage looks like a little too much for a plastic plant to inflict.

A lot of things can cause biting, even the tiniest change or fluctuation, or he could have just gotten tired of his heavy fins weighing him down.....but you won't know what it is until you look at and address every possible cause.

A couple of things I noticed were the temperature and the sparse decor.
If your temp is really fluctuating that much, or really ever drops bellow 78 regularly, then its time to invest in a new heater; something adjustable with a thermostat and fully submersible. Non-adjustable present heaters, which I noticed you have, tend to be very unreliable and temperature fluctuations of more then a degree or two can be very stressful. So I would highly suggest looking into getting a new heater as soon as you can.....even if thats not the cause of the tail-biting, its better for the over-all health of your fish.

And I also noticed you don't have too much going on in the way of plants and decor, which could possibly be stressing out your fish and leading him to bite. Even though this colorful domesticated species of betta are far from their wild counterparts that live in the densely planted rice paddy fields, they still like to have a decent amount of cover in their tanks to feel secure. I would suggest replacing those potentially dangerous plastic plants with a couple nice fluffy silk plants, at least one of them tall enough to reach the top of the water/close to it.
Not only will this help to lessen stress if that is what is causing the biting, but it will also help to eliminate boredom which could also be a possible cause due to the sparse decor. Giving him something new to explore and swim around in could greatly help to distract him from further biting.

Also, just as a general care and maintenance sort of thing, in an unfiltered smaller tank(I assume yours is under 5 gallons), you should be doing at the very least two water changes per week, 1 50% and 1 100%(though I personally find, based on my own experience, that an extra 50-ish% is good as well)to maintain proper water quality and help make sure that his biting doesn't end up turning into finrot.

[jden]

ah thank you so much. i guess il go to the pet store and see if i can up some new plants and maybe add more decoration. Il probably get a new heater and a thermometer.

[DragonFish]

Sounds like a good plan. :) Let me know how it works out and how your boy does!

[jden]

alright so heres the update for today. i went to petsmart and decided that the 2.5 gallon was too small in my opinion for my fish to swim so i decided to get him a 10gallon. lol. i got silk plants and a adjustable heater. and even a filter. i also got some led lights but they dont really show light throughout the tank. i was wondering if i should turn the light off at night or just keep it on? anymore suggestions for the tank?

[Kithy]

Looks a lot better :3 I think you may need to put that heater sideways though since they're supposed to be fully submersed. It looks like he has enough room but if he looks a little stressed you could take a little bit of stuff out. You wanna give him lots to look at but without cram packing it all in.

I'd turn the lights off at night so he has some chill time during the night.

He's a pretty little fish and I bet he'll start to perk up so don't worry too much. Do keep an eye on him over the next week in case he starts looking bad.

[callistra]

I don't see regrowth.. I see massive fin rot that is verging on body rot.. I'd treat that with antibiotics but if you don't want to you can treat conservatively with aquarium salt (predissolved) see this sticky here: http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=73332

Nice upgrade :) 10 gallon tanks are much easier to maintain.

Please have a read through this thread of cycling http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=47838 and this thread of water maintenance http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=66595 (once the tank is cycled which could take up to 8 weeks).

What kind of water conditioner are you using?

You're probably going to want to turn that heater diagonal across the back so you can fully submerge it, you also don't want to rest it on anything like the gravel. Use the clips include it and stick it on the back.

You should turn the lights off at night so your betta can sleep. They need darkness to sleep.

I suggest putting an intake/prefilter on the aquarium because they can be sucked in. You may also need to baffle it.

Those stick on thermometers are really inaccurate. I would get a glass in tank thermometer with the suction cup that sticks it to the outside.

[DragonFish]

Honestly, I really don't see any finrot. I'm not seeing any dead or blackened edges on the fins anywhere at all. Really, it looks to me like he just reached back and got a nice couple mouthfuls of tail; I've had boys that have done that before. Heck, my one chronic biters fins are just about as short in several places as the shortest bit on this guy.

Maybe I'm just crazy about the regrowth, but I SWEAR in that second picture of just him I can see the very beginnings of it....but that could very well just be the way the picture is or something, I don't know.

I'd say just watch his tail. Look for clear regrowth, which should appear over the next couple of days. If you start to see any sort of blackened edges or no regrowth after then, probably wouldn't hurt to QT him(your old 2.5 gallon should work well for this)and give him an AQ salt treatment.
If it comes to that and there is no improvement/things start to get worse after all that.....then some stronger medications are probably needed. Personally, I don't like jumping right into commercial medications, especially when there is a chance they're not even needed....

And since it seems like everything else has been addressed.....congrats on the upgrade! It certainly looks much better, love it!