Hi everyone
I noticed last night that my betta Julio has a little tear in his tail fin :(
It's about the size of his eyeball so not big.
Doesn't seem to really bother him.
They gave me a solution to put in his water at the aquarium.
Just wondering if anyone has any other advice?
Thank you :)
I'm guessing they gave you aquarium salt or melafix? Either way, go ahead and use what you have, just be sure to keep up on your water changes. Since the tear isn't bad, I wouldn't worry too much. He should heal up quickly. Best of luck!
Can you describe the tear a little more or post a photo? It's important to not just fix the current damage but also to identify the cause so that it won't happen again to your fish.
Also, what type of decorations do you have in your tank? One possible cause of your betta's tear could be sharp decorations. The most recommended test to check your decorations is using panty hose. If you run it across your decorations and it snags, you need to take that item out of your tank. However, I've had objects in the past that have passed the panty hose test and still been damaging to my fish, so you just have to be observant.
Another cause of tears could be over flaring. Do you have anything particularly reflective near your tank? Also, does your tank have a light? In the past I've had certain lightbulbs create a mirror effect so strong on the glass of my tank that my fish have attempted to attack it.
A third cause could be tail biting, which is the trickiest of the options. Some bettas bite their tails when bored, hungry, stressed, and sometimes seemingly for no reason at all. Because the causes can be so varied it can be harder to treat. How much and what are you feeding him? If you are underfeeding this could be the answer, and is easily fixable. If your betta is left alone for a lot of the day, it could be due to boredom. You can fix this by changing the decor around his tank periodically. If he sees something new to look at it may distract him from biting. (Again, make sure nothing you put him near could be too reflective.) You can also give him toys like ping pong balls, though whenever adding things to or around his tank make sure to monitor how he reacts to them before you leave them there for an extended period of time. Stress can be a bit harder to identify, because of the ability for so many things to "stress out" a fish. Some bettas are incredibly disturbed by water changes. Make sure to take him out of the tank during your water changes. Instead of using a net, you can scoop him up in the little cup he came in. Also if your water changes are not being performed often enough he can become uncomfortable, another cause of stress biting. Finally, some bettas just bite, without cause, for their whole lives. You just have to be vigilant about all the above other identified causes in order to not provide them with extra excuses to bite.
In terms of helping with regrowth, what exactly did the pet store give you? It was recently brought to my attention that any product that ends in "-fix" can actually be damaging to the labyrinth organ of your betta and therefore should not be used. I had been using Bettafix for a chronic biter for months and had no idea I was harming him the whole time! I felt awful! Aquarium salt is a much safer route, though for the most part fins just need time to heal.
Ive tried getting a picture of it, its almost impossible!!! It is a small tear near the bottom of his tail, around the size of his eyeball. I also noticed another tiny one (smaller than the other one) more towards the end of his tail. His fins are a bit thin at the ends (he was like this when we got him 2.5 weeks ago).
I have a silk plant in his tank at the moment, but it does have some plasticy bits on it that i suspect have maybe snagged his tail. I will try the panty hose test tonight when i change his water.
I dont have anything reflective near the tank, however the new (temporaty) position he is in, the way the sun comes in, it causes some shadows/reflections and ive noticed he does like to go a bit nuts at this partucular spot.
Im feeding him once a day, 2 pellets a day in the morning. He is alone a lot of the day as we are at work. He is currently living in a 3.4 litre tank and we are moving him to a new 15 litre one tonight, so there is more room for him to swim and play and hide.
When i change his water i do take him out with a plastic cup. i tried the net and it was terrible, we both got so stressed!!!
I never bother with tears. It happens quite often with our lovely long finned friends. It can happen from being snagged by a plant, tail biting, or over-flaring (blowing a fin). I don't medicate... Just warm, clean water.
Melafix, or rather anything with "fix" at the end is not very good for fish, let alone Betta fish because of their fragile labyrinth organ, that can become damaged to prolonged use of melafix/bettafix. I never had great experience with it (2 deaths after using it), and there are a few people on here who have had the same troubles, or similar troubles.
Check out the eBook Betta Fish Care Made Easy
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