Worried about my Betta.

[Jake3698]

I had a thread on here a long time ago about his tail.
Recently i became worried again.

Housing
What size is your tank? 5.5 gal
What temperature is your tank? 78-79 F
Does your tank have a filter? Yes
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? No
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? Solo.

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Pellets and sometimes Freeze Dried Brine Shrimp.
How often do you feed your betta fish? One to three times a day, depending on how many pellets or the size of the brine shrimp ball. Pellets are usually 2 at a time twice a day, or one pellet morning, small pinch of shrimp noon, and one pellet afternoon.

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? weekly
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 50-100 every week or week and a half.
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Api stress coat as water conditioner, and Ammo-Lock (between changes.

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?

Never tested.

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? Tail is serrated and no longer a Veil Tail, looks as if its caving in at the top.
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? More active than past, seems healthier. Regaining colour on his body.
When did you start noticing the symptoms? Tail has been persistent for several months. Recently started getting concerned again.
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? No treatment.
Does your fish have any history of being ill? Nothing that has been diagnosed.
How old is your fish (approximately)? I won him at the OC Fair during summer. At least 7 months old, unknown before i won him.


Will post pics in a bit, for some reason they are not coming through yet.

EDIT: Heres the old Forum http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=109339

Photos added now. The rock you see is plastic, but i ripped off all of the plastic plants that it came with to avoid snagging his fins. Everything else is silk.

[Sena Hansler]

I will note, I never ever use ammo-lock. Found it useless. A tank with ammonia is an unhealthy tank - or a tank in the middle of cycling.

Since you use ammo-lock, you won't know whether or not it is time to change the water. A sufficient API liquid test kit, is commonly used by many people on here... When you see any amount of ammonia, you want to do a water change to lower it to zero.

Callistra is pretty good with this :P

However... Since your tank has a filter, it is trying to cycle. Trying to cycle, but using ammo-lock kind of kicks it off base. It keeps trying, and keeps dying. Ever try to use air freshners in a house, to hide the smell? The source of the smell is still there... you are just covering it up. Basically the same with things that claim to get rid of ammonia... It's kind of doing it, but really prolonging the tank's need to be cleaned

I am thinking that the ammonia is probably higher than expected, which can cause a few issues one of which is tail rot... Not sure if your fella has it or not, but it would be best to invest in a test kit :)