Missing Tail & Bloated

[Robarie]

I just finished doing our regular routine for water changings, i have 3 male bettas in a 20 gal, i remove them all with their little cups, only with one do i have to use the net to get him in there, the others calmly get into the cup with little effort. They are in the cups under a lamp for about an hour or so while i am empting water and sucking out poop. I keep an eye on them that they dont jump out but thats about it as i also have two toddlers running around.

So when i put them back in their tank this evening, one has his tail fin almost gone. I dont know how this happened he was never in contact with the other guys and he is not the one i use the net on.

Please help, there was no pieces of tail in his tank when i cleaned it and none in the cup either, they dont have any sharp plants or houses (((as i had one get stuck in a sharp plant and drown itself, lesson learned))). So i have no idea what could have happened to his tail, i've very sad and dissappointed in myself, i try to do everything right and now his tail is gone.

Also, i was overfeeding i found out so had 2 of them bloated, and now i am losing 1 due to the bloat or constipation or sbd, i tried fasting for couple days and the 1 got better completely, but the other still is not doing good. After fasting i did the pea thing, and he didn't really eat any of it, i let him fast for 1 more day and tried the daphina today, but so far no poop and he has lost his color and is looking completely sad.

So if anyone can please help, i am at a loss for this missing tail...

[sunkissedinCA]

awww. what in the world...thats so strange. his tail fin will grow back though, you just have to make sure you quarantine him and treat the water properly. as for your bloated guy, i'm sorry :( i wish i could be more help. i really hope he gets better!

[dr2b]

My boyfriend has had issues with his betta's tail coming up missing. More of pieces of it gone - not the whole tail. So we have speculated that he is nipping at his tail. He seems to like to chase his tail. Have you noticed your betta doing that?

[Robarie]

Well maybe, he did have a very long tail it was about as long as his body, and in the cup i could picture him doing that but not that i noticed really. And yeah its just peices of it missing, looks like it was just ripped and torn up, and after looking at him a while it looks like theres parts of the top fin torn too. And they were all a little active in the cups yesterday because i got a female and had their cups sitting next to her little tank.

The one torn up is Miclo, in the blue, he had a beautifully long tail.

[dr2b]

Yeah - it sounds like he was chasing his tail. My boyfriend's betta is still very active and flaring/swimming like normal. There really is no change in him... except part of his tail is missing. We can't figure out if he is nipping his fins or if he blew his tail (he flares A LOT).

[MrVampire181]

Ok, so I'm guessing you have a divided tank?

The missing tail could be rot (look for a black or red edge around the tail) or he simply got tired of his tail he bit it off (hey it happens).

Bloating could be dropsy or a nasty case of sbd. If you don't feed live food then dropsy is highly unlikely. If you look at him from above and his scales are coming out...

[Vikki81207]

For the bloated guy, fast him another day or so, then give him some daphnia or the sun dried shrimp you find at walmart.
For the tail fin, sounds like he either bit it off or you didn't notice fin rot. I would say quarantine him, put some aquarium salt in there and treat him with something for fin rot. Hope he gets better.

[Robarie]

OMG so i been watching mr. tail biter and yes he is chasing his tail!!! He looks like the dogs do when they are bored, UGH! I dont see any black or red, but now i'm seeing pieces of tail floating around, what is his problem?? Did he just get tired of having a nice tail??? How can i stop him from doing this to himself??

As for my bloated boy, he's still not looking good today, i did give him the daphina yesterday and he barely ate some, should i fast again today and try more tomorrow?

Thanks everyone

[dr2b]

I've read that putting ping pong balls in the water for them to play with helps with the chasing the tail issue.

I would fast the bloated betta again today.

[Robarie]

k thanks i will do the fast again.
and yeah i was thinking i wanted to give him some kind of chew toy or something to keep him occupied lol, thanks i'll see if it helps.