I think this betta is going to be my last :(

[Welsh]

When I bought my first betta it came with fin rot, something I wasn't familiar with when I first started out. I looked after the little guy and followed everything to the letter but Aden sadly didn't make it. Anyway, to deal with my grief I bought a new one a week later who I named Sorbet, a marble line Rosetail who was fit and healthy and the bestest little fishie anyone could hope for but this week I have noticed Sorbets tail isnt so rosy anymore. His once enviable cellophane tail is shaped more like a plakat than a RT and I don't know why. My water params are 0 0 0 and I change my water once a week, it used to be twice but the little dude always got stressed, so it leaves me with two options --

1) Flying fox is biting his tail
2) Sorbet is biting his own tail

If I were to describe his tail I would say it looked more like I had cut it off with a scissors than the melting effect fin rot has. The tail isn't too bad but the curly bits at the end of his tail have gone, i'm just worried it will get worse.

Like the title says I think this betta is going to be my last :(

[Oldfishlady]

How big is the tank, is it filtered, by your numbers it is not cycled

You can either have short term stress from water changes or long term stress from poor water quality and fin/health issues due to poor water quality
If he is not tail biting-
Poor water quality is a big destroyer of delicate tail/fins of the Betta, they slowly get eaten away
The flying fox if it is a true FF and not a CAE-this could be what is eating away at the Betta, however, they usually go for the body but the tail is also a target, especially if this is a 20g or less size tank.

[Welsh]

4G tank and it is filtered. All my tanks have the same params

[Oldfishlady]

I would take the flying fox out, 4g is only suited for the Betta.
I would also increase the water changes to 50% daily for 4-5 days and then back to 50% twice weekly.

[Welsh]

Ok, how effective will the water changes be for the recovery of his tail?

[Oldfishlady]

Clean fresh dechlorinated water from frequent water changes-is the best medication for treatment and prevention of health and fin issues- in my experience and opinion.....

[Welsh]

What should my water params be? I thought 0 0 0 was where they were supposed to be, it would make sense really lol

[Oldfishlady]

On a cycled tank your water prams should be:
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 5-10ppm
pH-vary and fish usually adapt without problems, sudden swings can be deadly

Nitrate-going into the 30ppm and higher can affect the fish immunity, fish can tolerate the slow rise in nitrate and be fine, however, once you make a large water change and the sudden drop in high nitrate you can shock the fish and they will either get really sick or die.

Same as when you add new fish from a low nitrate tank to a high nitrate tank, the new fish are shocked and get sick and/or die and then the old fish with the low immunity get sick and/or die secondary to low immunity from living in a high nitrate water.

This is where the myths from "a water change killed my fish" and "fish store sold me sick fish" come from.
Neglected tanks-lack of water changes, substrate vacuuming, poor water flow from the filter, overfeeding, over crowded etc...a neglected tank usually will have high nitrate

Live active growing plants of the right species and numbers can cause a tank to have 0ppm Nitrate reading due to the plants using ammonia as plant food and the conversion ammonia to nitrite-nitrite to nitrate changes, this is with lots of plants not just a couple.

[Welsh]

My 12 gallon that has been setup for 4 months has 0- nitrate, so does that mean its not cycled? and my bettas 4 gallon tank has been setup for a month :s I thought I was starting to understand fish keeping and everything that came with it but clearly not lol

[Oldfishlady]

What kind of testing products are you using?