Is this a case of fin rot?? Help!

[Lunatatice]

I woke up this morning and went to go feed my betta fish. He ate the usual, and nothing seemed different until I took a closer look at his fins. The edges seem a tiny bit ragged and are starting to lose color (grayish see-through color now instead of blue). It's barely anything, but I'm starting to worry.
If this is fin rot I think I have a theory of why this happened. He lives in a small tank with no gravel in my room. My room isn't the best room ever - it gets super hot in the summer and super cold in the winter. Where I live we are experiencing a heat wave, and the heat could have stressed him out.
I moved my betta fish to my sister's room, where it is much cooler, but still the right temperature for a betta fish.
Also, if this is a case of fin rot, I don't think it was caused by an unclean tank. I clean it every 4 days and I'm starting to do partial water changes every day to keep the water from getting too warm again.

Any advice?

[Oldfishlady]

Your on the right track, keep the water really clean with daily water changes to prevent a secondary infection.
How big is the tank and is it filtered?

For heat-you can turn the light off, remove the hood or lid, low the water level so he doesn't jump out.

[Lunatatice]

Thanks! The tank is only a starter kit tank (half a gallon-I know, not much), so no, it is not filtered.
Should I use any medication?

[Oldfishlady]

On a half gallon-I would make daily to every-other day 100% water changes on a regular basis, at this point I would do 100% daily for 4-5 days at the least
I would hold off on any medication and get the water quality fixed first and let his immunity build up/kick-in and he should heal himself.

[Lunatatice]

Ok, should I at least put in some aquarium salt?

Also, my #1 worry is that my family is going away in five days for vacation (for a whole month), and I'm leaving my betta with some neighbors (I trust them, because they own a betta too.)Do you think my betta will be better by then? If not, should I buy medication and give it to them and instruct them to change the water more frequently than four days?

[Oldfishlady]

Without personally looking at your fish I cannot say 100%
However-in my many years in this hobby I have found that fresh, clean, dechlorinated water to be the best medication for treatment and prevention with health and fin issues with tropical fish.
I never use any store bought medication-especially when clean water often will do a better job without the harsh side-effect.
If the fin are just tattered due to poor water quality-you can reverse this and start the healing process with water changes, however, you may not see results by the time you go on vacation and if he is otherwise acting himself, I would go with the water changes, adding 1tsp/gal of aquarium salt would not hurt- but if it is the beginning stages it is not needed.

[Lunatatice]

All right, thank you!

[Sarada]

Sounds to me more like fin curling. Make sure the water is treated and let to sit until it reaches room temperature before you add it to the tank during water changes. 20-30 minutes or longer

[Lunatatice]

Really? Because I only let it sit for 5-10 min. before using it.

[Lunatatice]

Also, I changed the water a couple of hours ago and the color seems to coming back to the edges of his fins now. The edges are still frayed and coming off a little, but I think he's going to be OK.