Fin Rot Battle

[ParisRose]

Which is why it's confusing me. You can also see towards the bottom of the tail how it was healing.

[Sarada]

Looking like a tail biter to me...if that was my fish I would isolate him and do 100% water changes daily with salt added for ten days. If you have indian almond leaf, add some. After 4-6 days you should see some tail regrowth.
My Moe just went through this and I too thought it was fin rot. I treated him for two weeks and put him back in his tank, added some live plants in the meantime and he is a happy boy blowing nests like mad. He hasn't done it again yet but it's only been a few days.

[ParisRose]

scratch that last post. I didn't read all the way through. It will be good to get that dumb riser tube out of the tank its ghastly. I'll work on the plant situation. I don't have a car so it's difficult to get to the petstore sometimes.

[Sarada]

I also removed my filters completely. To be honest I think they stressed out my males in their 5 gallon tanks. I had sponge filters though, not under gravel.

[ParisRose]

I would see tail growth and I'd be real happy. Then it would be gone again. Would an iregular light/dark pattern be a cause of stress?

[Sarada]

Could be...too much light maybe?

[Adastra]

The light might startle him, but rather than the light/dark being irregular, my concern is about the temperature fluctuations the light probably caused. I had a similar, if not the same, tank when I was just starting out. I heated the tank with a non-adjustable mini heater, so when I turned the light on and off, the temperature changed dramatically. I didn't realize this, unfortunately, until the fish came down with a bad ich infestation. He recovered from it, but wasn't really the same afterward. Since then I've only bought adjustable heaters and tanks with fluorescent lights.

[ParisRose]

Think it'd be possible just to replace the bulb? It was flickering anyway.

[Adastra]

If you can find a fluorescent light that fits in there, go for it. :) You should add an adjustable heater too, if you don't have one already.

[ParisRose]

I made the mistake of getting a non adjustable. But I'm on the look out for a affordable adjustable one.