Tail Biter Help

[IdahoBetta]

So I'm new to owning Bettas (I've had other fish before) and to the forum. I have been reading the forum for a while now trying to see if I could find the answer to my problem without having to post but no luck.

So my problem is my little guy, Frankie, is a tail biter. He's missing about 1/3 to 1/2 of his tail. Any suggestions on how to get him to stop and best treat his tail (i.e. water changes, salt, etc)?

I took a picture of him when I first got him and it is my avatar so you can see what he originally looked like; a beautiful steel blue VT. What his tail looks like now, sorry for the poor quality he wouldn't stop moving for a picture. But you can see how much he's missing the nice little C bite marks.

[celine18]

siiigh, i feel your pain. my guy bit off half his tail 2 weeks ago. *shakes head*

now you need to start trying to figure out what's causing him to do it. is his temperature good? and stable? are you keeping up with constant wc's? does he get good stimulation, from you and decorations in his tank? does he have tankmates that may be stressing him?

any of these would be a good place to start, adjust any part, he may stop, then you'll have your cause. turned out my guy was biting when his water quality got bad, so i've been keeping up with wc's better. his tails growing back, ever so slowly now. hopefully it'll be something easy like that, good luck!

[IdahoBetta]

Celine18
Thanks for the suggestions I'll start taking note and see what's causing him to stress out; water temp, water changes etc.

I should have mentioned this in my first post; Frankie has no tank mates.

[celine18]

then hopefully it'll be one of those other options and easy to fix!

[LikeDiscoSuperfly]

My HM started tail biting. I left his filter on a little stronger than normal one day, and he seemed so much happier! now he swims all around with the little current!
Maybe try that? it was an easy fix!

[IdahoBetta]

Well so far I've moved Frankie into the bathroom and he's been in there for about three days now and no tail biting. I think he needed a change of scenery outside his tank. I plan on moving him again in a few days to the living room to see if changing his location keeps him entertained. A friend is keeping him at their house over winter break so another change of scenery. Hopefully that is what he needs to keep him happy.

But I am still keeping an eye on him to see if it is anything else that seems to stress him out or if he his just bored.

[Sweeda88]

Why do Bettas tail bite? Doesn't it hurt?

[Miharu]

I just wanted to point out the edges of his tail, see how the edges are slightly brown? He definitely has some finrot going on there. Are you sure he's tail biting? You should definitely give him a water change, and add some aquarium salt or epsom salt (1tsp/gallon) to his water to fight off any infection. Adding some quick cure to his water would also be a good idea. If his tail gets infected it could cause septecemia (blood poisioning) which can be fatal.

[Creat]

^+1 Miharu I think has it right i believe too it might be finrot but the photo is fuzzy no way to be sure

[IdahoBetta]

Alright so it looks like it is fin rot along with some tail biting, I caught him this morning chasing his tail. This is rather disappointing as his tail was starting to look better yesterday. I had added some salt yesterday as well hoping it would help.

So besides frequent water changes and aquarium salt what else can I do to eliminate his fin rot? How long will it take for his tail to clear up?