Fins are splitting and becoming clear?

[FishFood]

My four female Betta Splendus are acting like their normal kookie selves, but I have noticed that their fins are starting to become more and more clear. Some of the fins are splitting and one of them lost a piece (could have been a combination of nipping and splitting). There feces is not the normal brown, it is pinkish red and does not curl like it usually does, more log like.

Is this fin rot? They are eating and acting fine but it concerns me. I have Maroxy, anti-bacterial pellets, anti-parasite pellets, and aquarium salt on hand, but nothing else. (The blue on the yellow one is normal, and that white streak on the dark one is the camera lens reflection).

-4 girls in a 10 gallon.
-They are fed betta flakes, and FD bloodworms, some pellets.
-Fed flakes in the morning and a blood worm each in the evening.
-Decorations (lots and they love them)
-Gravel
-10% water changes every other day
-Heater (for some reason they like it better at about 77-79F range. If it gets hotter they become inactive)
-Carbon Filter
-Tank has been active for 6 weeks
-Nitrites are in the stress zone of the water test that I have, but I have not found a method to remove these yet. All of the other water parameters are fine, but as I change water, it becomes harder (even when I let it sit 24hours and add water conditioner)

Any suggestions would be appreciated :)

[naturegirl243]

The second picture is deffinatly fin rot.

[FishFood]

Ok, she is in QT and I am giving her aquarium salt, but is there anything else I can do? and what is up with the other ladies?

[Elena]

Is this tank cycled? It looks like ammonia/nitrite may be elevated. I would test the water parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) and do a large water change with aquarium salt. There are members here with more experience, hopefully somebody else will chime in.

[FishFood]

I know that the Nitrate is elevated, and I do frequent water changes (take has been going for 6 weeks now), but when ever I change the water, it becomes harder and the nitrites don't decrease. I am at a loss as to what to do :(

[Elena]

The tank is still cycling if your nitrites are high. If nitrates are high and nitrites and ammonia are zero then the tank is cycled but in need of a larger water change to remove them. 10% water changes even if done daily are definitely not sufficient for your tank. I am doing weekly 50-60%, sometimes 75% changes in my ten gallon cycled tanks with three fish in each. Do a 50% water change daily for a week and keep monitoring the ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. Aquarium salt added can be helpful - 1 tablespoon for every 5 gallons of NEW water- be careful and do not add salt to the tank unless you are adding new water too. Salt does not evaporate and can only be removed via water changes.

[FishFood]

What about for the fin rot?

[FishFood]

The only issue with the water changes is that the hardness goes up like mad even when I use water conditioner. It is turning into a "pick your poison" issue :(

[ansalong]

For hardness, try a combination of tap water and bottled water (which tends to be softer) when you're preparing your water for changes. This works for my friend's mom. You'll have to find the right balance and make sure it doesn't throw off your other parameters, but it shouldn't.

Try mixing the water in a container and testing the parameters until you get what you want. If your water is really hard, use 1/2 bottled and 1/2 tap, add conditioner and salt if using, and measure parameters. If that doesn't work, dump it, rinse and try adding more or less bottled until it turns out right. You'll probably go through some water and additives, but it's worth it if you can get the hardness right and know how to prepare the water every time.

I read another thread where OFL said that the fish can adapt to hardness levels as long as you keep them constant, but I imagine if your water is REALLY hard you'll want to bring it down a bit.

[ansalong]

Someone else will have to tell you about fin rot because I don't know enough about treating it, but as for the clear fins, is it possible their coloring is just changing / developing? How old are they?