Betta Fin Rot - Nipping I need Help... this is terrible...

[SaltyPuppy]

Ok So I have been dealing with fin damage / loss / rot for MONTHS! This started way back in November of last year. I haven't solved the problem yet. I was hoping to get some advice... So here is the run down.

Tank #1 -

Size : Divided 10 Gallon
Filtered : Yes
Cycled : Yes
Heated : Yes 78.6 Degrees
Housing : Two Male Bettas (New Boy, Socks)
Live Plants : No
Cleaning : Once a week 30-35 Percent /w gravel vac
Parameters :
pH - 7.6
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 5

Tank #2 -

Size : Divided 10 Gallon
Filtered : Yes
Cycled : Yes
Heated : Yes 82 Degrees
Housing : One Male Bettas, One Female Betta (Blue Boy, Bonquiqui)
Live Plants : No
Cleaning : Once a week 30-35 Percent /w gravel vac
Parameters :
pH - 7.6
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 5

Tank #3 -

Size : 1 Gallon
Filtered : No
Cycled : No
Heated : No
Housing : One Male Betta (Apollo)
Live Plants : No
Cleaning : Once a day 100 Percent
Parameters :
pH - 7.6
Ammonia - N/A
Nitrite - N/A
Nitrate - N/A

I will now post pictures on each fish and the progression of the rot / damage.

The things I have tried so far are -
1. Clean Water
2. Stress Coat + Aloe
3. Melafix
4. Maracyn II
5. Aquarium Salt

So Yup. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated.

[SaltyPuppy]

Blue Boy


First Day I brought him home...

Q-tank had to treat for ick

Finally in Main Tank - Fully Recovered

Fin Damage Begins... Only minor so I just did more water changes... Started getting worse so I did a 30 % change everyday. The rot progressed and progressed even with daily changes.

This is him with only a slight improvement after losing at least 4/5ths of his fin in a week. This is on day 8 of treating with Salt... This is where I am now. So what do I do with him now?

[SaltyPuppy]

Apollo -

When I first got him...

In Main tank After Q-tank for a month

Month or so later... Leave for dinner and come back and I think he munched off his fin.

Tried to treat with fresh water - The Stress coat plus aloe and got to this point...

Treating with Melafix...

After Melafix - Now it was just clean water Making great improvements!
Still healing but fins randomly got more ragged

Got way worse. :(

Worse yet, with a lot of improvement after a ten day salt treatment. I don't know what to do about him. All I know is I caught him tail biting, so I don't know if thats it... Also he likes the small container he is in better then his tank?!?!

[SaltyPuppy]

New Boy -

After Q tank for a month in main tank...

Slight damage after I was a moron and threw away the filter cartiridge... before I knew about seeding...

Better shot of the minor damage...

Now, same status more then a month later. Should I treat him for rot or something? The parameters have been perfect and it appears he isn't healing...

[ninjaofthe9seas]

Henny had some sort of fin rot issue...his tail turned all...moldy. There was fuzz on it. I got tablets to drop in his water that helped TONS...

[SaltyPuppy]

Originally Posted by ninjaofthe9seas

Henny had some sort of fin rot issue...his tail turned all...moldy. There was fuzz on it. I got tablets to drop in his water that helped TONS...

Sadly there is no fuzz / mold so I don't know if that will work.

[kumi]

Hi. Melafix can be harmful for bettas--it can damage their labyrinth organ, so I wouldn't use that. People have gotten away with it, but still.

How long and what salt concentration have you used? Starting and ending when?

How long and beginning and end of using Maracyn II? (People will need to know some more details to know what it's safe to recommend that you use now).

The photos are coming out so big that I can't really see them well.

It's three of the male bettas, right? I have no experience with tail biting, but in general, even though your procedures all seem reasonable, something isn't working and their immune system is getting suppressed. While it all gets sorted out, I would do larger water changes on the bigger tanks, and perhaps twice a week. Try adding organic rooibos tea (or decaffinated green tea, oak leaves, or Indian Almond leaves--that last being the hardest to come by!) to the water, enough to tint it lightly. All of these are supposed to generally help with stress and to have natural antibiotic properties. My fish love it! Also, do they all have nice places that they like to swim into to hang out, sleep, hide? One of mine loves his "floating betta log", for example.

Is it possible that something is stressing them when you are doing water changes? How do you do them? Just looking for what it might be that's causing problems!!

Kumi

[SaltyPuppy]

Originally Posted by kumi

Hi. Melafix can be harmful for bettas--it can damage their labyrinth organ, so I wouldn't use that. People have gotten away with it, but still.

How long and what salt concentration have you used? Starting and ending when?

How long and beginning and end of using Maracyn II? (People will need to know some more details to know what it's safe to recommend that you use now).

The photos are coming out so big that I can't really see them well.

It's three of the male bettas, right? I have no experience with tail biting, but in general, even though your procedures all seem reasonable, something isn't working and their immune system is getting suppressed. While it all gets sorted out, I would do larger water changes on the bigger tanks, and perhaps twice a week. Try adding organic rooibos tea (or decaffinated green tea, oak leaves, or Indian Almond leaves--that last being the hardest to come by!) to the water, enough to tint it lightly. All of these are supposed to generally help with stress and to have natural antibiotic properties. My fish love it! Also, do they all have nice places that they like to swim into to hang out, sleep, hide? One of mine loves his "floating betta log", for example.

Is it possible that something is stressing them when you are doing water changes? How do you do them? Just looking for what it might be that's causing problems!!

Kumi

The salt was about a week ago now. I don't know what could be stressing him. They always seemed happy. What would be a sign of stress? Floating betta log? I should get one of those. :) It sounds cool.

To do my water changes I remove all decor and then I vac - Making sure not to suck up the fish. Then I put the ornaments back and refil it. Done. It takes about 15 minutes per tank...

Sooo I don't know if that would do it... But its odd he just started biting. He has been in that tank the whole time i had him... Nothing has changed. Unless he doesn't like the temperature of the water. I did have it at 79 ish and now its 82. I slowly bumped it up.

[kumi]

What concentration of salt? What kind of water changes did you do during the salt treatment?

The water temp should be OK, though it's at the high end--it's what is sometimes recommended to help with certain types of illnesses. When you add the water is it the same temp as the old water? I would be extra careful to match temps and to add it in slowly. I would have to look back--do you put in a water conditioner?

Clamped fins and loss of color can be signs of stress, but so is a compromised immune system. That's why I'm starting with that!

Kumi

[youlovegnats]

They're all HM's correct?

HM's sometimes just have too much weight on their fins and are tired of carrying it around- so they do what they can and chew their gorgeous tails up :( *sadface*
There isn't much you can do for a tail-biter..you can try to distract them- they might be bored and just end up munching on themselves. You can re-arrange their tank deco or add fun little toys for them to explore. AQ salt treatment will heal their fins.
Do a 7-10 day salt bath (1 tsp/per gall) and I believe you can up that to 3tsp/gal if needed. Fins take a while to re-grow, sadly. :(

Best of luck!!