Weird whiteness on tail.

[Lordsameth]

Housing
What size is your tank? 5 gallon
What temperature is your tank? 78 F
Does your tank have a filter? yes
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? no
Is your tank heated? yes
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? two ghost shrimp

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Pellets.
How often do you feed your betta fish? Daily

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? every 2 weeks
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? different every time
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? conditioner

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?
Nope

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? Tail has a white...growth on it, looks like gum. He's always had a white streak through his tail, but everything above where it was is now gone, straight to the body. From the body where the top half of the tail should connect, there is a white, almost marshmallow looking lump. the top of what is left of the tail is white.
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? It hasn't he's as energetic and happy as can be.
When did you start noticing the symptoms? today
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? No...I'm not sure how
Does your fish have any history of being ill? nope.
How old is your fish (approximately)?about a year


I looked in today and noticed half of Macchiato's tail is missing. The top half of his tail, from the body outwards is gone, and where the tail should be is a white gummy looking thing, and a white streak across his tail. He has always had that white streak, it was part of the reason I got him, but now everything above the streak is gone...

I have no clue what this is, or how to fix it. He's had the white streak since I got him, and his behavior hasn't changed at all.... any ideas?

[Abby]

hey does it look like this kinda??





If so this is FIN MELT.

[earthworm88]

Abby, great illustration of fin melt! Thanks :)

Lordsameth, is it possible for you to include some current photos of the betta in question?

[Abby]

yeh i recently have had fin melt and dropsy i got pics and seeing as the OP didnt post maybe thought if i post at lease if they cant get a pic they can say yes or no to the look

[earthworm88]

^^ agrees wholeheartedly!

[Abby]

:D

[Lordsameth]

My camera is broken, so I can't get pictures. It looks similar to the pictures, but it starts at the base of the tail and kinda resembles melted plastic, and there is a single thin white streak at the edge. All of the other fins are normal. Can anyone tell me more about fin melt?

[earthworm88]

Ok, Lordsameth. Abby would be the great person to advise you, but seems like she is probably snoozing now in NSW

Fin melt is a severe form of fin rot and a lot of times it has to do with poor water quality. I would suggest you get yourself a test kit to measure the parameters of the water you use in order to avoid this problem in the future.

Conservatively this is what I would do:
1) get a 1 gal QT for this
2) pre-mix 2 tsp of Aquarium Salt with 1 gal of conditioned water
3) add stress coat or stress guard if you have
4) if you have IAL, steep it for 30-60 minutes to release the tannins.
4) change 100% water daily, same as above
5) observe for 5 days to see if any improvement, if not, up the AQ to 3 tsp/gal but do not past salt treatment for more than 10 days. Meds will have to be considered as you said your problem is a lot worse than Abby's photos.

Again, super duper clean water is the way to go so must change water daily.

Hopefully the meds expert can give more advice on that.

Good luck and hope your betta get well soon!

[BettaGirl290]

wow, i didn't know about fin melt o_o (tell me about learning something every day!) lol well i don't know how to help, but i shall research!

[Lordsameth]

It is possible he's had it for a year then? The white was there when I bought him, and he's been in several different tanks since.