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89K views 1K replies 27 participants last post by  Tealight03 
#1 ·
Welcome to my journal! I have had many bettas over the years. Of course I didn't know what I was doing when I was younger and the fish were probably suffering from cold and not enough cleaning. Fast forward to today were I currently have Phil, a VT male, and Ruby, a CT female.

Both live in heated, filtered 5 gallon tanks. Phil is my chronic fin biter. He only bites if I skip a meal, so fasting is not an option for him at all. His tail is looking better. Until the next time I go out of town.

Ruby is lovely. She's active and always exploring. She's also a scavenger. If a pellet drops I know she'll find it. Unlike her brother who lounges around and lets food float by.

Enjoy a couple of pics! Sunday is water change day.
 

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#2 ·
Fin biter

More pictures of Phil.

"I swear if you bite your tail one more time...."

In the second photo, his tail is starting to grow back Until he takes another chunk out. Sigh.
 

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#3 ·
Gorgeous fishes! Ahh, the frustrations of a tail biter, I have 3 so don't feel bad. I LOVE wc day, I'm always redoing the tank decor! Can't wait to see more!
 
#4 ·
This fish . . .

Remember a couple weeks ago when I said Phil's fin was regrowing? Well as per usual, he took another chunk out. I still really feel like this is a hinger issue. Sometimes he gets dinner late because I'm busy. Maybe I'll try to put him on a set food schedule.

Other fin biting triggers I've tried: moving him to a bigger tank, never rearranging his tank because one time I did and he flipped out and started chasing his tail. I might get some black construction paper for the sides of his tank. He glass surfes a lot. I wonder if there's anything else I'm missing.

I also noticed a hole in his fin. Not sure what that is. He has silk plants in his tank, a clay pot and a castle. Nothing that seems like it could damage him.
 

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#11 ·
Remember a couple weeks ago when I said Phil's fin was regrowing? Well as per usual, he took another chunk out. I still really feel like this is a hinger issue. Sometimes he gets dinner late because I'm busy. Maybe I'll try to put him on a set food schedule.

Other fin biting triggers I've tried: moving him to a bigger tank, never rearranging his tank because one time I did and he flipped out and started chasing his tail. I might get some black construction paper for the sides of his tank. He glass surfes a lot. I wonder if there's anything else I'm missing.

I also noticed a hole in his fin. Not sure what that is. He has silk plants in his tank, a clay pot and a castle. Nothing that seems like it could damage him.
I noticed something in your picture that might possibly have caused the hole in his fin. At the centre of a lot of silk plants are sharp spiky green bits. They are what hold the leaf to the stem. My silk plants have them too so I simply took my scissors and snipped the sharp spiky part off-- far enough down so they aren't sharp, but not so much that the leaves come off.
Just a thought...
 
#5 ·
Thanks, Dangerous. Tail biters are the worse. I've never had one before. When I got Phil I started reading this forum and though how lucky I was that he wasn't a biter and switched to pellets no problem. A month later it started.
 
#6 ·
No problem. They are! But the regrowth is always a rewarding thing! Unfortunately Dangerous started as his way of letting me know something was wrong. Hopefully regrowth will start showing soon and he won't keep it up. Go see my journal for the full story. :)
 
#8 ·
Filtering tank water

This weekend I started using a Britta filter to filter my drinking water. I opted to use filtered water for the tanks as well. I bought Seachem Replenish to re-mineralize the water. Everyone seems happy and healthy. I'm hoping to avoid the fluctuations that come with city water.
 
#9 ·
More biting

Sigh, Phil is still biting. Yesterday was water change day. I took out a little castle which I thought might be causing some water quality issues. He didn't seem too impressed. He did use it although not often.

For about a month I've noticed white flake things in Phil's tank. I think they were coming off one of the plants, which was also removed yesterday.

Next time I go to Petco I'll get him another plant. I want to try something like water sprite I think.

And because I feel like all I do is talk about my problem child, I'll post pics of Ruby soon. She is so low maintenance compared to Phillip.
 

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#12 ·
I had looked at those suspiciously at first but let it go in favor of him being a biter. I'll try to cut them off as you suggested. He also glass surfs. A lot. I tried putting white paper on the tank and that didn't work. I've been meaning to buy some black construction paper and try that.
 
#14 ·
It's a betta staring at his reflection, often swimming back and forth. Phil just hangs on one side. He doesn't flare, do I didn't think he was stressed by seeing his reflection.
 
#16 ·
Yeah I didn't think it was a big deal. But maybe it's stressing him out? I'm just trying to resolve any possible tail biting causes.
 
#19 ·
Made it out without another betta.

I went to Petsmart and Petco today looking for Prine. I'm almost out. Also looked at plants but I think I'll hold off until I find a sale. Note to self: Prime is cheaper at Petsmart.

I made it out without getting another fish. A red ans white ct really tugged at my heart though. The last thing I need is another tank. I have a spare 2 gallon but I suppose that should be a qt tank. Plus I really enjoy having my fish in something bigger. Petco also had the most beautiful butterflies there. Their fin type wasn't identified, just their coloring. They were charging $15 for the butterflies and $8 for the ct. Sigh.
 
#20 ·
Away

This weekend I'm house-sitting for a friend. It's noy far but I'll only be able to stop at my apartment after work to feed the fish and water thw plants. I hope Phil doesn't bite more. He doesn't do well skipping meals. Also I miss them....
 
#21 ·
Progress

What a long week. I wasn't home for several days, except to pop in once a day to feed the fish ans water the plants. I was afraid Phil would bite again since he was down to 1 meal a day and didn't get frd at all yesterday. It looks like he bit just a little, much better than I expected. He did almost take my finger off when I gave him his dinner.

I got him a new silk plant and, gasp, I got him a small anubias. I've been wanting to try live plants for awhile. I can't believe I spent $6.99 on it. I had dreams it would grow quickly. Today it's not looking so great. Two of the leaves have brown spots. I took it out of the tank and put it in a seperate container do it wouldn't contaminate the water. None of the tank lights were on while I was gone. The tanks get natural light during the day. I thought anubias was a low light plant but maybe it needs a little. I need to figure out better lights because both tanks have low light.

Poor Phil was like "wait, where are you going with my plant?" When I put it in he looked at it and showed interest. This is contrary to when I put the moss ball in and he flared. Hopefully the anubias recovers quickly so it can go back in.
 
#22 ·
A rescue

My boss found two abandoned bettas today. They were both in small bowls and in very little, very dirty water. Typical gravel and 1 small plant. They are both lethargic. I took the red vt. At lunch I ran him home, added Prime and set up the 2 gallon qt. I left him in his bowl but added about 12 ounces of water to get acclimation started. His water is disgusting. Obviously hasn't been changed in forever and lots of uneaten food. It was so dirty I haven't been able to get a good look at him to see what's going on. My coworker thinks he had white spots on him. If he does have ick, I'll raise the water temp. I already added aquarium salt to his new tank. Hopefully he makes it.
 

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#23 ·
Acclimated

I acclimated the rescue tonight. I put him in a cuo to float in the new tank for about half an hour. I added some of my water slowly. When I released him he sat half in the cup and half out for several minutes. Poor thing didn't know what to do. And he may also be a weak swimmer.

The temp is up to 84 to help with the ick, which he definitely has. I also added aquarium salt and Prazi. I saw him poop a white string so I'm going to go ahead and treat for internal parasites. I'm mostly worried about white string he has around hjs tail. I posted in the disease section to get some input.

I had to rob Phil of his thermometer and Ruby of her terra cotta planter. Phil, who dislikes change, swam around frantically while giving me the "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY TANK" look. I'll buy replacements tomorrow.

For now rescue is covered with a towel to help him adjuat. Hopefully he makes it through the night.
 
#25 ·
Thanks. I work in property management and someone abandoned them during an eviction. My boss had to do an inspection and found them.

Ok I can't help it, I'm checking on him.....

He's floating at the bottom of the tank. He's upright so that's good.
 
#26 · (Edited)
Doing ok

Rescue is doing ok. He's at the top of the tank but seems to be a weak swimmer. I'm having trouble keeping the temp stable. I have a preset heater in that tank. The temp when he went in was 84 to help with the ick. I had to unplug the heater last night because the temp raised to 88. This morning it's down to 78. It wouldn't be a problem except I need the temp around 84 for ick.

Today I'll look for an adjustable 25 watt heater. I may also try to find something shallow to move him to. He seems ok but I want to make sure he doesn't have trouble getting air.

And since he made it through the night he needs a name! So far I'm thinking Solstice or Garnett.
 
#27 ·
Getting stronger

I've decided rescue's name is Killian. He is doing so much better. He ate breakfast and dinner and even chased a pellet that fell. He had more energy after breakfast which makes me wonder when they fed him last. I thought he had been overfed due to his water conditions. He has pooped several times. They are normal so internal parasites are out. I'm not seeing any ick on him. I cleaned his entire tank to make sure I got any that had fallen to the floor. I felt horrible cupping him 24 hours after I got him in clean water but we both made it.

His gills are red. Probably ammonia burns. He also has several fin tears. His old plant was probably the culprit. I took great joy throwing the gravel and plant out this morning. I'm not sure what to do with the bowl. What was one do with a fish bowl that is too small to house a living creature? My mom mentioned putting seashells in it and turning it into a decoration.

I picked up a silk plant package from Petco while I waa buying a replacement thermometer for Phil's tank. Now everyone has an extra plant. And I've easily spent the majority of the extra money I had from house sitting on these fish. I had other plans, especially since other expenses have come up. Oh well. Killian still needs an adjustable heater. I think I'll order it tomorrow.

Pics of Killian below!
 

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