[alyssasmile]

Helphelphelphelphelp

I think Loki has fin rot. I'd say he's biting, but there's a little bit of black around the edges too. The thing is, there were absolutely no signs of it yesterday when I left at two o clock. Now, at ten thirty, I just noticed. I spent the night out, and only got home about an hour ago. Is that enough time for fin rot to set in?

Housing
What size is your tank? 25 Gallons
What temperature is your tank? 75.7 degrees.
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? He's alone.

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Xtreme aquatic foods. 1.5mm betta pellets.
How often do you feed your betta fish? 3 in the morning, one at night.

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? He's only been in the tank for a week, so I haven't yet. The plan was tomorrow, if the ammonia levels have gone up.
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 25 percent is the plan.
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Nutrafin aqua plus and nutrafin water clear.

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

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: somewhere between 0 and 20, closer to 0.
pH: 7
Hardness:
Alkalinity:

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? He has u shaped chunks missing from his tail.
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? It hasn't.
When did you start noticing the symptoms? 10 minutes ago.
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? No. I have no medication, but I do have espom salt.
Does your fish have any history of being ill? Not that I know of! I've only had him for a month..
How old is your fish (approximately)? I bought him fully grown from a petstore almost a month ago.

EDIT: I only put the water clear in once, the day after he went in the tank. Then I read some posts on here and other websites and decided not to do it again. The only reason I did is because the gravel had made the water foggy. The clear stuff didn't do anything, the cloudiness just settled after a few days.

 

[Taeanna]

Are you able to get us a picture of his fins for us to have a look at? It sounds like you may have a biter on your hands but that doesnt necessarily say he has rot.

if I was to guess he is a stickler for routine and when you either didnt come home or his tank lighting wasn't on time he had a little tantrum. The bite will heal up on its own if this is so

 

[alyssasmile]

Sorry, I had to wait for the pictures to upload. These are the best I could do, because Loki does not like sitting still in front of the camera.

 

[alyssasmile]

He flares a lot at his own reflection. Could he be biting because he's stressed?

 

[Taeanna]

The pictures and his coloring is making it a little tricky to make out the fine detail around the bites. Are there any greyish or blackened fin edges near the marks? Are the blackish bits on the spikes to the side of the bites or running along the bites like a nasty looking lace edging?

I can however see what appears to be a bite and what may be a fin blowout or two as well which indicates he could be stressed over a stimulus source such as a strong water current pushing him about, a reflective surface he feels he has to guard from the enemy fish or something along those lines.

I'll wait on your answers to the above questions before prescribing any hard medications just in case, for now I recommend nice fresh clean water and when you have a moment getting hold of either some stress coat water conditioner, AQ salt or decaf green tea (this is an easier to find alternative to IAL).
AQ salt is a wound cleanser and will slow any infections as he heals, stress coat contains additives to speed healing and green tea has tannins which bettas adore and are also good at balancing water ph which is very useful when a fish is feeling ill. Any/all of these make a good additive when treating mild illnesses in betta fish.

(Also that is an heck of a palace to live all by himself! One lucky boy in his massive tank)

 

[alyssasmile]

I thought there was black edging yesterday, but the more I look the more I think it might have just been the lighting. I'm studying his fins today (When he stays till for me to do so) and I'm not seeing any blackness.

He has both a reflective back edge that he keeps flaring at and a filter that he's probably still not used to. It's buffered and shoved to one side, but I'll try moving it because that seems to be the side he likes hanging around. What should I do about the reflective back edge? He flares at me too sometimes, but I think that's just because my bed is right beside his tank and he wants me to feed him.

I can definitely do a water change and add fresh conditioner/stress coat. I can also do the green tea. Any tips on that one? I don't have AQ salt, but there is Espom salt somewhere in the house. Yes or no?

And haha yeah, my fishy's pretty spoiled at the moment. He loves exploring his new home. Though now he just mainly hangs in one corner around the filter and flares at himself. :-?

 

[Taeanna]

Good to hear there isnt an edging anymore! That is the news we wanted.

I had a boy that refused to stop flaring at his heater, my solution was to make a sleeve for the top third of the heater (the bit he hated) out of fishnet stockings. After a while they stop trying to look for the other fish and you can safely discard the sleeve.
You can also try backing parts of his glass with a light background such as paper (or perhaps something decorative like wrapping paper to snaz up his therapy)

As to your questions- Epsom salts isnt appropriate in this situation since it is for internal upsets, AQ salt is for external.
The green tea is easy, just boil up a cup as usual, let it cool and then add the water, the staining may look odd but the fish adore it.

 

[alyssasmile]

Okay so I did the green tea and a partial water change but his fins are getting worse. There's some definite black edging and they're getting more ratty. I'm going to move him to his one gallon and treat him with aquarium salt. Should I add green tea as well?

I'll post some pictures if I can get some. I'm worried about the little guy.

 

[Taeanna]

You can add the tea to his new tank if you wish. As to his unfortunate fin edging, I am going to assume he has developed rot and move on with that assumption.

Now most rot is caused by fungal infections getting into open wounds, so this is your first stop in finding what is causing his condition. I recommend the salt and if possible snapping some pics (food or a mirror are a good way to keep them still-ish).
If you see the rot line beginning to move in the first medication to think of is a general fungal cure (a brand I hear a lot about in the US is jungle brand). This is always a good first call because antifungals are very gentle on the fish and relatively fast acting.

 

[bettaboy123]

I agree with taeanna