[Fritz]

I was so excited to see that my betta Rufio had made his first bubble nest that I was jumping up and down. I was finally doing everything right. He must be happy and healthy if he is building a huge bubble nest right? Well when I sat down after doing his water change and rejoicing over my finned friends apparent happiness I noticed that HALF OF HIS CAUDAL FIN WAS MISSING! I have been extremely busy this week with work and school that I haven't payed much attention to him, but I didn't neglect him. Please tell me that this is tail biting and not fin rot

 

[Fritz]

What can I do to help him?

 

[Fritz]

here is a picture of him that I took just last week

 

[MyRainbowBettaFish]

The good news is it docent look like fin rot. Although fin rot is usually ragged fin looking, fin rot is caused by gram-rod negative bacteria that causes the end of the fins to become whitish and fuzzy, or almost black and burnt looking. Your in luck, because i am dealing with the same thing your Betta seems to have. My Betta Has the same symptoms as yours, i woke up and he was missing some of his fin too. I took some pantyhose and ran it over all the decorations to see if it would snag, and sure enough, one did. I removed the castle (any sharp decorations that the pantyhose snags on signifies a bettas fins tearing) and adding 1 tablespoon of AQUARIUM salt per 5 gallons along with water changes every day to keep him from getting any infection like fin rot. All i have to do now is to wait, as i have been told it will help his fins grow back in a couple of days.


Good Luck!

 

[LebronTheBetta]

If there is a C where the fins disappeared, then yes, it's tail biting.
If there is black film surrounding the place where the fins are gone, then that's Fin Rot. Clean water should do the trick.

 

[MyRainbowBettaFish]

I agree with Lebron about the clean water. I think (if his fin disappeared that quickly) that he just snagged his fins on (betta's fins are very delicate) a sharp decoration in his tank. Do you have any sharp decorations you know about? Try the pantyhose trick!

 

[MyRainbowBettaFish]

Beautiful Betta by the way!

 

[Fritz]

Housing
What size is your tank? 6.6 (petco bookshelf)
What temperature is your tank? 74*
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? none

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta? Tetra Betta plus mini pellets
How often do you feed your betta fish? every other day 2 pellets

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? twice a week
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 50%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? API tap water conditioner

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?
I'm new at testing water but this is what I think it says.

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5?
pH: 8
Hardness:hard (I live in Indiana and all the water is always hard)
Alkalinity: 250

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? peices missing from caudal fin, slightly lighter marbling
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? no but he always flares a lot. I've tried to reduce this by adding a background but now he just flares at the front of the tank
When did you start noticing the symptoms? 20 minutes ago after water change
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? no
Does your fish have any history of being ill? no I have only had him for 3 or 4 weeks though.
How old is your fish (approximately)? less than a year

 

[Fritz]

Beautiful Betta by the way!

Thank you. I will try that pantyhose thing. It just seemed like a lot of fin to be missing for just a tear. That's why it worries me so much. However, I have never experienced a tear or any fin damage before so I have no clue what I'm looking at.

 

[Fritz]

here is his set up. does anything stand out to you guys?

 

[MyRainbowBettaFish]

nice set up. I can't tell are the plants real or fake? If they are fake, are they plastic?

 

[Fritz]

all but one are plastic. I've watched him swim in all of them for the past 3 weeks and he has seemed to be OK with them. I'm not sure that that matters though.

 

[MyRainbowBettaFish]

watch those plants, his fins could snag and tear, making him succeptibe to diseases such as fin rot.

 

[Bombalurina]

It looks like he is tailbiting to me, so I would add in extra things for him to play with and explore. A busy betta is less likely to be a tailbiter, and a frequently changing environment prevents boredom.

I would also raise your water temperature to 80F. 74 is on the cold side for a betta. Warmer water will help him heal faster.

 

[Ramble]

I did note it says you only feed your betta two pellets every other day? That seems a bit sparse to me...my guys get four pellets a day, with a day off once a week. I also mix up their diet with freeze-dried bloodworms and other occasional treats. You might need to feed your little guy more.

Yep, looks like fin biting to me. I have a half moon that's a fin biter. He wasn't tearing fins on plants, so I was worried about fin rot as well, but apparently he's just a sensitive guy...
I added some silk plants to the plastic ones for him to rest on, as well as rearranging the tank whenever I do water changes. Switching up his food and adding some bits of driftwood seem to be helping him keep his mind off his fins and they're starting to grow back now.

 

[ANHEL123]

I would watch plastic plants. It may be a reason. Silk plant are better. I love to use spider plant in my tanks. If you have one at home it safe. I am using it for long time for my bettas.

You can feed your betta every day, i don't know why some sites or stores recommending to feed them every other day. It good to FAST them for one day a week though. I feed my bettas 2 times a day. I give them 2 pellets in the morning and 2 at night. Sometimes i give them a few blood worms in between their meals. One or two times a week i substitute pellets with blood worms in the morning or at night.

I do have tail bitter and his tail heals very fast. I do 50% and 100% water changes though for my 2.5 and 5 gall tanks. I don’t know if it helps. If you do only 50% water changes make sure you do regular gravel vacuuming and rinse the filter with old tank water with a water change a couple of times a month.

Or if you don’t do 100% water changes may be just do more changes then once a week for him since he does have fin damage.

Usually you can treat fin rot with aquarium salt. If he active and eating and fin damage really mild you don’t need salt yet.

But I think (not sure )your fish has either tail biting or a tear. I hope….And it should heal with clean water. Just watch that it will not get worse (ragged edges, getting shorter and shorter; falling apart and dissolving; fins may be a darker color or reddish on the edge of the tail/fins; fuzzy white patches etc….watch for any behavior changes.

 

[ANHEL123]

The good news is it docent look like fin rot. Although fin rot is usually ragged fin looking, fin rot is caused by gram-rod negative bacteria that causes the end of the fins to become whitish and fuzzy, or almost black and burnt looking. Your in luck, because i am dealing with the same thing your Betta seems to have. My Betta Has the same symptoms as yours, i woke up and he was missing some of his fin too. I took some pantyhose and ran it over all the decorations to see if it would snag, and sure enough, one did. I removed the castle (any sharp decorations that the pantyhose snags on signifies a bettas fins tearing) and adding 1 tablespoon of AQUARIUM salt per 5 gallons along with water changes every day to keep him from getting any infection like fin rot. All i have to do now is to wait, as i have been told it will help his fins grow back in a couple of days.

Good Luck!

Aquarium salt is good for fin rot. But don't use it for long time on regular basis.

Right dose for aquarium salt is 1tsp up to 3 tsp/gall with daily water changes. Better to pre mix it in one gall jug for the right dosage. And like you wrote daily 100% water changes. Maintain water temp of 76-78*.
Aquarium salt treatment can be no longer then 10 days.

Very important to use correct dosage and duration to prevent other problems . And long term can cause the kidney damage. Long term non-therapeutic dosage can limit it ability to work for treatment when needed.

 

[ANHEL123]

Just want add something
when you change his water make sure the new water is +-4* as the water he already in. Or at least try do not change the temperature dramatically when you change his water.

 

[Fritz]

I have had bad luck with bettas in the past so I am being extra cautious with this guy. He shows no signs of infection, fin rot, or stress so I am going to wait on using the salt. He is very active and behaving normal. He actually just built a new bubble nest!

I am feeding him every other day because he became bloated when I first got him and was feeding him two pellets twice a day. I plan on slowly raising his feedings back so that his stomach adjusts slowly and does not make him bloat. This week he is up to two pellets once a day. I've tried to feed him blood worms frozen and freeze dried and he won't eat them and just flares at them.

As for the tanks temperature I am slowly moving it up as well by one degree every other day. When I do water changes I also make sure that the new water is the same temperature as the water in the tank.

:demented:This all might seem a little crazy but I don't want to take any chances. I've lost enough bettas!

 

[Fritz]

I"m going to put new decoration in the tank and start putting a mirror up everynow and again so he doesn't get bored. Since there is a chunk missing instead of just a tear I'm going to guess that it was tail biting. Especially since it happened when I stopped interacting with him as much.