[Emmahlee]

My lovely crowntail, had certain bits of his tail which have shortened. I thought that was because of the neon tetras i put in there. However, i see little white dots on the tips of his fins. Im worried!
I couldn't show you photo because they are so small and barely recognizable.
He lives in a 14L tank with heater, filter, silk plants and gravel.

What do i do???

 

[Emmahlee]

I'm really worried and I can give you more information if you need.

 

[earthworm88]

Hi Emmahlee, welcome to the forum.

If you are seeing white dots, then it's likely not fin rot. One of the possibilities is Ich. Do the white dots look like salt being sprinkled all over his fins? How many dots do you see? For sure they are stuck to his fin, and not just some white particles in the water that just happened to land on his fin?

My lovely crowntail, had certain bits of his tail which have shortened

This may be due to fin rot or him chomping on his tail. Do you see the tips of these segments kinda beady, clumpy or melting or blackened?


Please try to answer the questionnaire below as detail as you can. You will likely not get a lot of responses at this time as I think most members in this forum is in the West, so it's night time for them now. I will try to help as much as I can, but I am about to leave my house though.....

Housing
What size is your tank?
What temperature is your tank?
Does your tank have a filter?
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration?
Is your tank heated?
What tank mates does your betta fish live with?

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

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change?
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change?
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change?

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

Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Hardness:
Alkalinity:

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed?
How has your betta fish's behavior changed?
When did you start noticing the symptoms?
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how?
Does your fish have any history of being ill?
How old is your fish (approximately)?

 

[Emmahlee]

Housing
What size is your tank? 14 Litres
What temperature is your tank? Um, 26 degrees Celsius
Does your tank have a filter? Yes.
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? The filter lets flows water into the tank so some airbubbles go down.
Is your tank heated? Yes.
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? Nothing. (but a couple of neon tetras a week or two ago)

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Betta Pellets, tropical fish flakes and live mosquito larvae.
How often do you feed your betta fish? once in the morning, once at night. Sometimes once a day.

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? Around once every week or two.
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? Maybe a third of the tank? 50% sometimes.
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Water ager and conditioner

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters? Haven't tested them. :S

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? Not other then uneven spikes on his tail (crowntail) and little white dots on the tips of all the tails. One or two spikes on the tail look bent or like they are going to fall off.
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? Nope, Happy as Larry.
When did you start noticing the symptoms? Yesterday, or the day before.
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? Nope. I don't know what to do.
Does your fish have any history of being ill? no. But i've only had him for around 5 weeks.
How old is your fish (approximately)? Um I've had him for five weeks, and don't know how long he was at the store for.

 

[earthworm88]

Hi, Sorry I wasn't able to reply earlier.

From what you said, I think the "white dot" at the tip of fin may be regrowth. I am not 100% sure though. I usually see white tips on the ventral fins (the two long ones under the belly). The best thing to do is try to take a photo of these white dots in question. I know it's hard to take photos of bettas, but it may be the easiest way to determine what they are.

As for your tank size, which is about 3.5 Gal, since you haven't tested the water, I would assume that the tank was never cycled. If you do not plan on establishing a cycle on your tank, then the general guideline for water change for that tank size is at least 100% weekly. Only 30% to 50% every week or two will not be able to eliminate the toxins in the water completely. So I think the likely culprit for his fin issue (shorten, bent, about to fall off) is the level of ammonias in the water. It is always a good idea to have a test kit handy so you can rule out any problems with the water parameters.

In my experience and from what I have read, CTs tend to be a bit more vulnerable to fin issue if the water quality is less than great. The first thing I would recommend is to change his water 50% immediately, and then 100% the next day.

keep us posted.

 

[Emmahlee]

Hi, Sorry I wasn't able to reply earlier.

From what you said, I think the "white dot" at the tip of fin may be regrowth. I am not 100% sure though. I usually see white tips on the ventral fins (the two long ones under the belly). The best thing to do is try to take a photo of these white dots in question. I know it's hard to take photos of bettas, but it may be the easiest way to determine what they are.

As for your tank size, which is about 3.5 Gal, since you haven't tested the water, I would assume that the tank was never cycled. If you do not plan on establishing a cycle on your tank, then the general guideline for water change for that tank size is at least 100% weekly. Only 30% to 50% every week or two will not be able to eliminate the toxins in the water completely. So I think the likely culprit for his fin issue (shorten, bent, about to fall off) is the level of ammonias in the water. It is always a good idea to have a test kit handy so you can rule out any problems with the water parameters.

In my experience and from what I have read, CTs tend to be a bit more vulnerable to fin issue if the water quality is less than great. The first thing I would recommend is to change his water 50% immediately, and then 100% the next day.

keep us posted.

I cleaned my tank out 100% this week and i finally got some pictures of what his fins are like.
(these are big images from my camera.)
This is what he was like when i got him:
http://i.imgur.com/altEN.jpg
This was around a week ago.
http://i.imgur.com/7Bbp3.jpg
& now.
http://i.imgur.com/RIY0S.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/abcKf.jpg

 

[earthworm88]

What a gorgeous CT! I see the "white dots" you mentioned, they are at the tip of some rays, that's nothing to worry about. However, I see more of clumping, shriveling and shortened fin tips though, which may indicate that he is having fin rot.

You may want to start with conservative treatment with aquarium salt. It is up to you, but to make ease of daily water change of 100%, you may want to put him in a smaller tank of say 1 gallon (4L) if you have. Start with 1 teaspoon of aquarium salt (this you can find at LFS) to be dissolved in 1 gal of preconditioned water. If the ambiance is colder, you may have to get an even smaller container to float in your 3.5 gal to keep the same water temperature or you may have a smaller heater somewhere. Keep your betta in there and change the water with the same aq salt concentration for the next 10 days. Continue to monitor, if the fin rot appears to progress, you would want to increase the dosage to 2 tsp per gallon. Not sure what your situation is, so you may have to play with what you have on hand. So basically to sum it up:
1) 1 tsp of aquarium salt in 1 gal of preconditioned water
2) same temp as what he is used to
3) repeat treatment by changing water 100% daily for max of 10 days to avoid possible harm to organs

Let me know if you have questions. Hopefully others may have better suggestion.

Good luck!

 

[Emmahlee]

What a gorgeous CT! I see the "white dots" you mentioned, they are at the tip of some rays, that's nothing to worry about. However, I see more of clumping, shriveling and shortened fin tips though, which may indicate that he is having fin rot.

You may want to start with conservative treatment with aquarium salt. It is up to you, but to make ease of daily water change of 100%, you may want to put him in a smaller tank of say 1 gallon (4L) if you have. Start with 1 teaspoon of aquarium salt (this you can find at LFS) to be dissolved in 1 gal of preconditioned water. If the ambiance is colder, you may have to get an even smaller container to float in your 3.5 gal to keep the same water temperature or you may have a smaller heater somewhere. Keep your betta in there and change the water with the same aq salt concentration for the next 10 days. Continue to monitor, if the fin rot appears to progress, you would want to increase the dosage to 2 tsp per gallon. Not sure what your situation is, so you may have to play with what you have on hand. So basically to sum it up:
1) 1 tsp of aquarium salt in 1 gal of preconditioned water
2) same temp as what he is used to
3) repeat treatment by changing water 100% daily for max of 10 days to avoid possible harm to organs

Let me know if you have questions. Hopefully others may have better suggestion.

Good luck!

Will do.
The only other tank i have for him is those tiny cups they hold the bettas in the store.
I am a bit short for money to buy another tank.
would that still be okay?! :S

Do i just buy aquarium salt, or is there some special one.....

 

[earthworm88]

those cups are a bit too tiny in my opinion. Have you got a new gladware type disposable container that you can "borrow" from the kitchen? I know mine really hates the cups and I would imagine they would be so stress and depressed which won't help with healing. But you have to do what you have to do at the moment with what you have.

The AQ salt is just AQ salt, nothing specific to it. Some members have API AQ salt, whatever you can find at the LFS is fine. Do not confuse this with table salt

 

[Emmahlee]

those cups are a bit too tiny in my opinion. Have you got a new gladware type disposable container that you can "borrow" from the kitchen? I know mine really hates the cups and I would imagine they would be so stress and depressed which won't help with healing. But you have to do what you have to do at the moment with what you have.

The AQ salt is just AQ salt, nothing specific to it. Some members have API AQ salt, whatever you can find at the LFS is fine. Do not confuse this with table salt

I found a container.
would this be ok?

I am going to get some aquarium salt as soon as possible.which might mean this afternoon or next afternoon.

Thank you so much. I really appreciate the help.

 

[earthworm88]

That looks great! Just be sure he has the same temperature as in his usual home. While you are getting the AQ salt, be sure to change the water daily, same for when he is on AQ salt treatment. Do not treat for more than 10 days. Maximum of 3 tsp per gallon if you need to increase dosage if his condition worsens.

You are very welcome Hope his fin rot will go away quickly. I may not be able to come on this board as I will be away on vacation. If you have any question, let us know or start a new thread. Best of luck!

Cheers!