[LoriKeet]

I think I might have made my Betta sick.

Background: I got slammed at work the past few months, and as a result I let my weekly tank cleaning slide to the back burner. Instead of cleaning Luna's tank every week, I've been cleaning it every two weeks.

Set Up:Luna lives in a five gallon tank with a bio filter wheel and two plants (Penny Wart & Java Fern; three if you count the moss ball). He lives alone, aside from this tiny snail that hitched a ride on the Penny Wart some time back. Algae builds up from time to time, but it doesn't seem to bother Luna.

Behaviour & Appearance: Luna is energetic, perky, and has a healthy appitite. His main tail fin is getting ragged around the edges though, and hasn't been healing, but rather, steadily getting worse. He's a black fish, so it's hard to determine if it's fin rot or not. His pectoral fins seem fine, it seems to be isolated to the tail.

Decor: The's really nothing for him to get his tail caught on, save for maybe the filter baffle that's made from a plastic water bottle...it's never bothered his tail before, but I'll take it out to be safe. He has a smooth pot in the tank (it's passed the panty hose test) and a floating log.

Water: I tested his water, the PH is a bit high (8.0), but everything else seems to test out just fine despite my poor husbandry (No ammonia, no nitrites, and normal nitrates).

I'm sorry for what I've done, please help me make it right.

 

[lilnaugrim]

can you get a picture of him so that we can see? He might be tail biting if there are small U shape chunks taken out.

 

[LoriKeet]

can you get a picture of him so that we can see? He might be tail biting if there are small U shape chunks taken out.

Let me grab a camera, I'll be back in a few minutes.

 

[LoriKeet]

Here's his tail, it's the best I could do at this time. He's got a prompt bed time of 10 pm, so when I turned the light on he had a fit. After a ton of shots, this one was the only unblurred pic I was able to manage.

 

[LebronTheBetta]

Yep, that's tail biting. My new one is a biter, so I can tell you from experience, that's for sure.

The main reasons for tail biting are: A. Heavy Fins. B. Lighting C. Too Much Space and finally D. Boredom.

You can try to distract him with ping pong balls or whatever, to make him stop. I don't think this habit ever goes away. -.-

 

[lilnaugrim]

Yeah, I normally take like 200 photos and get maybe 10-15 good ones out of it lol

Yeah, he's tail biting. Fin biting can come from a variety of things, half of them including boredom or frustration.

Or it can be ticks like if the heater light comes on at a certain time during the night it can annoy the heck out of them and he'll get frustrated and bite his fins. Not saying that's what's happening, but that was one case that I saw. But it could be something completely different, you can observe him from afar and see if he bites his fins at something at all.

Sometimes if he see's his reflection or another Betta that he can't get at, that can make him frustrated and lead to biting as well. So there's a variety of things that can happen and make him do this. For healing those bites, clean water is a must. So I don't know what size tank he's in, but try to do twice weekly changes around 50% and if you can find it; use Stress Coat. Any Stress Coat will do, basically it contains Aloe Vera so it heals up tears and rips on fish ^_^ use as directed at double dose for healing purposes

EDIT: Lebron, it's not always habit. As I mentioned, frustration is not habit. Rembrandt, the boy in my avvie, bit his fins before because he couldn't get at his neighbor; Ditto. So he became frustrated and the next best thing he could bite was his fins and so he did! but he hasn't done it since and that was nearly 4 months ago. The picture of him in my avatar was from yesterday

 

[LoriKeet]

Yep, that's tail biting. My new one is a biter, so I can tell you from experience, that's for sure.

The main reasons for tail biting are: A. Heavy Fins. B. Lighting C. Too Much Space and finally D. Boredom.

You can try to distract him with ping pong balls or whatever, to make him stop. I don't think this habit ever goes away. -.-

Oh what a relief! :-D Tail biting I can handle, him being sick would just break my heart. I haven't been around much these days, I'll have to make some effort to spend more time with him and keep him a little more preoccupied.

Do you think adding another fish to the tank would help? Not a betta, obviously, but like a Cori Cat or some blandish tetra? Something that he could amuse himself by watching without feeling a need to attack it.

 

[LoriKeet]

Yeah, I normally take like 200 photos and get maybe 10-15 good ones out of it lol

Yeah, he's tail biting. Fin biting can come from a variety of things, half of them including boredom or frustration.

Or it can be ticks like if the heater light comes on at a certain time during the night it can annoy the heck out of them and he'll get frustrated and bite his fins. Not saying that's what's happening, but that was one case that I saw. But it could be something completely different, you can observe him from afar and see if he bites his fins at something at all.

Sometimes if he see's his reflection or another Betta that he can't get at, that can make him frustrated and lead to biting as well. So there's a variety of things that can happen and make him do this. For healing those bites, clean water is a must. So I don't know what size tank he's in, but try to do twice weekly changes around 50% and if you can find it; use Stress Coat. Any Stress Coat will do, basically it contains Aloe Vera so it heals up tears and rips on fish ^_^ use as directed at double dose for healing purposes

EDIT: Lebron, it's not always habit. As I mentioned, frustration is not habit. Rembrandt, the boy in my avvie, bit his fins before because he couldn't get at his neighbor; Ditto. So he became frustrated and the next best thing he could bite was his fins and so he did! but he hasn't done it since and that was nearly 4 months ago. The picture of him in my avatar was from yesterday

The Algae!! I bet you anything that algae build up has been making the glass surface seem more reflective. Thanks for the advice, I'll also invest in some stress coat along with changing his water more frequently.

 

[LebronTheBetta]

Oh what a relief! :-D Tail biting I can handle, him being sick would just break my heart. I haven't been around much these days, I'll have to make some effort to spend more time with him and keep him a little more preoccupied.

Do you think adding another fish to the tank would help? Not a betta, obviously, but like a Cori Cat or some blandish tetra? Something that he could amuse himself by watching without feeling a need to attack it.

Yep, he's a healthy little boy. ^.^

The tank is pretty small for any other fish, besides dividing it. Which will probably make it worse. lol A snail or shrimp can work.

 

[lilnaugrim]

What size tank is he in?

NVM, I see it's a 5 XD I agree, too small for other fish. A Nerite snail might work though. Don't get any other snail though, all algae eaters including snails poop a LOT! Nerites poo the least out of all the snails so that means a cleaner tank! Shrimp may or may not become a tasty treat for him.

 

[LoriKeet]

What size tank is he in?

NVM, I see it's a 5 XD I agree, too small for other fish. A Nerite snail might work though. Don't get any other snail though, all algae eaters including snails poop a LOT! Nerites poo the least out of all the snails so that means a cleaner tank! Shrimp may or may not become a tasty treat for him.

That's kind of what I thought. I only ever intended on the 5 gallon housing one fish, and he has a little snail of some sort (couldn't tell you what kind, some sort of curly shell form that's about the size of my pinky nail).

Thank you both so, so, so much for all your feed back. You have no idea what a weight you've taken off my shoulders. Stress Guard and Ping Pong Balls, I'll keep the little guy entertained, whether he eats his tail or not. I only care that he's happy.

 

[LebronTheBetta]

No problem, my pleasure! It's our job. xD

 

[lilnaugrim]

The snail is probably a Ramshorn! I like them, they're cute ^_^ and as Lebron said, we're happy to help!

Do be careful though, biting fins can leave the fin open and ready for infection like Fin rot. So take care and try to do at least twice a week water changes and maybe even one more small one at 25% or so just to keep his water healthy as well!

 

[LoriKeet]

The snail is probably a Ramshorn! I like them, they're cute ^_^ and as Lebron said, we're happy to help!

Do be careful though, biting fins can leave the fin open and ready for infection like Fin rot. So take care and try to do at least twice a week water changes and maybe even one more small one at 25% or so just to keep his water healthy as well!

I will keep a watchful eye, and increase my weekly water changes.

Another quick question, LebronTheBetta mentioned that space sometimes causes tail biting. I was thining of bumping Luna to a ten gallon, but would that only serve to stress him more, rather than entertain?

 

[LebronTheBetta]

That only happens with few fish, and that usually occurs when there is too much open space; which means not many hiding spots. I'm sure you'll be able to do avoid that.

 

[lilnaugrim]

When you think about it, a Betta's natural habitat is in extremely large Rice Paddies. Large as in miles and miles long yet only about 3 feet deep in the deepest parts. They are filled with plants, tall grassy plants so their streamline bodies make it perfect for them to swim through the grass and defend their territory.

So it's not the size of the tank, but how big of empty spaces you have. If you were to fill it with silk plants and a few cave decorations for him to hide in, he'll feel much more safer. Just like most other prey animals; open spaces is dangerous and so our Betta's think the same way