[damselfish]

About 8 months ago i got a pink/white betta HM and have him in a 5 gallon tank with a heater and filtration. The other betta is a red veil tail in a 2.5 g-heater & filtration as well, I rescued about 3 months ago from home depot (why they think they should sell fish I do not know). The red veil tail when I got him was completely depleted of colour, he was a opaque white fish, sinking at the bottom of the cup almost sideways, clearly the ugliest, sickliest looking fish there which is why I got him Anyways, he is now a deep maroon-red colour and is very active,. Though both betta's seem to have their top tail gone curled and ragged, they do spend a lot of time at the top of the water, so I thought maybe it is due to that (it being squished between the top of the water and the bettas body) but I don't know. His colouring may look healthier, and his environment may look better, but both fish when I bought them in the cups had perfect tails, and were adults when I bought them. And before you say it might be the plants or decor, all my plants are silk or very soft rubber-like material, no plastic. I also use water conditioner for each water change I do. I just started using melafix for aquarium fish, as it is supposed to treat fin-rot, it is mostly made up of tea tree oil. Anyways, any help on why both my bettas fins are getting curled at the top and bottom please let me know. I heard this would not be fin rot because there are no black edges ends, which is supposed to mean such a thing. If you would like to see a picture of my HM in a similar post I'll leave the link here( And no he never has food build up like that, it tipped too much in while trying to take a picture) http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=94514 Thanks in advance for any help!
p.s- Both filters are tetra whispers for 1-3 g aquariums, I beleive they are rather weak filters myself so I do not think is the cause of this, but does anyone else have experience with them?

 

[gbose]

Damselfish,

How often do you change your water and are you using de-chlorinator?). You should do a 50% change every week.

Good luck!

GBose

 

[damselfish]

Damselfish,

How often do you change your water and are you using de-chlorinator?). You should do a 50% change every week.

Good luck!

GBose

yep 50% every week, and i use a aquarium conditioner, is that the same thing as a dechlorinater?

 

[Bombalurina]

It should say on the conditioner somewhere that it either removes chlorine or 'ages' the water.

I would suggest not using Melafix. There is a lot of controversy surrounding it because it has been reported as harming labyrinth organs in cases of overdoses (I'm sure you're careful, but a slight spill can be enough). I just wouldn't risk it.

Is it possible that they are fin-biters? I'm not sure how they would reach their dorsals, but I have a similar thing on my HM boy and I know it isn't his environment, and all his other fins are healthy.

As long as they are in good health otherwise, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Clean warm water will keep them healthy, and it sounds like you give them exactly that.

 

[damselfish]

It should say on the conditioner somewhere that it either removes chlorine or 'ages' the water.

I would suggest not using Melafix. There is a lot of controversy surrounding it because it has been reported as harming labyrinth organs in cases of overdoses (I'm sure you're careful, but a slight spill can be enough). I just wouldn't risk it.

Is it possible that they are fin-biters? I'm not sure how they would reach their dorsals, but I have a similar thing on my HM boy and I know it isn't his environment, and all his other fins are healthy.

As long as they are in good health otherwise, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Clean warm water will keep them healthy, and it sounds like you give them exactly that.

Thanks so much bombalurina, i checked the conditioner and it says it does neutralize the chlorine, heavy metals as well as a slime protectant. I will give my melafix to my friend who has a non-labrynth fish aquarium. And no i do not think he is nipping his fins as I have never seen him do it yet, and he has lots of enrichment plants so who knows. Although I did change his lightbulb from the soft light normal 20 watt light bulbs that came with it that get very hot, to a 10 watt flurescent so maybe that will help with temp fluctuation as well.