Betta fins breaking off

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spottedcatfish

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Mar 12, 2003
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I was doing my normal tank maintenance (yes, its 2 AM my time, the fish certainly don't seem to care, and I'm on spring break). In the process of this, I see two pieces of betta tail fin floating around, its about 2/3 of the length of his tail and covers the space between 2 of the 'spines'.

Stats on the tank, 0 ammonia and nitrites, ~5 nitrates, 4 degrees kH and gH, 7.7 pH, temp is 78F, and tankmates are four panda cories.

What do I do here, is this finrot, would melafix work? I have a spare ten gallon tank I can put him in for treatment, I have a heater for it, but not a filter. Other than the fact that his tail is disappearing before my eyes very rapidly, he's fine, very spunky, flaring at his reflection, and eating well.

Advice is appreciated, when I rescued him from the local PetsMart, I figured he'd have a touch of finrot, but this isn't the way I usually read about finrot presenting itself.
 
i would treat him with the melafix, as even if it wasnt finrot, it will certainly try and take a hold now. the melafix should help to fight any infection that comes of this.

finrot generally doesnt involve large chunks of the fin coming off, so i wuold point the finger at this. you say you rescued the fish, so how long have you had it? i dont realy know what this could be, other than suggesting the use of the melafix, i dont really know what i can put to you on this subject. the first thought is that the fins have been torn off, but that would be by the cories. are there any sharp objects in the tank that could do as such? do you have a filter on the tank with a fast flow rate?
 
I can't find the disease of which you speak, but it is obviously happening, since your betta is suffering from it. I, too, would go with the MelaFix, as that seems to be the answer to any fin loss with Bettas.
 
I've had the betta for a week or two now, can't be much longer, and what's concerning me is that I've kept two bettas in this same setup (same filter flow rate and deco) with no issues, and particularly not an issue like this.

But, in case any of that has become a problem, the betta will move into my spare ten gallon today with no filter, I think I'll pick up some cheap silk plants and toss them in there so he has some cover and get a melafix treament going. Hopefully I can at least stop it from getting any worse.

One other thing, when I first got him, his fins were rough around the edges (to be expected, he was living in a little tiny cup) and the edges of the fins were opaque, and not colored, does that give you any more hints as to what the cause might be?
 
The last time I got a betta from petsmart he got what might be what you're describing. His fins basically rotted away, but much faster than with standard finrot. Very quickly I had a fish with no tail except for struts, and fungus over half his body. I'd probably opt for a fungus treatement now. I've found once the finrot hits their bodies they are very hard to save. I've had luck with jungle fungus cure and maracyn. BettaMax would probably also cure it.

--Mia
 
Update, on his side he has what appears to be a loose scale... It looks kind of like if you scraped your arm and it got the skin, so you have the flake sitting there, he's only got one at the moment, and its not at all like ick, doesn't look fuzzy like fungus either. Thoughts on that?

Good thing I'm moving him out, I hope he's not contagious....

Edit: Just went in there to do the move, the little bugger is chasing my cories around, first time he's show any agression at all... This is much strangeness as he never paid the catfish any interest.
 
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I'm amazed that he's gone this long without Cory-chasing...the day I added my fish, "Mo" started doing that. He also takes possession of the sinking tabs which are for the Cories and chased the three Ottos the second I released them from their bag.
 
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