Stubborn Fin rot/rips!!

beachbuum04

beachbuum04

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Jan 5, 2005
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My poor little betta...

He developed fin rot for unknown reasons about 2 months ago (I keep his tank crystal clean, he's fed a variety of foods, water parameters are closely monitored). I treated him with Jungle Brand Fungus Eliminator for 2 full treatments. It looked like it was healing but I noticed rips in his fins!!! After a few weeks, I noticed his caudal fin looked tattered again so I gave him Tetracycline for the full treatment (5 days). All looks well besides he split his pelvic fin in half!!!! His caudal fin has about 3mm of regrowth on it and its looking better...but why does he keep ripping his fins???

He's in a 2.5 mini-bow with one live plant (Cabomba) and one fabric plant (really soft). What should I do??? Are his fins just really fragile and prone to ripping because of his fin rot? Should I continue to give him medicine? This is really frustrating to me because I want him to get better :sad
 
Anyone?
 
hi beachbuum
I too have a couple of bettas - and i know how it feels when they get sick.
I have noticed that sometimes too suddenly (especially female betta) they start losing color - starts especially with the tail - and in less than 4-5 hours this decolorations reaches upto their belly - and to me that means my betta wont last for another day :sad
I dont know if my post helps you in any way - but just felt like sharing my thought/experience.

Suby
 
Are you sure it's finrot and not a reaction to PH issues ?

Betta fins tear very easily and they can become tattered from other issues in the tank besides dirty water. I know, because I have had the same thing with my bettas from time to time. I am very anal about clean water and tidy tanks with my fish, but I would still have bettas who's tails would tatter for no apparent reason. I would notice this usually right after a water change. I started to be more careful about the amount of water conditioner I added to the change water...and also let it sit longer before using and it seems to have helped...for now anyway...lol. I used to just drip the conditioner into the buckets from the bottle. I now put my change water in a 5 gallon before I add the conditioner so that I can make sure I get the proper dosage in.

It could be he is scraping his fins along the bottom of the tank. If you have ruff gravel it could be very damaging to thier fins. I put smooth stones in mine. Plastic plants are also a bane to betta fish. They love to swim among the leaves and the sharper edges of plastic plants can do a number on them. Silk or live plants are a better option for them.

Finrot generally needs an injury to get started. The fin gets injured....then bacteria from dirty water gets into the injury and causes the rot. There is a fungal type of finrot too...but I think both are caused by pretty much the same conditions...if I'm wrong I'm sure someone will show up to correct me.. :D

When I have a fin issue with any of my betta, I always treat it with clean fresh water everyday with aquarium salt added. I float the betta in his tank in a smaller bowl..I use the walmart betta bowls...about 16 oz size.....and I float another bowl with fresh clean water in the tank with it. Fish in one, just clean water in the other and every day I flip the betta into the clean bowl and change the water in the other one, wiping it out good. This alone is usually enough to keep any finrot from taking hold while the fins heal.

Having both bowls in the tank makes sure that the water temps are the same so no worry about that being a stress issue. Before you put your betta back into his tank, do a good cleaning and put him in slowly, as if acclimating a new fish...just in case there may be any PH differences or anything.

Hope this helps BB
 
The thing is, my roomate has two bettas and she uses the same water as I do and her fish are just fine....

Are you worried about overdosing or underdosing the water conditioner? I usually overdose it because it helps with the stress of doing a water change. May this be the problem?

Like I said before, he has no plastic plants, only one live and one fabric (call it silk if you wanna :p )

I think I'll go get some of those bowls...thing is, I'm worried he'll get depressed being in such small quarters. He's my little baby and he loves exploring his little piece of the world. But if it will help him then I suppose that makes more sense.
 
Doesn't matter if your friends bettas are doing fine and you use the same water...lol...I have 12 betta and I use the same water with all of them, do water changes at the same time too....some are prone to fin issues and others are not. But since I have been more careful with the conditioner and letting the water sit longer, I havn't had anymore problems..weither I was overdosing or underdosing, I don't know.

Well, there is this one stubborn fella who just can't seem to hold his fins together for anything...I have been treating him in the walmart bowl situation for quite some time now...and just yesturday his fins began getting red and tattered AGAIN ! Always just when he starts healing up nicely too. Just can't figure it out... :rolleyes: There is nothing in that bowl for him to catch his fins on...his water is changed EVERY DAY....he eats the same as everyone else.....same water as everyone else......go figure, it's a mystery to me :confused:
 
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Emg said:
Well, there is this one stubborn fella who just can't seem to hold his fins together for anything...I have been treating him in the walmart bowl situation for quite some time now...and just yesturday his fins began getting red and tattered AGAIN ! Always just when he starts healing up nicely too. Just can't figure it out... :rolleyes: There is nothing in that bowl for him to catch his fins on...his water is changed EVERY DAY....he eats the same as everyone else.....same water as everyone else......go figure, it's a mystery to me :confused:
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Thats what is happening to mybetta. His fins are starting to look tattered again! I'll try the bowl solution. Hopefully that will work!!!!!!!!!!!
 
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