BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Fish Stupid Betta or Stupid Owner?

Hi everyone,
I am new to bettas (I just got my first about two weeks ago) and have found this website to be extremely helpful in answering all of my little newbie questions. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> I'm hoping you all can offer some advide on a bit of a problem that my fish had today...
Everything was going was usual in little Frankie's tank this afternoon. In fact, I returned from class to find he had even made me a bubble nest. I was so happy to see him doing so well that I decided to take a few pictures (with the camera flash off). I taped a small mirror to the side of his tank to entertain him, and snapped away. About 5 minutes later, I looked over at his tank where he was still flaring at the mirror and noticed that end of his back fin looked really shredded--like someone had taken a bite out of it. I couldn't believe that I hadn't noticed that sooner, especially since I had just been taking pictures of him, so I opened up one of the new pictures. Sure enough, the fin was fine. I'm baffled as to how he could have injured himself so quickly! I immediately took down the mirror and added a splash of melafix just to be on the safe side. Did he hurt himself in his excitement to chase the "other fish"? I've taped that mirror up for him dozens of times before and never had any problems. He is in a little one gallon tank with a couple of soft artificial plants (not plastic) so I can't see what he cut himself on. Also, there is no evidence of a struggle in the tank, and no little fin pieces on the bottom. Did he eat a chunk out of his own tail? I've uploaded a few pictures to give an idea for what the damage looks like. I'll go ahead and post the link--hopefully it'll work.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.js...qkov27&Ux=1

Anyway, if anyone could make any suggestions for what (if anything) i need to do for him that would be great. Maybe I'm overreacting, but I feel bad for the guy (although I don't know if he even notices--he's acting like nothing happened). Also, provided he heals up nicely, will the fins grow back?
Thanks so much in advance for your advice, and sorry this is so long! I feel a little bit like a nut job writing this big long post about a little $2 fish! Hahaha
--Rebecca

LOl....yeah, a betta will "blow" thier fins sometimes thrashing around. He should be fine and if you keep the water nice and clean he'll heal up pretty quickly. You could add a bit of aquarium salt ...1/2 teasp per gallon...helps to discourage bacteria and the like....

You don't need to medicate him at this time though...I never use meds unless I really need to....stresses the fish out which just opens them up to other issues.

You did good ! Nice tank you have there for him...and he's beautiful !

Thanks so much Emg! I'm relieved that the problem wasn't caused by something that I did wrong. Silly fish. I've got some aquarium salt now and will be adding it to his water. And yes, he is beautiful... or at least he was until this afternoon! Now he kind of reminds me of the toddler that "surprises" his mom by giving himself a haircut.
Thanks again for the complements and encouragement!
--Rebecca

I am pretty sure it's like Emg said - he got overexcited and hurt himself. He probably took a bite out of his own silly tail. You are doing fine. he probably won't do that again. Talk to him and tell him what he did worried you and to be a good boy! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Just keep the water and gravel floor super clean and you won't have to deal with fin rot. Salt is for sure a great thing too. No meds!!! Everyone say it with me: clean water and salt.

I looked at the pics. That's a nice tank. Are those plants silk or plastic? I can't tell. If silk, great! if plastic, then he might have cut himself on the edges.

Still a pretty set-up. Change to silk when you can if the are plastic.

Thanks for the advice Jilly. He seems to be doing fine today--no signs of infection or irritation so far. I'll certainly be changing his water more frequently now. Does 25% every other day sound about right, or should I go for 50%? As for the plants, I would have considered them silk, although they do have some plastic parts. The leaves are silk, but the stems are definately plastic. They seemed pretty harmless when i bought them, but now i'm not so sure. I just wish I had been looking at the tank when he did whatever it was that he did! I was sitting right here! I never would have thought that a fish would require constant supervision. :rolls eyes:
Thanks again everyone!
--Rebecca

I'd say 50% just while he is healing, just to have crystal clean water. 25% is fine too but I am a HUGE believer in clean water instead of medicating. if you were trying to handle fin rot with increasing doses of salt, that would be something else, but all you are doing here is prophylactic/preventative. So just a pinch of salt will do!

Silk leaves and plastic stems should be fine. I just could not be sure from the pics. it's hard to cut yourself on fabric edges. he probably just bit himself in his excitement to fight with the "other betta".

His fins will probably grow in clear, but will color up later. keep us updated, please, so we can all learn from his experiences. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

You can do the mirror again, just not unsupervised - LOL! Silly fishie.