BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Fish sigh, fin/tail rot

Hi again everyone,
My little red betta, Ignatius, continues to thrive, and has tons of new grown in his fins and tail. My newest betta however, Elijah, has me a tad worried. After a shy start, he's now VERY active, and frequently swims around quickly near the bottom of his tank, right on his gravel. His fins and tail are showing the abuse, and are looking shredded. I put some aquarium salt in his water, and have him on Bettafix. Tomorrow is day 7 of the treatment, and he looks worse. I think his gravel is to blame. It is small and sharp-looking, now that I examine it. I turkey basted out his poo tonight, and have determined not to put his gravel in after I do his water change following day 7 of the Bettafix treatment. I think I'll do another 7 day Bettafix treatment and of course put some fresh aquarium salt in. He also has a hood light in his tank, which I've put on to heat his water up a bit. There are only silk plants in with him, no plastic. Is there anything else I should be doing? He's not showing any other signs of health problems. He's eating well, (ahem...digesting everything well <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> , seems very responsive and happy, and had a bubble nest going a few days ago. But his fins/tail have a few holes in them and are very jagged looking, with the ends appearing a tad dark in a few places. I just want him to get better <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Hello Tiff!

Yeah, that jagged gravel is no good for bettas. You could put some smooth stone gravel in if you want something on the bottom. You can find some nice smooth glass or stone for his tank at Walmart in the silk flower section of the store. Nice selection too and only .97 cents for a good sized bag...I just picked some up for myself just the other day. <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

As far as healing up those fins...sounds like you are doing fine with the bettafix treatment and extra aquarium salt. If you have a way of keeping his water temp up in the low 80's..that would be even better. But if that's not possible don't worry. Just keeping his water good and clean and doing the bettafix/salt treatment should be fine.

Hi Tiffany,

I have a Betta that is very stubborn when it comes to fin rot. His fins are not shredded, but he keeps getting the deep red around the edges and start to clamp them up. He was on Bettafix for 3 weeks staright once and when it clears up, a few weeks later it comes back. But he is as healthy as can be. I spojke with reps at Bettafix and it is OK to give it to them weeks in a row, with a water change every 7 days. Keep it up and he should get better, just get yourself some better gravel.

Hi If you know the gravel is aggravating your fish's fins, why not take it out now instead of letting it irritate him another day...start your new 7 day treatment. I think he will do fine for you but doesn't need to wait any longer to get the sharp gravel out.
jmho
glo

thanks everyone. I took his gravel right out of there. Gave him a fresh water change, put in a pinch of aquarium salt, day 1 of his new Bettafix cycle, and put his tank light on to keep his water nice and toasty. It's actually nice to have no gravel in there, as I can see his poop well enough to suck it out with a baster so as to keep his water nice and clean. I'm hoping he shows some improvement this week. His tail and fins are definitely not being "eaten away" at a fast pace or anything, but I'll feel better when I see even a little bit of new growth. They're just shredded looking, and have a bit of darkness at the tips. He's otherwise healthy and active though. Sweet little guy. I think the gravel removal may be a permanent thing.

I posted in the other betta thread about my guy Tony Andromeda. It looked like his fins were starting to get better but today there's a chunk and some holes in the end of his tail. I bought a smaller one quart container and put him in there with nothing but bettafix, aquarium salt, and water conditioner. I mixed all the stuff first and let it sit in the tank with a light over it to raise the temperature before I added the fish. The new tank is harder to keep warm than the larger one. I'm hoping the halogen desk lamp I have over it will be enough. If it doesn't stay in the 80's I'll scrub his old tank and remove the gravel and then put him back in there. He seems active enough and he eats like a pig so I don't think he's feeling bad. I thought a hospital tank might be a good measure to take before he looses any more fins. I have him sitting by my computer and I feel like he's looking at me saying, "Why am I in jail? What did I do?" but I want him to get better. There's now a picture of him up on the rate a fish, it's before he had his troubles.

Aurora...you could try floating his hospital bowl in his tank. The warmer water in the tank will keep the bowl water warm.

Oh yeah you suggested that before. I'll have to take some of the decorations out for it to fit, but now that I have a plastic one maybe I'll give it a shot. The light I have over it does seem to keep it warm enough now that I have it nice and close to the top of the tank. I've seen you guys talk about turning lights off at night but it seems like you were doing that for the plants in your tanks. Does it stress the fish to have the light on all the time? Or do they just think it's summer in Alaska? Your babies look very cute by the way.

Thanks Aurora...I'm juat a bit nuts about these little guys and gals <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I have some tanks that I leave the light on all the time..to keep the temps stable. The fish do just fine. It helps to have a little cave thing for them to duck into if they want some shadow time. I have some plastic plants up around the bubbler of my tanks to ease up the current a bit(though there isn't much of one to begin with) and it also helps to shade the light a little.

When you leave the lights on all the time eventually you will have to deal with algea. When it crops up badly I take out about half the water from the tank BEFORE I stir it all up. Then I take everything out and clean it all off real good with vinegar and water...making sure you rinse everything off very well! Then I put it all back in the way I want it and put the water I took out of the tank back in along with some clean fresh aged water. Float the fish in a cup for a bit before introducing him back in the tank..adding some of the tank water a little at a time to his cup to help him gradually adjust to the change. Using half the water that was in there before the cleaning helps to make the change less drastic.

Aurora...enjoy your new found hobby! These guys are great! <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Frazz was looking well enough that I transferred him into a big vase last night. I put in "dazzle rocks" rather than gravel since there's no filter. He seems very happy with his new surroundings, and is flirting with Glitz next door.

Joseph told me Glitter was in nasty water and he was afraid he was going to die. So, I changed the water in his tank, and added salt, etc. He seems to have slightly damaged fins, I'm hoping no fin rot! Joseph tried to tell me he thinks Glitter is happier next to the other fish, and should stay in my bathroom. Nope, I have five on that counter already, don't need six.