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

well, in his new gravel-less situation, Elijah seems to be doing a little better. His fins look no worse, at the very least. I'm hoping that by the end of the week, I will see even a small improvement. Just loves to swim on the bottom of his tank, that one, despite my admonitions to behave himself <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

The more I read about fin rot the more I'm thinking my guy is either biting his own fins or catching them on something. There isn't any red or black at the end of the damage at all, and now that I've had him in the empty tank for 24 hours I'm seeing white re-growth happening everywhere that is jagged. I just had regular aquarium gravel in his other tank. I feel like I need something in there since there's an under gravel filter. I've been looking around for something smoother that looks good with the rest of his decor. I'm kinda picky. There's a Big/Lots in Hollywood. I'll try that tomorrow.
Good thing I like to shop! <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

My guy, Frazz, hasn't started growing new fins but seems ok. His tail is still split all the way down. <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

Well, Elijah is on day 3 of his new Bettafix cycle, with no gravel. He's in outstanding spirits, but I'm so anxious to see improvement and regrowth in his fins and tail. He doesn't seem to be getting worse, but also no signs of getting better, either. I really hate worrying about him all the time. A few questions: with Bettafix, does it work more effectively with gravel, to grow good bacteria in? And also, if he doesn't get a lot better this week, should I lay off the Bettafix for a week or so, or could I do a third week? Is that even a good idea? He really tore up his fins good, this little blue one <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

thanks for the response, I feel better now. It's only the third day of this gravel-less, new Bettafix cycle, so I need to stop being so impatient for results <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> I'm going to keep the gravel out for a good long while, or perhaps permanently, and see what happens.

With bettafix it's best NOT to have gravel in the bowl..it's easier to see the cruds to syphon it out without taking out too much water. You need to do at least a full 7 day treatment without changing water. You can go another 7 day treatment if you don't see any improvment..take out half the water and add new..then start the treatment over again. Bettafix is a natural remedy so won't hurt your fish over much. Try using some aquarium salt too...1 teasp. per gallon of water...also warm temps about 84 or so.

Be patient...finrot can take awhile to heal up but it should start to improve if you are good about taking out the dirts when you see any and keeping up the treatment. I battled for a couple of weeks with one of my fish, but he did heal up nicely eventually.

All the best Tiff ! Let us know how he does! <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

well, Elijah completed his second 7-day Bettafix treatment, with no gravel. I'm still kind of worried about him. On the bright side, the ends of his fins that had looked black are blue again; but there is no regrowth and some more breakage occurred. Almost exclusively in areas that had had several holes in them that just broke away the fragile area between them. I know it probably takes time to heal, but I'm impatient.

This week, I again placed no gravel in his tank, gave him a fresh water change that I now regularly siphon the yuck out of, and put his hood light on so that his water temperature stays in the low 80's during the day. But no Bettafix this week, I wanted to give him a break. I'm hoping clean, warm water temperatures will do the trick. sigh.

Okay so I think I actually saw my fish BITING HIS TAIL. It had been growing back and then I saw some jagged edges again. I've been worried for two weeks that he has fin rot and it turns out he's just nuts. He seems very happy in his empty hospital tank, he built a nice bubble nest. I guess I'm just going to have a short tailed betta. Well at least HE'S happy. I can live with it. I guess if he's going to continue to chew his tail off I'd better keep adding bettafix to his water so he doesn't develop fin rot on the mangled edges. Sheesh, my fish needs a hobby! :rolleyes:

Aurora,

That is too funny! Maybe a mirror he can flare at?

Tiffanyrae,

I would suggest putting a little salt in the water with Elijah, it seems to help them heal more easily. Otherwise, it takes a very long time for these little ones to heal. It took almost 2 months for Sweetie's tail to grow back in after Pinky bit her. (I was spawning them and Pinky got a bit rough with her.)