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

He likes to flare at the picture of the red betta on his bio-gold package. Maybe I'll leave it by his tank for a while everyday.

Aurora, I wonder if he's biting at his tail because it is irritating him. I would go with the extra salt in his tank for awhile.

I'm wondering the same thing. I'll try that. It keeps seeming to get better and then it gets worse again. I was thinking of putting him back in his larger tank in case it's boredom of something. I bought some glass stones to replace his gravel.

Someone on the healthybetta.com forum said, "Unfortunately some bettas bite their tails. Sometimes when they're confined in small shipping bags a betta will do this. Nobody really knows why. It could be out of frustration. Did it happen while he was in the 2.5G or did it only happen in the smaller treatment tank?

I'd go with Jungal Fungus Eliminator or similar anti-fungal to treat the fin rot/tail biting. Betta-Fix is too weak to help much."

Do you guys think I should try these meds or are they too strong? I can't tell if the bettafix was working or not.

Someone suggested that I put another fish next to my fish's tank because he might be biting his tail because he's bored. Now I have the perfect excuse to "borrow" my boyfriend's friend's betta that he isn't taking good care of. Whether it helps my guy or not I know I will be helping the other fish. He's been living in green water for two years apparently. Boys are terrible at taking care of things. I looked in at the little guy a few days ago and he looked up at me as if to say "help me!" I�ve been trying to think of a delicate way to ask if I could have him ever since. I don't even know exactly what color he is because his water was so green.

He agreed and said I could keep his fish if I wanted to. Now I will have two bettas. I'm becoming an addict just like you guys! Any tips on acclimating a fish to clean water from gross algae filled dirty stuff?

Aurorasky,

I've been treating Frazz with Jungle Fungus Eliminator and it seems to be working for him. I change most of his water daily and put new meds in. He's healing, most of the red from the fin rot is gone, but some's still there. His infected area on his face -- the flare area -- sometimes still looks white, but the red color has gone from it, and I think he's healing up pretty quickly. I don't think it's been too harsh for Frazz.

Ok, I was wrong. Frazz died overnight. :angel:
He was fine after I changed his water last night, but the white was more prominent again. My husband found him this morning. (For a guy who doesn't like bettas he sure pays close attention to them.) <img src="/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

Joseph and I performed the water burial via toilet. I think it helped him to cope with the loss, to actually see the fish go away in a fishy funeral. :angel:

I'm sorry to hear it Nan. For easy fish these guys seem to get complicated. I'm wondering if fish from breeders have less problems than the ones from pet stores.

I didn't get the jungle fungus eliminator I looked for it but couldn't find it. I ended up just putting Tony back in his big tank with more salt in the water and glass stones instead of gravel. I adopted my friends elderly betta and put him in a tank next to Tony. The new fish "Beta-max" is very sluggish and one of his swimming fins is kinda messed up so he swims a little crooked and just sits at the bottom of the tank most of the time. I got some of the medicine called Bettamax and put the fish named Beta-max in it. He seems to be perking up a little and has a few bubbles at the top of the tank now. I know he's old but i'm hoping I can make the rest of his life a bit better.

Tony and Beta-max flared at each other a bit at first but don't seem to be interacting much now. It could be because the bettamax soulution I have Betta-max in is green and it's harder for Tony to see him. I was hoping having a fish nearby would distract Tony from biting his tail. It does seem to be healing a bit. Maybe I'll try the Bettamax medicine on Tony as well. It's supposed to have vitamins as well as antibiotics. If there's something else irritating Tony other than being nerotic maybe that would take care of it.

CAn you tell us what the active ingredient in Bettamax is? I like bettafix BECAUSE it's weak. sometimes these fish die from the stronger meds...ask Emg. <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> Slow and steady is good, even if it takes weeks for bettafix cycles to work. Nan, I am sorry about Frazz. At least it wasn't Sweetie! I love that little girl of yours. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

About the biting, that does sound like a boredom thing. Self-abuse is common in the animal kingdom, when creatures aren't getting enuff stimulation. Dogs over-lick their paws, bird pluck their feathers out, etc. I know Sweetie sulked for like a month after Nan took her home from work.

Taking in the boyfriend's fish is a nice thing to do. Algae is not bad for fishes, it just looks bad. But adding clean dechlorinated water should be a nice change for that fish. I would just go ahead and change it over. Give him a dose of bettafix if you like, too. Good luck.

also, about breeder fish being healthier than pet store fish, i'd say YES. Get one of Emg's. She's been hand-feeding her fry brine shrimp and yummy worms from day one. You will see a big difference in stock brought up properly.

Jilly,

Sweetie is doing well. She's pretty fat though. She eats the algae disks I put in for her oto, and I was putting in frog bites for her new frog -- she ate that too! :rolleyes: She's in a tank next to Pinky, and Glitz is on the other side of Pinky. Even with the airstone going, he's got an awesome bubble nest! I think he's in boy fish heaven. Graple is happy on the other side as well. :kiss: He watches Sweetie a lot.