I think my betta has fin rot

Bettapuppy · May 20, 2019

I think my betta may have fin rot. I hope I have attached the picture correctly so you all can see. He is a two tailed half moon so one of those breaks in his tail is normal, lol. I did about a 30% water change on Friday. I first noticed a rip in his tail about two weeks ago and I thought maybe he just ripped it on the plastic plant in his tank, so I replaced it with a silk one and got him a moss ball to lay on. over the last few days I've noticed more rips in his tail and dorsal fin and his color is becoming more muted. He is swimming around and eating normally though. I'm going to be running some errands today and I plan on stopping by Petsmart to get some aquarium salt or maybe some antibiotics. Am I doing the right things? Any advice would be much appreciated.

tank info

6.7 gallon imagitarium aquarium with power filter and LED lighting

Tetra 2-15 HT10 50 watt submersible heater

peramiters
Ammonia: 0
Nitrate: 0
Nitrite: 0
PH: 7.5
KH: 180
GH: 80

My betta is the only resident

FishGuest5123 · May 20, 2019

You can treat fin rot with clean water and aquarium salt. Keep the water pristine. He may be biting his tail too. This can be from boredom or if the tail is too heavy. Get him some tall plants to rest on and a ping pong ball or something to play with. Good luck!

Colin_T · May 20, 2019

Fin rot is caused by a dirty environment that encourages bacteria to grow and affect the fish. As mentioned by Deanasue, clean water will normally fix the issue.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for 2 weeks and it should clear up by itself without any need for medication or anti-biotics.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

--------------------------
You can put a mirror next to his tank a couple of time a week and leave it there for 5-10 minutes, then remove it. Your fish will see his reflection and think it's an intruder and show off to it in an attempt to drive it away. After a few minutes of this you remove the mirror and the fish thinks he is great because he drove off the trespasser.

This helps to break up the boredom the fish might have and simulates the natural environment when he would have to fight for his territory, except no harm comes to the fish.

Bettapuppy · May 21, 2019

Thank you, both of you! This sounds very solvable, I'm glad. I'll be doing water changes daily for a while and I just put in some aquarium salt. Yeah, I had gotten a little lazy with water changes because my nitrate, nitrite, and ammonia levels have all been at zero. I wasn't thinking about other things that can build up in the tank like bacteria. I have learned my lesson and will not make this mistake again.

TheTenthDoctor · May 23, 2019

I used hydrogen peroxide to cure my bettas fin rot. He hasn't had any fin problems in a long time at this point. But be careful! Hydrogen peroxide can crash your cycle

Bettapuppy · May 27, 2019

One week update: Norman, my betta, is acting better and his colors are more vibrant, but his fins are still deteriorating, is this a normal recovery?
I have been doing 75% water changes every day, well except Saturday because I house sat for my sister and tended her puppy over the weekend. I have also been adding a rounded tablespoon of aquarium salt as directed on the package daily with the new water. I have been removing anything I think might be catching his fins from my tank. I sanded down the inside edge of his tree trunk decoration yesterday as the edges seemed a bit sharp. I have placed a mirror in front of him a few times and he's growing more confident. the first time he didn't flare at all and just swan away. The second time he flared and scared himself, lol. Now he just flares the whole time.
His dorsal fin and tail fin seem to be the only ones affected, but they look worse than they did a week ago. His anal and pelvic fins are still okay.

current parameters as of last night
ammonia: 0
nitrate: 0
nitrite: 0
ph: 7.5
kh: 80
gh: 120
temp: 78

my precious boys poor fins and his current tank setup. Any suggestions? I might stop by the pet store later today.

Colin_T · May 27, 2019

If the fins are deteriorating and getting worse, then they might have a bacterial infection. Depending on what is available in your country, will determine what you treat him with. Anti-biotics will kill bacteria on the fish as well as in the filter and care should be taken when using them because misusing anti-biotics can lead to drug resistant bacteria that can kill people, animals, birds and fish.

If you use salt, you add 1-2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres of water.

-----------------------------
I can't help with working out how much water is in a hexagonal tank, maybe someone else has a formula for it.

If you use anti-biotics you need to know exactly how much water is in the tank. And do the following before treating. Use the anti-biotics for at least 1 week but no more than 2 weeks. Generally the fins should stop getting worse after 1-2 days of medication. If there is no improvement after a week, the medication is probably not working and you can look at using a different medication.

Remove carbon from the filter before treating or it will adsorb the medication and stop it working.

Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration when using medications because they reduce the dissolved oxygen in the water.

Bettapuppy · May 27, 2019

Colin_T said:
If the fins are deteriorating and getting worse, then they might have a bacterial infection. Depending on what is available in your country, will determine what you treat him with. Anti-biotics will kill bacteria on the fish as well as in the filter and care should be taken when using them because misusing anti-biotics can lead to drug resistant bacteria that can kill people, animals, birds and fish.

If you use salt, you add 1-2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres of water.

-----------------------------
I can't help with working out how much water is in a hexagonal tank, maybe someone else has a formula for it.

If you use anti-biotics you need to know exactly how much water is in the tank. And do the following before treating. Use the anti-biotics for at least 1 week but no more than 2 weeks. Generally the fins should stop getting worse after 1-2 days of medication. If there is no improvement after a week, the medication is probably not working and you can look at using a different medication.

Remove carbon from the filter before treating or it will adsorb the medication and stop it working.

Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration when using medications because they reduce the dissolved oxygen in the water.

Thank you! I will do some digging and see if my filter cartridge has carbon in it. The cartridge that my filter takes is the Tetra small size. my tank is 6.7 US gallons. The last time I went to the pet store Bettafix was recommended to me, but I've read on here that bettafix had tea tree oil in it and can harm my fish if I'm not careful. My tank had a pretty powerfull little filter, maybe that will help? Aaarrrg, why is this so stressful!

Bettapuppy · May 30, 2019

WinterSoldier. said:
I used hydrogen peroxide to cure my bettas fin rot. He hasn't had any fin problems in a long time at this point. But be careful! Hydrogen peroxide can crash your cycle

How did you use the hydrogen peroxide? Did you use 35% or 3%? I might try that. My boy does not seem to be responding to the bettafix

his fins keep deteriorating. He eseems to be acting normal though.

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