Beta fish won’t stop loosing chunks of fins

Hello! My dads beta fish, we’ve had him for just over a year, is suddenly loosing a lot of his fins. It started about a month ago and we figured it was fin rot and started doing 25% everyday. and. Well. He hasn’t gotten better. It started off small but then this last week we had to go somewhere for a week and when we came back he looks like this:
I just added some salt to his tank about 5 minutes before making this post. He had a weird white spot on his side before we left but it’s gone now.

He’s in a 5 gallon tank with only one snail. Those are the only occupants. He’s a very friendly beta but has taken to hiding almost the entire day, only coming out during water changes and feeding times. When this happens he still swims pretty fine, but he goes back into hiding very fast.

Any thoughts?

Edit: I’m not sure the water parameters but with the frequent water changes I’m assuming it’s perfect (all my other tanks are perfectly healthy so it’s not a local water quality issue) and he is making sure to dechlorinate the water between water changes.

What are the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, GH, KH and temperature?
2 weeks of aquarium salt is a good treatment for fin rot, you should see improvement within a month. Which salt have you added and at what dose?
I recommend your dad replace some of the ornaments/ stone with fast growing plants (eg. elodea densa) and add floating plants to help the betta feel secure and provide interest. The betta could be tearing his fins on the stones/ ornaments or he could be fin biting in which case more stimulation will distract him.

Naughts said:

What are the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, GH, KH and temperature?
2 weeks of aquarium salt is a good treatment for fin rot, you should see improvement within a month. Which salt have you added and at what dose?
I recommend your dad replace some of the ornaments/ stone with fast growing plants (eg. elodea densa) and add floating plants to help the betta feel secure and provide interest. The betta could be tearing his fins on the stones/ ornaments or he could be fin biting in which case more stimulation will distract him.

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Not sure about the parameters. My water has a ph of about 7.4 though.

I added a tablespoon of api aquarium salt as per what the directions said to do (mixed it in a cup of tank water to dissolve it before adding it)

And I will definitely look into those plants! I have some floating plants in my female guppy tanks I can share

Apparently he hasn’t been eating well so maybe he is eating his own tail.

Would changing his tank up help stimulate him or would it be better to keep the tank the same?

I put some of the floating plants in and he seemed immediately interested in them. The filter is swirling them around in circles and he was chasing them. Now he’s hiding from them under a plant but not in his little plane shaped cave which is an improvement already

biofish said:

Apparently he hasn’t been eating well so maybe he is eating his own tail.

Would changing his tank up help stimulate him or would it be better to keep the tank the same?

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If he had a bigger tank he would have more to explore. Obviously it would need to be properly cycled and betta are usually best alone.

More plants would be stimulating.

Don’t think a bigger tank is possible, simply due to space my dads work desk has, but the tank is sparse in plants.

I’m gonna get that baby boy so many plants.

Keep the salt at that level (1 tablespoon for 5 gallons) for two weeks by adding back the amount that you remove with the water change Then do 10% water changes daily for a week, followed by 20% daily water changes for a week to gradually eliminate the salt. You can then do larger water changes weekly.
Good luck!

We’re going out to see if we can find a 10 gallon tall to save space. I know betta prefer length verses height but it would definitely give him more areas to explore and allow for taller plants while preserving as much surface area of his desk. (With sand as the new substrate). I saw one about 6 months ago that would’ve been perfect but I can’t find it anywhere online

A Betta that is tail biting is surprisingly commonplace.

When a heavy finned & tailed Betta is young, they can generally cope with that finnage & tail pretty well, but as they get older, it weighs them down and makes surface breathing harder due to the increased effort needed to get to the surface.

So, since they are not as dumb as people might think, they try to lighten the load by biting their finnage and tail. It is also a sign of stress, again caused by that finnage & tail causing them to be uncomfortable.

Try and get some artificial hammocks or add a piece of wood into the aquarium so that the Betta can take rest breaks tween substrate and surface.

Equate his finnage & tail dragging behind him as you putting on a heavy, long train wedding dress and diving into the deep end of the swimming pool and trying to reach the surface several times a day.

He is lightening his load, his finnage & tail are stressing and tiring him out.

wasmewasntit said:

A Betta that is tail biting is surprisingly commonplace.

When a heavy finned & tailed Betta is young, they can generally cope with that finnage & tail pretty well, but as they get older, it weighs them down and makes surface breathing harder due to the increased effort needed to get to the surface.

So, since they are not as dumb as people might think, they try to lighten the load by biting their finnage and tail. It is also a sign of stress, again caused by that finnage & tail causing them to be uncomfortable.

Try and get some artificial hammocks or add a piece of wood into the aquarium so that the Betta can take rest breaks tween substrate and surface.

Equate his finnage & tail dragging behind him as you putting on a heavy, long train wedding dress and diving into the deep end of the swimming pool and trying to reach the surface several times a day.

He is lightening his load, his finnage & tail are stressing and tiring him out.

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That still sounds so horrific! I’ve never heard of tail biting before today but it honestly matches with what we’re seeing but I still hate it. It sounds so painful. . Me and my dad are gonna get wide leafed tall plants and some logs that go close to the surface so he can chill there. He had a hammock in there for a few months but he never used it, even when we tried to lure him there by placing food there. He does however, like using our fingers as a hammock whenever we put them in there

biofish said:

That still sounds so horrific! I’ve never heard of tail biting before today but it honestly matches with what we’re seeing but I still hate it. It sounds so painful. . Me and my dad are gonna get wide leafed tall plants and some logs that go close to the surface so he can chill there. He had a hammock in there for a few months but he never used it, even when we tried to lure him there by placing food there. He does however, like using our fingers as a hammock whenever we put them in there

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Yes, I agree, it is horrific...but that is the darker side of Betta breeding....people want to buy big finnage and tails and breeders know this, so they push the boundaries further and further.

Look at the fish....visualise the size of the body and then compare that to the length and physical presence of the finnage and tail......once you see how a fish struggles to haul all that "stuff" behind it, it is little wonder that they will attack it to get rid of the "extra baggage" that weighs them down.

It is very sad to see a Betta doing it but it is becoming more and more commonplace as the finnage and tails get unnaturally longer.

It is the price that these fish pay for a human's vanity and oneupmanship.....the longer and flashier the finnage & tail, the more money in the breeder's bank account.

Try to make as many "stopping off places" as you can reasonably fit in the aquarium without losing too much swim space, he might slow down on the biting over time, although unlikely to stop altogether.

Finally found a 10 gallon tall. I’m gonna set it up immediately but my dad’s betta hasn’t even been coming up for food the last couple days so I honestly don’t think he’ll make it much longer…. He’s a lovey dovey little guy and we’ve had him for a year so it’ll be rough. Hate to think about it but At least with a 10 gallon my dad has a little bit more options with future fish choices.