Betta was fine all afternoon but suddenly tore a large chunk out of his tail??

[onefieshcedrick]

Are there any plants in his tank?

Without a filter, and such a small volume of water, the tank probably isn't cycled. To try and heal his fins, I would move to daily 60% - 75% water changes, to keep ammonia/nitrites and nitrates at zero. He really does need a larger tank, and a water testing kit. Have a look for second hand tanks, you can often find ones for a really cheap price and including a filter, heater and lights.

In a small uncycled, unfiltered tank, you're going to be fighting a constant battle to keep the water from becoming toxic, and that's likely what is stressing him out and causing all these fin problems.

Thanks for the tips as always. I just purchased a water testing kit but the box was empty when I got it so I'm going to replace it this afternoon. Please let me know if you see any second hand tanks like the ones you mentioned.

 

[onefieshcedrick]

I just noticed that Cedrick produced black poop. Is this significant?

 

[Colin_T]

nope. stringy white poop is the only poop to worry about in fish.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Thanks for the tips as always. I just purchased a water testing kit but the box was empty when I got it so I'm going to replace it this afternoon. Please let me know if you see any second hand tanks like the ones you mentioned.

You're welcome.

I'm in a different country, so won't be looking for second hand tanks available in Arizona. You'd need to check places like Craigslist and anywhere else that people sell their used home furnishings/pet equipment.

Just know that you're going to battling problems and having to do much more frequent water changes as long as he's in such a tiny container of water.

 

[onefieshcedrick]

You need a test kit to be able to check water parameters, this is essential equipment for fish keeping. The liquid test kits like the API freshwater master test kit that most of us use are more accurate than dip strips, and better value in the long term since you get more tests out of them than dip strips as well, along with the accuracy being very important.

You need to be able to test for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates when keeping fish, especially when cycling a tank or there's an illness going on.
A good video about the nitrogen cycle will help you understand why we test water quality, and how important filtration is:

Does the tank have a filter?

When you clean and change the water and clean the tank, what does that involve? What process do you follow?

Also what size tank is he in now? It looks like a 1-2 gallon vase type thing, maybe on a kitchen counter or something? Looks quite bright, open and exposed, and if it's in a high traffic area like on a kitchen counter, and exposed on all sides, he's likely to spook at every changing shadow and find it very scary and stressful. Fish are instinctively wary about predators, and a looming shadow usually means predator in the wild. We know that they're alone, but they don't know that, which is why we do things like add a background to a tank, and floating plants on the surface, it helps fish feel safer and less stressed since it replicates their natural environment and means they feel they can hide away from predators.

So I did a water test and the nitrite and nitrate levels are near zero whereas the KH is about 30-40 and the GH is about 30. What are the optimal conditions?

 

[FishBearer9845]

What was the ammonia level?
What test kit did you buy?

 

[Essjay]

KH is important only to stabilise pH; GH is the important one for fish.
30 (I assume that's ppm) is very soft water and it's fine for a betta.


It sounds as though you have test strips. These do not include ammonia so you need a separate tester for that. Ammonia is the first thing to show up when things go wrong.

 

[onefieshcedrick]

KH is important only to stabilise pH; GH is the important one for fish.
30 (I assume that's ppm) is very soft water and it's fine for a betta.


It sounds as though you have test strips. These do not include ammonia so you need a separate tester for that. Ammonia is the first thing to show up when things go wrong.

Yeah unfortunately the store I was out was all out of test kits, so I'll try and get one but it looks like they might be out of stock for a while. I'll get an ammonia kit though!

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

So I did a water test and the nitrite and nitrate levels are near zero whereas the KH is about 30-40 and the GH is about 30. What are the optimal conditions?

Yeah unfortunately the store I was out was all out of test kits, so I'll try and get one but it looks like they might be out of stock for a while. I'll get an ammonia kit though!

How did you do a water test if they were all out of test kits?