Betta's Fin Is Disintegrating?! Patch On Body? Help!

Cyphus

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To be honest, I didn't notice till today!!!!!!!! I am thinking on putting Mr Ponyo (drk blue-bodied VT male) in a hospital tank w/ aquarium salt & Maracyn 1 and 2~ but I dont even know what I'm dealing with..! It looks like his dorsal fin is disintegrating, and there's a sore on his body, right under that same fin??! I know that my DT male has had 'pinholes' in his fins for quite some time now~ they aren't going away at all!!! I will attach some photos to this post: Do you guys mind commenting on the health of my fish? I have 3 bettas in the divided 10G tank, a pink CT, a blue-green DT, and the dark-blue VT

I think the first thing I'll do is to use my water testing kit, look @ results, and do a big water change too!

I feed my fish 2-3x a day, betta bio-gold pellets (a total of 5 pellets/day), and a bit of boiled pea once a week: They all get about 3.33333333333 gallons to swim around in, in a 10g divided tank~ The water is changed twice a week, about 2gallons the first time, and 80% W/C the next time (usually after they've been fed peas) They're in a heated/filtered tank..

Ponyo (dark-blue VT male)
http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy131/Cyphus84/IMG_0059.jpg
http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy131/Cyphus84/IMG_0048.jpg
http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy131/Cyphus84/IMG_0049.jpg
http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy131/Cyphus84/IMG_0050.jpg
http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy131/Cyphus84/IMG_0057.jpg

Green Giant (blue-green DT male)
http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy131/Cyphus84/IMG_0051.jpg
http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy131/Cyphus84/IMG_0052.jpg

Pinky (pink CT male)
http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy131/Cyphus84/IMG_0054.jpg
http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy131/Cyphus84/IMG_0055.jpg

I forgot to add! All fish are behaving normally, full of energy, always swimming around and begging for food!
 
what are your stats?
pinholes are first sign of bacterial finrot and generally not from water quality. your combo of maracyn I and II is prefect-treat the whole tank. dont quarantine. each fish should get the same treatment if in a shared tank. tbh all of their fins seem to be effected. hopefully will sort it out.
also your kind of overfeeding. they dont need 5 pellets a day. their stomach is only as big as their eyeball. so more like 2-3 a day is better.
what does their poo look like? reason being the red guy looks a little skinny in his body condition unless he is very young.
straight away do big waterchange. and every day smaller ones until you add the meds. smaller waterchanges daily and then redose.
let us know how they get one if you dont mind. and big help with the pictures. as they say, a picture says a thousand words :)
cheers!
 
0_0 Thanks for the quick reply!!!!!!!!

I didn't realize that I had to do more for the DT betta! (the one w/ pinholes in his fin) I had read before that cleaner water would make them close up.. I guess I was wrong. @__@

I tested the tank water, everything was ok except for Ammonia...... it was over 0 ppm, so most definitely not acceptable water conditions. I don't know why though~ like I said, I'm quite thorough about water changese, and obsess over removing any poop I see. In fact... I removed the gravel, just so I could see their poop easier...... lol. xD

Just to be safe, I swished each part of the filter's media in old tank water, and replace the sponge piece~

I do have a couple questions though:

Will Maracyn 1 & 2 kill their java fern?

If I treated the whole tank, how often should I be doing water changes?

After using those meds, do I have to clean/replace all of the filter media?

Should I be treating them with Aquarium salt, along w/ the Maracyn 1 & 2? (I know I'd have to remove the plants first though! xD)

As for the pink guy: Actually.. for him, I only fed him 2-3 pellets/day, beyond that amt, he always looks incredibly bloated........... (his stomach always looked fatter than the other bettas' stomaches) I am not quite sure what is wrong with him, he has ALWAYS looked that skinny since I got him from the petstore.

On normal days, their poo is dark brown, like a big dark brown ball w/ a little tail..... sometimes I have noticed lighter brown stringy poo tho o.0 (I hope that isnt a sign that they have internal parasites!) I havent been payin closer attn to see which betta emitted these though! If it were internal parasites, can it be contagious??

Thanks!!! I will make sure to feed them less!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! thx for the advice :)
 
glad you posted your stats, sort of.
now that we know ammonia is off here is my suggestion:
do a big waterchange (upwards of 50%). retest stats one hour later. if still above 0 do another one. retest in an hour. once ammonia is at zero, do smaller changes everyday testing for ammonia. keep it as close to zero as possible.
you are correct in assuming that clean water generally heals fin issues-90% of the time. so give them a week with nothing but waterchanges and see if you notice improvement in the condition of fins. if so, no need to medicate, just stay on top of testing and changing water often.
if you need to medicate the java fern AND the filter bacteria should be fine with those meds.
stringy poo is never a good sign. however can also be from constipation. watch for mucousy and or white poo with inflamed anus. then id say yes-internal parasites. was the red guy the first one to get the fin issues? just a thought. and yes again, internal parasites are contagious (can be) so watch the others for stringy poo, inflamed or red anus or getting skinny or bloated.
good luck. give the watrchange regime a try before the meds. see how they look in a week. if they go rapidly downhill, meds right away.
cheers!
 

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