Betta's tail okay?

[Raechal]

I heard that if a betta has black growing on the end or the edges of their tails it is bad? Both my male and my female have black around the edges of their tailfins. They look perfectly normal, are eating and swimming around fine.

My male had a problem with finrot and he didn't have the black until after he recovered and his tail started to grow back. Is this just their coloring or should I be worried? I bought him with finrot and that was months ago.

 

[BettaMomma]

Yep, black edges is a bad sign.
Get some finrot meds in there pronto - some people say that BettaMax is a good thing - but it's really hard to find. Apparently a lot of places are discontinuing it. Why, I don't know.

Anyway - you could also bring out the big guns, something like Maracyn - but if you've got these kids in with other fish, I'd take them out and med them up separately. Don't wanna subject your other little buddies to meds unnecessarily.

Also, during finrot it's very important to keep the tank sparkly clean and use salt.

 

[Raechal]

Yep, black edges is a bad sign.
Get some finrot meds in there pronto - some people say that BettaMax is a good thing - but it's really hard to find. Apparently a lot of places are discontinuing it. Why, I don't know.

Anyway - you could also bring out the big guns, something like Maracyn - but if you've got these kids in with other fish, I'd take them out and med them up separately. Don't wanna subject your other little buddies to meds unnecessarily.

Also, during finrot it's very important to keep the tank sparkly clean and use salt.

I used to have melafix which cures finrot and I used it before and he was cured. I don't have anymore so I suppose I will run out and get some tonight. The female has black around the edges of her tailfin as well but she didn't have them while she was in the 29 gallon. I don't know how she could have gotten any disease in the 10 gallon? I do 50% water changes everyday and gravel vac everyday. I haven't even measured any nitrates, nitrites, or ammonia in the water at all. Could she just be colored this way?

My male is in the 10 gallon with two ghost shrimp. Do you think the ghost shrimp would be affected by the meds? Should I take them out?

Could this be a result of temp changes at all?

 

[OohFeeshy]

You could always use MelaFake. Search in... Chit Chat I beleive. Its exactly the same thing, but an awful lot cheaper. You could always try BettaFake too.

 

[BettaMomma]

Do you have any pics of your little girl?
Finrot starts up for several reasons - mostly because of poor water quality.

It IS possible that she's colored that way - but you said she didn't have it when she was in the bigger tank, right? My guess would be that she's got finrot starting. It's really common.

Can you test your water?
I would have to say that with the water changing you've got going on there, you might have a sort of mini tank cyclage going on there, especially if you never do a 100% water change.

 

[nashnutny]

Can you put up a photo? Mine has black around his tail but it's part of his coloration. Are the fins healthy looking or torn up?

 

[Raechal]

Well the tank is already cycled because I put the gravel from the 29 gallon that is already cycled into the female betta's 10 gallon. She was being picked on a lot in the community tank so I moved her to her own 10 gallon.

Water params are like this:

am-0
ni-0
na-1

I keep her tank extremely clean so I doubt it has anything to do with bad water quality.

I was thinking it is part of her coloration as she has brightened up a lot since she was put in her own 10 gallon. Her stress lines disappeared and now she is a bright red with a little black in her tail.

The male's fins look kind of tattered at the end but he's always been that way. I treated him for finrot for like a month and his tail just grew back that way I guess. He also has bright purple in his tail as well that just appeared a week or so ago. Could he just be growing new tail finnage with black and purple?

 

[BettaMomma]

I have a hard time with ALL my bettas.
I keep their tanks sparkly clean and they all still have messed up tails. It's not something you're doing wrong necessarily.

And, if you have a red betta, it's entirely possible for the ends of the fins to be black, but without seeing a picture of them I'm not sure.

The color might be coming in because he's getting better from some sort of ailment, or he's less stressed out. If you're seeing colors come in on the tail, that should generally be a good thing - unless it's the black or bloodied edges, which it doesn't sound like that's the case in your little guy.

Post a pic when you can and I"m sure one of us can analyze it for you