Fin rot only on ventral fins?

[KatieMR]

I have a question for the group. I have recently got a female betta fish, and I've noticed that her ventral fins are very white at the tips and as my roommate says, they "look bony," like the covering is gone. I think it might be fin rot, but she doesn't have any discoloration on any of her other fins that I can tell. She is black, though, so if there's any darkening, it's not visible. I've attached the best picture I have been able to get. Sorry it's not very good, she doesn't pose well. There doesn't seem to be any growths or fuzziness. Her appetite is very good, and she is very active. I have noticed she will sometimes go to the bottom of the tank up against the marimo moss balls and swim back and forth quickly like she can't decide where she wants to go, or thinks she is stuck. Could be hurting herself on the substrate doing that? I'm not sure why she does it, because she is clearly not stuck. I've moved the moss balls away from the side of the tank to see if I can get her to stop doing that.

Tank size: 1.6 (yes, I now know that is not big enough: I promise I am working on getting a bigger tank!)
tank age: I set up the tank 8.5 weeks ago; I did cycle it first, Chadashah has been in it for about 3 weeks.
pH: 7.4
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: Approx. 20
kH/gH: I'm not sure on this; unfortunately my testing kit didn't come with either of these.
tank temp: 78

The tank does have a filter. I have been doing 30%-40% water changes with tank cleanings every Saturday, and checking my water parameters every day or every other day. I had one pretty big ammonia spike after the first cleaning, a smaller one after the second. I did daily water changes of about 30-40 for both of those until they zeroed out (two days max). Other than those, ammonia and nitrite have tested 0. This week, I have done 30% water changes Saturday, Monday, Wednesday, since my nitrates have been a little high.

 

[momsspaghett]

I have a question for the group. I have recently got a female betta fish, and I've noticed that her ventral fins are very white at the tips and as my roommate says, they "look bony," like the covering is gone. I think it might be fin rot, but she doesn't have any discoloration on any of her other fins that I can tell. She is black, though, so if there's any darkening, it's not visible. I've attached the best picture I have been able to get. Sorry it's not very good, she doesn't pose well. There doesn't seem to be any growths or fuzziness. Her appetite is very good, and she is very active. I have noticed she will sometimes go to the bottom of the tank up against the marimo moss balls and swim back and forth quickly like she can't decide where she wants to go, or thinks she is stuck. Could be hurting herself on the substrate doing that? I'm not sure why she does it, because she is clearly not stuck. I've moved the moss balls away from the side of the tank to see if I can get her to stop doing that.

Tank size: 1.6 (yes, I now know that is not big enough: I promise I am working on getting a bigger tank!)
tank age: I set up the tank 8.5 weeks ago; I did cycle it first, Chadashah has been in it for about 3 weeks.
pH: 7.4
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: Approx. 20
kH/gH: I'm not sure on this; unfortunately my testing kit didn't come with either of these.
tank temp: 78

The tank does have a filter. I have been doing 30%-40% water changes with tank cleanings every Saturday, and checking my water parameters every day or every other day. I had one pretty big ammonia spike after the first cleaning, a smaller one after the second. I did daily water changes of about 30-40 for both of those until they zeroed out (two days max). Other than those, ammonia and nitrite have tested 0. This week, I have done 30% water changes Saturday, Monday, Wednesday, since my nitrates have been a little high.

From what I see it's just her coloration you're fine, you're doing a great job!

 

[Colin_T]

I need betta pictures (pun there) to be certain, but I am also going with probably just colouration and nothing to worry about.

Fin rot is caused by poor water quality and a dirty tank. If you do a big water change and gravel clean the substrate every week, and have a healthy functional biological filter on the tank, you should never see fin rot.

If you ever have concerns about your fish's health, the first thing to do is a big water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. That usually fixes most problems and it buys you time to try and find out what is going on (assuming anything is).
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

 

[KatieMR]

I need betta pictures (pun there) to be certain, but I am also going with probably just colouration and nothing to worry about.

Fin rot is caused by poor water quality and a dirty tank. If you do a big water change and gravel clean the substrate every week, and have a healthy functional biological filter on the tank, you should never see fin rot.

If you ever have concerns about your fish's health, the first thing to do is a big water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. That usually fixes most problems and it buys you time to try and find out what is going on (assuming anything is).
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Thanks for the insight! If I can manage to get a "betta picture" I will definitely post it here. I thought it was coloring at first, too, but after looking closer, I'm just not sure, since there is that bony look to it. I'll try the more frequent cleanings and keep monitoring it to make sure it isn't changing.

 

[EllRog]

In a tank that small, balancing the parameters will be very difficult. I'd recommend large waterchanges much more frequently, despite having filtration. I'd aim for 75% waterchanges, with substrate vacuuming, atleast twice a week. Monitor the parameters with a liquid test kit while doing this until you get a more suitable tank. You can find the GH of your water from your water providers website. Numbers for this are needed rather than words ?

 

[KatieMR]

In a tank that small, balancing the parameters will be very difficult. I'd recommend large waterchanges much more frequently, despite having filtration. I'd aim for 75% waterchanges, with substrate vacuuming, atleast twice a week. Monitor the parameters with a liquid test kit while doing this until you get a more suitable tank. You can find the GH of your water from your water providers website. Numbers for this are needed rather than words ?

Thanks for the tips, EllRog! I will take a look at the city's website tonight!