Fin rot or fin nipping?

[SABWARNER16]

My halfmoon I brought home last week has been showing some holes and tears on his fins. There’s one new big hole on the top fin. The tank was cycled before I put him in. Ammonia and nitrite have stayed at 0 after testing every day and nitrate has never gone above 10. None of the decor is sharp and the plants are live. If it’s bacterial, he def got it from the cup any thoughts?

 

[Stefan3289]

What are the tank mates? (Even though there shouldn’t any actual “fish.” @essjay is quite passionate on this topic. If you have been keeping up with water changes, and all the levels are 0, then it is probably bacterial if it keeps getting worse. Furan-2 is a great treatment for it, but I’m not sure if they have it in your area and also would need to know the tank mates.

 

[SABWARNER16]

What are the tank mates? (Even though there shouldn’t any actual “fish.” @essjay is quite passionate on this topic. If you have been keeping up with water changes, and all the levels are 0, then it is probably bacterial if it keeps getting worse. Furan-2 is a great treatment for it, but I’m not sure if they have it in your area and also would need to know the tank mates.

Hi! It’s just him right now. It’s a 20 gallon divided tank so another betta will be added on the far end and snails in the middle but right now it’s just him.

 

[LordHappy]

I'm interested in this issue as well. I bought a betta from a breeder and it looked amazing. After 2 months, Angus' fins began to deteriorate. Tankmates were 5 harlequin rasboaras, 2 endlers, 2 dwarf banjo cats, a cory a mess of shrimp and a scarlet badis. Despite emptying the 15gl planted tank of other fish except for a cory, the fins continued to shred. I watched a mess of videos and read a bunch of info. I tried salt at triple the dose (the cory didn't seem harmed), no change in fins. I did almond leaves. The fins got worse. As a desperate measure, put Angus onto a cutting board, dabbed him with 3% hydrogen peroxide, put him in a 5gl bucket, dosed it with Maracyn 2 and did that for a week. I put him back in the tank about 3 weeks ago, but have been busy at work to pay much attention. His tankmates consist of 1 feeder guppy, 2 corys and shrimp. Only 1 thing changed that makes me wonder...I added a pothos. But I had washed its roots and I did put other pothos from that bunch into my other tanks. Anyway, my apologies for the long post, and I look forward to seeing how others respond.

 

[AilyNC]

@PheonixKingZ didn't you write a piece in betta care? Any advice?

 

[SABWARNER16]

I'm interested in this issue as well. I bought a betta from a breeder and it looked amazing. After 2 months, Angus' fins began to deteriorate. Tankmates were 5 harlequin rasboaras, 2 endlers, 2 dwarf banjo cats, a cory a mess of shrimp and a scarlet badis. Despite emptying the 15gl planted tank of other fish except for a cory, the fins continued to shred. I watched a mess of videos and read a bunch of info. I tried salt at triple the dose (the cory didn't seem harmed), no change in fins. I did almond leaves. The fins got worse. As a desperate measure, put Angus onto a cutting board, dabbed him with 3% hydrogen peroxide, put him in a 5gl bucket, dosed it with Maracyn 2 and did that for a week. I put him back in the tank about 3 weeks ago, but have been busy at work to pay much attention. His tankmates consist of 1 feeder guppy, 2 corys and shrimp. Only 1 thing changed that makes me wonder...I added a pothos. But I had washed its roots and I did put other pothos from that bunch into my other tanks. Anyway, my apologies for the long post, and I look forward to seeing how others respond.

Wow, that sounds like a lot of work. You sure do love the little guy. I hope someone can help us out.

 

[Stefan3289]

@SABWARNER16 If there are not other tank mates, it cant be fin nipping. The first thing to always test is water: Next would be to evaluate tank mates, (which are none) and finally usually the last option would be to assume there is an infection. I would say to use Furan-2, it works great for Fin Rot. I see you're from Texas so I believe it should be available there. Only think I would check is if Furan-2 can harm plants as I haven't kept plants.

 

[Stefan3289]

@AilyNC Is there any white fuzzy lines around him? Fin Rot can also be cause by a fungal infection, but bacterial is most common. From what I understood, you used Maracyn 2 and tried a salt treatment but his condition isn't getting better? Could I ask what the water parameters were? First thing to always test is Water.

Also, based off of your first tank set up, if you did disinfect the plant, your betta was most likley stressed out because of the tank mates, would could've lowered his immune system and caused infection. Bettas shouldn't be kept with any other "fish." I believe that cories and shrimp are ok but other than that they would get stressed out. Even if they aren't being territorial, imagine if you were put in a room with people you disliked, it would probably cause you to get angry and stressed.

 

[SABWARNER16]

@SABWARNER16 If there are not other tank mates, it cant be fin nipping. The first thing to always test is water: Next would be to evaluate tank mates, (which are none) and finally usually the last option would be to assume there is an infection. I would say to use Furan-2, it works great for Fin Rot. I see you're from Texas so I believe it should be available there. Only think I would check is if Furan-2 can harm plants as I haven't kept plants.

Thanks! I have a hospital tank with hospital decor and a hospital fake plant I’ll probably grab some tomorrow and get him started. Thanks!

 

[AilyNC]

@AilyNC Is there any white fuzzy lines around him? Fin Rot can also be cause by a fungal infection, but bacterial is most common. From what I understood, you used Maracyn 2 and tried a salt treatment but his condition isn't getting better? Could I ask what the water parameters were? First thing to always test is Water.

Also, based off of your first tank set up, if you did disinfect the plant, your betta was most likley stressed out because of the tank mates, would could've lowered his immune system and caused infection. Bettas shouldn't be kept with any other "fish." I believe that cories and shrimp are ok but other than that they would get stressed out. Even if they aren't being territorial, imagine if you were put in a room with people you disliked, it would probably cause you to get angry and stressed.

Think that's an accidental tag and those questions are for OP @SABWARNER16

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Are there any other fish in the tank right now? Do the holes seem jagged or similarly circular?

Also, are you noticing loss of fin edges?

 

[LordHappy]

Happy day...I apologize to the original poster, @SABWARNER16 , for inserting my own drama into his post.

 

[Stefan3289]

Think that's an accidental tag and those questions are for OP @SABWARNER16

Apologies I meant to tag @LordHappy in that post

 

[AilyNC]

I was like "but I don't have a betta!"...yet

 

[SABWARNER16]

Are there any other fish in the tank right now? Do the holes seem jagged or similarly circular?

Also, are you noticing loss of fin edges?

They seem quite jagged and I’d say more like tearing than loss of fin.