Fin rot seemingly returning immediately after salt treatment, help!

[alli789]

So my betta has had moderate fin rot for roughly a month now. I just finished Colin's recommended salt treatment: 2 weeks of treatment with aquarium salt, followed by one week of daily 10% water changes and then one week of daily 20% water changes to filter out the salt. Monday was the very last 20% water change to get the salt out. I've been cleaning the filter media when needed, wiping the glass, and gravel vacuuming thoroughly. (Honestly can't even find spots in the substrate with a lot of waste.) Everything has been kept very clean without crashing my cycle. (Tested parameters just a few days ago when the treatment concluded.) Throughout the treatment, his fins didn't get worse and I even saw a tiny bit of new growth. On Tuesday, I noticed that my betta has a large split in his lower tail that I don't believe was there before. The new fin I noticed growing also appears to be gone and frayed. He still has dark edges on his fin around the tears and splits that appear more prominent. (I know this can be a sign of fin rot. He's always had slightly darker edges but these seem like more than just his color.) I'm honestly so discouraged and I don't know what to do to help him. He seems very happy and active still but I don't want to feel helpless while his fins just get worse and worse.

Currently I have two indian almond leaves in there to hopefully slow any rot down. I'd appreciate any recommendations on what to do next.

I did have concerns that my filter is too strong, could the new split be a coincidence and have come from the flow? I added more sponge to slow it down in the meantime.

Tank stats:
10 gallons, heated around 79-80 degrees, HOB filtered, fully cycled
Silk plants, 3 moss balls, and newly added red root floaters
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: between 10-20 (reason it's so high even after daily water changes is due to high tap nitrates, which I dilute with a blend of distilled water and tap. To my knowledge, my tank never goes above 20 ppm nitrates. It usually remains constant at 10-20.)
No tank mates, just one male betta
I've only had him since September. He doesn't seem to be old or anything. I don't notice signs of other health problems.

Photos attached of his tail as of Monday. Looks about the same right now. On one photo I've tried to outline the tears because they're a little hard to see, especially the new one hidden behind his anal fin. I only see rot on his tail fin, his other fins look totally fine.

 

[Sgooosh]

So my betta has had moderate fin rot for roughly a month now. I just finished Colin's recommended salt treatment: 2 weeks of treatment with aquarium salt, followed by one week of daily 10% water changes and then one week of daily 20% water changes to filter out the salt. Monday was the very last 20% water change to get the salt out. I've been cleaning the filter media when needed, wiping the glass, and gravel vacuuming thoroughly. (Honestly can't even find spots in the substrate with a lot of waste.) Everything has been kept very clean without crashing my cycle. (Tested parameters just a few days ago when the treatment concluded.) Throughout the treatment, his fins didn't get worse and I even saw a tiny bit of new growth. On Tuesday, I noticed that my betta has a large split in his lower tail that I don't believe was there before. The new fin I noticed growing also appears to be gone and frayed. He still has dark edges on his fin around the tears and splits that appear more prominent. (I know this can be a sign of fin rot. He's always had slightly darker edges but these seem like more than just his color.) I'm honestly so discouraged and I don't know what to do to help him. He seems very happy and active still but I don't want to feel helpless while his fins just get worse and worse.

Currently I have two indian almond leaves in there to hopefully slow any rot down. I'd appreciate any recommendations on what to do next.

I did have concerns that my filter is too strong, could the new split be a coincidence and have come from the flow? I added more sponge to slow it down in the meantime.

Tank stats:
10 gallons, heated around 79-80 degrees, HOB filtered, fully cycled
Silk plants, 3 moss balls, and newly added red root floaters
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: between 10-20 (reason it's so high even after daily water changes is due to high tap nitrates, which I dilute with a blend of distilled water and tap. To my knowledge, my tank never goes above 20 ppm nitrates. It usually remains constant at 10-20.)
No tank mates, just one male betta
I've only had him since September. He doesn't seem to be old or anything. I don't notice signs of other health problems.

Photos attached of his tail as of Monday. Looks about the same right now. On one photo I've tried to outline the tears because they're a little hard to see, especially the new one hidden behind his anal fin. I only see rot on his tail fin, his other fins look totally fine.

maybe move him to another new tank and do the treatment there. make sure the tank is cycled you can do this quickly by putting old filter on new tank

 

[hansgruber7]

Fin rot can be really tough to deal with on bettas. Sometimes it happens despite doing everything right. What plants do you have? Do you have a full tank picture? I could be wrong, but I feel like sometimes boredom and lack of hiding places can stress a betta and lead to fin rot. But that's just an anecdotal observation that may not be true.

 

[xxamyxx85]

I am just wondering about your ph? I have a Betta in a tank with mopani wood and Indian almond leaves and it has lowered the ph, a month or so ago I stupidly did a water change without using and Indian almond leaf extract to bring ph down and overnight he had spilts in his fins. Just a thought, check the ph of new water matches tank water.

To make the extract get a 2L container put one leaf in, pour boiling water over and leave with lid off overnight, in the morning remove leaf and store in fridge, can be kept for a few months (it won’t last that long) use this water to add to new bucket of water change water to adjust ph to match tank.

 

[alli789]

I am just wondering about your ph? I have a Betta in a tank with mopani wood and Indian almond leaves and it has lowered the ph, a month or so ago I stupidly did a water change without using and Indian almond leaf extract to bring ph down and overnight he had spilts in his fins. Just a thought, check the ph of new water matches tank water.

To make the extract get a 2L container put one leaf in, pour boiling water over and leave with lid off overnight, in the morning remove leaf and store in fridge, can be kept for a few months (it won’t last that long) use this water to add to new bucket of water change water to adjust ph to match tank.

Oh hm that's interesting! I have been using almond leaves and during the salt removal I didn't bother changing the leaves out because the daily water changes caused the tannins to be removed so quickly. I suppose that could've been the problem! I have very high kh in my tap water but since I blend with distilled water the pH could've changed. I don't notice the dark border on the most recent split so maybe you're onto something and it wasn't from the fin rot.