First Time Filter Help!

[Mugen]

Hey there I'm a long-time lurker, first time poster.

Not to long ago I got a beautiful little halfmoon betta from my boyfriend as a gift. Unfortunately, my Flapjack (Flappy for short) can't live in the dorm with me so he stays with my boyfriend.

As soon as we got him, Flappy was having serious fin-rot issues. We took him to a specialist in town who said that the PH was too high and the bacteria levels in his tank were out of whack (mostly ammonia and nitrate levels). Flappy lives in a 2.5gal with medium grain sand and silk plants.

We were given PH down, special blend bacteria starter, and a new little filter (mignon Filter 60?). I also picked up some Bettafix. After about a couple weeks of continued use, his fins were looking super good. A round of Bettafix managed to kill off the infection completely. However, here is my issue: I stayed with my boyfriend for a few days and this morning when I woke up, a huge chunk of Flappy's fin was just GONE! It looked like it had been torn out.. the ends were all bloody and everything. I'm concerned that maybe his bout with fin rot and all the medication has made his fins susceptible to getting caught in the filter?? Both my boyfriend and I have kept a close eye on him and he hasn't had trouble with it before. He's a strong swimmer and usually hangs out behind a large silk plant if he gets tired or just wants to sit.

I turned down the flow for the filter a little bit and added a dose of Bettafix. I also vacuumed the tank with a turkey baster and replaced the evaporated water with aged water that had been pre-prepared. The last thing I did was put a smooth decorative rock near the intake valve of the filter so as to block Flappy from getting too close.

Has anyone else had this problem? I am worried because I can't be there all the time to look after him. The filter has helped his fin rot so much I'm scared of messing up the balance in the tank if I take it out.

 

[bronzecat]

Hi

Keep the water nice and clean and treat as you did before Check the tank for anything that he may catch his fins on too. Keep an eye on the stats, i.e. ammonia, nitrItes. Once he has healed, keep up weekly 25% water changes

Ref the ph, what was your ph reading before using the ph down? I ask because bettas are pretty tollerant to ph. Ours are at 6.8ish, but know others who keep theirs at 8. Far worse are sudden changes of ph, which cause ph shock and sometimes death. Did you get the betta from the same place that told you to lower the ph? If so, thats a bit confusing.

 

[Honeythorn]

If you're worried he got his fin sucked into the intake of the filter, you can ziptie some fine plastic mesh or a cut off section from a pair of tights over the intake. From the way you describe how his fin was so damaged I'd say he got it sucked in. Just catching them on something shouldn't cause damage like that. Either that or swap his current filter for a sponge filter, which has no intake to suck fins into. They are safe for tiny fry so they are perfectly fine and safe for bettas.

Things like fin rot are often caused by water quality, getting a bigger tank will help that ( and him as 2.5 gals is too small, 5 gals is best as a minimum ) A bigger tank , and the obvious greater amount of water, will help to dilute his waste . Waste builds up very quickly in small tanks, even with only 1 fish, and if you got the filter less than month ago then it will still be cycling and developing the colony of waste eating bacteria that live on the sponges inside.

A bigger tank, his medicine, weekly water changes and some mesh over the filter to stop his fins being sucked in is the best thing for him.

Also, Using chemicals to try and change PH is pretty useless, as when you do water changes it goes right back to where it was before. If you keep adding stuff to change it, it will stress him out, as fish of all kinds greatly dislike big swings in PH. Unless your tapwater is in the real extremes of PH like.. 4 or 9 or something , then you really don't need to add anything to change it. Most basic tropical fish including bettas can deal with the PH of ordinary tap water just fine.

 

[Devorax]

No offence meant Honeythorn but I'm in disagreement with you on the filter being the sole cause of the damaged tail. It's my understanding that all internal filters run on the basic same design, that is there is the outer case, the water goes in at the bottom and out the top, with a sponge first then the motor housing with impellor. A sponge wouldn't tear a chunk out of the tail, and there would be no sharp edges to get caught on.
Personally I wouldn't rule out the chances of tail biting. It's more likely though that he caught himself on something else in the tank. Also, some filters are able to mature/stabilise in a month, especially if a good quallity filterstarting product is used.

EDIT Another thing, not aimed at anyone in particular, but I am getting really fed up with people almost demanding a 5G minimum tank for a single betta. They do well in 3G, so whilst yes the comments about larger water volumes=steadier water chemistry, that really only applies if the filter is unstable/crashed etc.

 

[Mugen]

Hi

Keep the water nice and clean and treat as you did before Check the tank for anything that he may catch his fins on too. Keep an eye on the stats, i.e. ammonia, nitrItes. Once he has healed, keep up weekly 25% water changes

Ref the ph, what was your ph reading before using the ph down? I ask because bettas are pretty tollerant to ph. Ours are at 6.8ish, but know others who keep theirs at 8. Far worse are sudden changes of ph, which cause ph shock and sometimes death. Did you get the betta from the same place that told you to lower the ph? If so, thats a bit confusing.

Ok so I just tested his ph nitrites and ammonia. Nitrites and ammonia were down at zero. Ph was about 7.6 which I was told by My lfs was really bad? I got him from a different place than where I am getting advice.. We have always cleaned his tank once a week... Only diference is when I first got him I was changing 100%! Now I
K ow better

 

[Mugen]

Also I forgot to mention I have had him for about 4 months. he's been over his finrot for about 2 weeks... He got finrot like a month ago.