Fused tail

[dylema]

one of my females has developed a strange defect . her tail apperars to have split and then formed two thicker strands rather than the fan shape she had before. Her tail now reminds me of a snakes tounge if that helps the description. she is still eating but is not swimming around as much as before. otherwise she looks ok no marks or sores that I can see. any ideas what this could be? I have never seen or read anything like this before. Thanks in advance.

 

[JoLtNbolt]

This kind of happened to a crowntail male that was damaged during shipping from california to washington dc. Not sure if the tail will heal or what will happen.

 

[Synirr]

It happens sometimes... my El Shaddai's tail has done something like that. The tail gets split and then the two sides just heal up separately rather than fusing back together. It's kinda like if you get a wide cut somewhere and don't wear a butterfly bandage to hold the skin together... your skin won't fuse back together correctly and you'll end up with a larger scar than you would normally.

 

[SPLiSH]

If she's with other bettas she might have got in a bit of a catfight or have torn her tail on plastic plants or ornaments. There's not much you can do other than keep her in clean warm water and hopefully she'll mend up. As for her not swimming as much, she might just be getting used to being a doubletail.

Hope she mends soon.