Great, now Koko is biting his tail off AGAIN!!

[koko]

I've been treating him for finrot for a few weeks now (with Bettafix) and after losing a chunk of his tail, it was been growing back quite rapidly. Then I leave for a weekend and come back to see him with black tips on his tailfin and now it has spread to the lower fin as well (I changed the water before I left).

His tailfin is now bitten down to half and the lower fin is shredded. Just caught him biting and chasing his tail like he's insane.

Other than the tail chewing and deterioration, he seems fine, eats well, flares once in a while, swims around with his fins spread out, but no bubble nests.

I'm at my wit's end. Dunno what's wrong with him! I've been doing 100% water changes.

Any help is appreciated!! - Kari.

 

[BettaMomma]

I went thru the same thing with amos.
He was severely stressed out because I moved him to a tank with way too much current.

Have you given him a new environment recently?
How big is his tank?

 

[nashnutny]

I found that each time I cleaned the tank and rearranged the plants and whatever else was in the tank he'd go thru a tail biting binge. When I realized what was going on, I made sure everything was back in the same spots when I cleaned the tank and that helped. Didn't stop it, but it helped.

 

[BettaMomma]

I think they also do it when they're bored, from what I've read.

 

[SMSBrunetteGirl]

Mmmm..so they do it when they`re bored or feel insecure?

 

[koko]

Thank you for your replies. I haven't moved him into a new container - just added a small plastic plant (which I've now removed). Just a minute ago I caught him in the act of chasing his tail and taking a bite out of it!

I don't know what to do, other than to keep his water clean. I've been changing the water everyday now, and today when I changed it I saw a lot of black bits in the rocks at the bottom (I'm assuming it's from the torn off fins). It seems like a lot for over night.

The only thing I could think of that changed was that I asked a friend to take care of him for me while I left for the weekend and all he did was feed him a few pellets a day.

I wonder if he'll keep biting until all of his tail fin is gone?! - K.