Help, Fin Biter!

[afireinside]

Ok, appearently my new betta, Shadow is a real fin biter. I'm using melafix, what else should I do?
I'm serious, you can hardly tell he's a DT anymore

 

[Ethos]

Joking...

 

[afireinside]

what does that have to do anything with my betta biting his fin?!

 

[love cichlids]

Hope someone has advise for you, I have never dealt with this problem before. I have heard of it but don't know what you can do to stop it. What size of tank is your betta in, any decorations, how often do you do water changes. How long have you had the betta.

 

[flautist]

Sometimes they do it out of boredome and/or stress, and sometimes they just do it because their fins are too big and heavy for them. How big is his tank? How is the water quality? Does he have any tank mates? Does he have plenty of plants and places to hide and swim through?

 

[Never2ManyBettas]

Ditto what flautist said.... card him and put him some place quiet.... give him a hiding place if he does not already have one.

Throw IAL in with him too. Keep the water really clean and depending how he trimmed himself... it may have a chance of healing back nice. I got several imports that reshaped their tails in transit. Stress is a big reason for it..... but many do heal back up really well.

 

[afireinside]

Well, he's in a 10 gallon, loaded with silk plants. He has two caves. He has no tank mates. pH: 6 ammonia: .25 nitrite:0 nitrate: dunno

 

[catxx]

your ammonia should be at 0. any higher you're risking your bettas life.
ph of 6 is low too, but i think a betta may be able to cope with that?

i have a tail biter. he's calmed down doing it lately though.
he's a naturally edgy betta anyway, quite small very big fins, very wiggly
couldn't keep him with tank mates because he'd attack them
(he's boo, the yellow one in my sig, you can see where he's chomped on his tail)

it's just their personality.

 

[ron1]

Ditto what flautist said.... card him and put him some place quiet.... give him a hiding place if he does not already have one.

Throw IAL in with him too. Keep the water really clean and depending how he trimmed himself... it may have a chance of healing back nice. I got several imports that reshaped their tails in transit. Stress is a big reason for it..... but many do heal back up really well.

what is IAL? AND WAS DOES 'CARD HIM' MEAN---SORRY,BUT IF YOU DON'T ASK THEN YOU WILL NEVER KNOW sorry just realised I still had caps lock on )

 

[flautist]

Well, he's in a 10 gallon, loaded with silk plants. He has two caves. He has no tank mates. pH: 6 ammonia: .25 nitrite:0 nitrate: dunno

It could be that the ammonia is bothering him. Is the tank filtered? How often do you do water changes? Is it heated?

It doesn't sound like boredom or heaviness... it sounds as if he has plenty of places to rest his fins and plenty of room to swim around in and plenty of hiding places. That leaves water conditions. If I had to guess, I would say it's the ammonia. Make sure you have a filter in your tank that has a chemical filter. Do a 100% WC, and use AmmoLock for your water conditioner. It neutralizes ammonia and makes it non-toxic. As for the PH, I'm not sure. I know they can go slightly higher than 7, but I don't know about lower, and 6 is quite a bit lower. Someone else will have to answer the PH problem.

 

[love cichlids]

Don't think he should do 100% water change on a tank that should be cycled or cycling UNLESS there is no filter on the tank then do complete water change. Do 50% everyday or every other day in your 10 gallon to make sure you control the ammonia level. Test the water after every water change to make sure the ammonia has lowered. Is there a filter on it, if not get one right away or use one from another tank.

 

[afireinside]

Yes, it is heated. 78 degrees. I'l do more water changes.

 

[Never2ManyBettas]

If you haven't actually witnessed him biting his tail... with ammonia that high it sounds like his fins are getting burned off.

Cripes....no wonder he is stressed! Grab something from an established tank to seed the new tank with good bacteria and speed up that cycling process. Ammonia burns can take a few days to show up... in light colored fish it is seen as the fins turn pink. Massive damage, chunks of the fins fall off and the gills are really damaged too.

IAL = Indian Almond Leaf

*card him*.... when you have a bunch of jarred bettas... or lined up tanks... you place something between the jars (a card) to block the view.

Indian Almond leaf is a mild anti-bacterial and also seems to be soothing on their gills.

Although they do tend to like *slightly* acidic water..... yours is at 6 for all the wrong reasons.

Definately start with at least a 50% water change and keep testing.

When did you start this tank? Have you cleaned the gravel?

Keep your eyes open because this can easily move into fin rot, various infections, etc.

 

[afireinside]

I have witnessed him biting his fins.