I guess Maui was hungry??...

[splashluff]

OMG! I must be the most un-lucky person ever. I ordered a bunch of Indian Almond Leaves for Maui... he had a very, very tiny tear on his dorsal fin from flaring and I wanted to use the IAL's to help it heal and to calm him. I put in a small piece of IAL right after a water change. Then a few hours later I came back and went to feed and check on him... and his tail is freakin GONE!! ALL of the white on his tail has been bitten off. Just in case it was torn off, I changed the water, removed the IAL, and removed the plant and cave that was in there. But, I'm pretty sure it was bitten and *not* torn, because there were no tail remnants left in the water and this happened within hours. ... here's some before and after pics, just so you all can cry with me!!


BEFORE:::

AFTER:::

I have spent hours reading ALL of the fin-biting threads, and I'm so grateful for these boards right now. I would love any advice as far as what to treat him with, and what conditions to keep him in. Right now, I'm changing his water every other day, keeping his light dim, feeding him only frozen foods, treating with a small amount of Melafix and aquarium salt, and not allowing him to see the female. My biggest question is, will isolating him from view of other Bettas help or hurt him?? On one hand, I would like to keep him calm and not flaring... then on the other hand I dont want him to get too depressed or bored without any sight of other fish. ...

Also, I guess this means spawning is reeeaaally post-poned

 

[Bettabelieveit]

D'OH! is there anything around that could be irritating him? if there is, try to eliminate that. and just some clean water and salt will help with the tail regrowth

 

[BettaMomma]

I feel your pain.
Someone in my house is always chewing their tail off.
I have a crown tail that you'd never even know is a crown tail. Aargh!

You will have to figure out what's bothering him.
There are several things that can cause them to bite.
Temp fluctuations, seeing other fish, NOT seeing other fish, boredom, something outside his tank bugging him, something INSIDE his tank bugging him, or maybe being in a high-traffic area?

I have stopped tail-biters before by adding a heater to a tank, by moving the tank from a place where lots of things are going on nearby, etc.

It's my pet peeve with bettas. Maybe he just didn't like the way he felt with the IAL in there? Or maybe the leaf floating around bothered him. Usually IAL has the opposite effect on tail problems, but I'd start eliminating things you think could be bugging him unti you figure out what the problem is.

I would move him somewhere dark, quiet and where he can't see any other fish.
Good luck, it's very frustrating!

 

[flamepony12]

OMGosh! Oh wow... how'd he do that? Good luck...

 

[splashluff]

thanks a lot BettaMomma!! I read your other post about tail biting, and it was very informative. I'll definitely try to keep him calm and quiet.... I *really* want to get him a 2.5g-3g now, I think he'd be much happier with more space and stuff to explore.

Devon, I knoooow. I'm SO bummed right now! I'm 99% sure he bit his tail because he was stressed by the piece of IAL I put in there that day. It was kindof a large piece, he could've felt threatened by it... he hasn't seemed to bite again since then. >_< hopefully he will be healed and healthy by August!! ugghhhh. I hope my little guy is ok.....

On the other hand, Bonzai is awesome and I added a small piece of IAL into his tank. He's working on a really huge bubblenest