My First Betta, Tail Regrowth Question

[CherryDanio]

Hi all. Thanks to the help from all you wonderful forum folk my Betta tank is cycled (finally after adding more old media). I was in a shop yesterday and had vowed not to buy a Betta from there as they had them in with all sorts of nippy little fish. Sods law though... I walked past a tank and a little tinker swims right up to the front and starts flaring at me! He is gorgeous!!! His body is iridescent blue (almost a pewter colour) and his tail (VT) is yellow. So different from the reds and blues you normally get here. I have called him Zeus I will get pics ASAP.

Problem is the poor little guys tail has been half eaten off. Probably by the danios that were in with him I couldn't bear leaving him there, he kept following me round the tank! I know it will grow back given time but is there anything I can do to help? Any meds like melafix? Though before I add that I have done a bit of reading and some people don't reccomend it for Bettas. What about a high protein diet like bloodworm?

He is such a little charmer. Shows no fear! If you are in the room he wants to know what you are doing and if you put your finger in the tank he just swims right up and starts chewing hehe. I Heart My Betta!

Apologies for the bad pics. I will try and get more tonight when it's dark and he might have slowed down abit haha... They don't really do his blue colouring any justice. He is more a metalic sky blue.

 

[LauraFrog]

LOL - they are such characters!
Pure bloodworm isn't going to do him any good, it's great as a supplement but not as the only thing he's fed. It's a good idea to base the diet on a quality pellet (I use Hikari Betta Bio-gold, a lot of people also use Attison's Betta Pro). Then feed bloodworms two or three times a week as a treat.

I have used melafix with bettas without any problem and it does seem to heal them very fast, the other thing that works is stress coat with aloe vera. If you use melafix, only use a 3/4 dose. A bit of salt (1 teaspoon/gallon) would also help but I don't know that I'd be puttying salt in a newly cycled tank, probably melafix is a better choice.

 

[Morphkid03]

Congrats on the new Betta! He sounds lovely. Definitely get some pictures!

When Oliver got fin rot and lost a fair portion (I'd say 1/4th or more) of his tail and his dorsal fins, I separated him into a heated 1 gallon bowl.. For a week I did water changes every day and added aquarium salt (I'm a college student, had no money for meds at the time).. He did not improve, the rot stopped but he was lethargic and sickly, had no appetite whatsoever. I then picked up some Melafix and treated him for 3 weeks, with a daily water change and about half a cap full (an extremely small amount, probably half a teaspoon MAX). This got his fins growing and once he got his appetite I put him back in the community tank where the finnage continued to grow.

The reason I tell you this is that though Melafix has had mixed reviews, I want to tell you a positive outcome of using the product.. I honestly don't think Oliver would have survived without it. Of course other members also will have great suggestions on meds/treatments, I'm sure.

 

[CherryDanio]

It's probably just over 1/2 his tail thats gone though the rest of his fins are mostly intact. I do have some melafix knocking about so I think I will try small doses of that. Oh and I've stocked up on Hikari gold pellets as well. I am hoping it's not fin rot but I'l get some pics up by the end of the day and hopefully someone can confirm it for me.

 

[mfcclc]

Ive recently treated my vt for finrot and i used melafix, his tail is growing back nicely. Can't wait to see yours, he sounds beautiful! Good luck x

 

[CherryDanio]

Just put a 1/4 dose of melafix in and he doesn't seem to be reating to it thankfully as I have heard a few horor stories. Good to know you guys have had success with it I'm hoping fin rot hasn't set in as there is darker edging to some of the frayed bits... not sure if that is just his colouring though. Hopefully better pics will follow tonight.

 

[Honeythorn]

Melafix is perfectly fine as long as you don't over dose it. 1/2 dose is fine for bettas, and just follow the instructions on the bottle as normal apart from that. He's very pretty from what I can see in the pics. Congratulations on nabbing him

 

[CherryDanio]

Thanks Honeythorn

little better methinks. Any thoughts?

 

[lilfishie]

he is a stunning colour, going to look great when his tail grows back

 

[Honeythorn]

Aww! He's great. He'll look even better when he's grown all the finnage back. It may not grow back perfect, but that won't matter.

 

[CherryDanio]

Already we have translucent ends to the damaged bits which according to the great god google means they are beginning to regrow! One more quick question though. The melafix bottle says for fin damage to treat for 7 days then do a 25% water change and continue treating if needed. I've been doing small water changes daily as I have also read that totally pristine water was needed for fin regrowth and dosing very small amounts as advised. How long should I keep dosing for though? If by the end of the 7 days we can rule out finrot should I stop or continue untill everything looks completely healed? Thans in advance

 

[Anna Robinson]

If you have ruled out finrot, then you could stop the Melafix if you want to. You could switch to Stress Coat instead if you preferred.

Mars (API) spent 6 years developing Melafix: there are no known adverse effects. People have occasionally reported problems, but when Mars run tests to look into it, there is never any evidence.