My Hms Always Bite Their Fins

[Rediahs]

I bought 2 HMs awhile ago. One of them bit his fins down so badly that I was advised to use scissors and cut his fins down so that they didn't bother him. But he has begun to do it AGAIN - despite how short his tail is. It's half the length as before, and he's still biting it.

Now the other guy is nipping his own fins. He's not doing it as badly as the other, but he's got little chunks out of the end of his tail.

I am pretty sure it is not fin rot.

I'll take pictures later, I'm at work right now.

I am just... frustrated by this! Why do they do that? Do all HMs do that? How do people maintain their perfect finnage? Heck, even in the LPS they had perfect fins!

Mine aren't kept in very small containers - they are 3.5 gallons each. I feed them twice a day, bloodworms and betta pellets. I change their water once a week, with conditioner and aquarium salt. I don't think they are bored - they each have 3 silk plants (actually one of them is plastic in one of their tanks, but it's soft plastic) and I put a ping pong ball in.

What the heck is going on?!? The only thing I can think of is that my water is bad right out of the tap. I wouldn't be surprised if it's crap, because I live in a shack of a house with probably rusted up pipes. But in 3 weeks I'll be moving to a place in much better condition.

Do HMs do this a lot? It's so frustrating, I can't figure out why they are doing it.

And I have a testing kit, but I think it's messed. It always reports the same stats, no matter if it's week old fish water, fresh from the tap in one location or another.... it always reports extremely hard water, 0 nitrites, 0 nitrates, extremely high pH. No matter if I'm at my place or my parents' place, which is an hour's drive away.

 

[e11cloud]

My first concern would be water quality. I don't recommend strip tests. I prefer the tests that you actually drop water into the little test tubes. They're a little more costly, and a bit more time consuming, but when it comes to the health of your fish, it's well worth the effort. Bad water can eat away fins. And if you're trying to rebuild the fins, then it's even that much more important to know the levels in your water as it will be an important factor in regrowth. Salt, stress coat, and melafix are what I would try. However, a more experienced betta person might want to elaborate...also almond leaf is a wonderful thing for them..you have to find it on the web usually.

Bettas tend to chew their fins when they are stressed or hungry. I've gotten a couple of bettas that have chewed their fins a bit during the trip to my house, but with minimal chewage.

And I have NEVER heard of cutting the fins with scissors. I honestly don't want to comment on that other than to say it doesn't make any sense to me at all. I've not heard that before. Anyone ever heard of this? You're just inviting more chances at infection, if you ask me.

Good luck with your fish...please post updates on how they're doing.

 

[Never2ManyBettas]

Hey Chrissi

Actually.... it sounds like it may be a case of fin rot. Some seem to be very irritated by it and try to remove it themselves. The problem is... that creates fresh entry points for even more diseases to invade.

When you do a water change... how much are you changing out? Are you running filters in the tanks? Do you have gravel in the tank? How often do you clean the gravel?

If you are not cleaning the gravel... water changes are pointless. The debris in the gravel fouls the water in a matter of hours. Decaying matter in the gravel creates ammonia pockets which really is yucky.

To keep hm finnage going..... water changes. Even still with age some blow their tails... or get damage from spawning buddies... but regrowing and maintaining finnage.... it is all about the water.

High ph is not really ideal. Bettas prefer neutral to slightly acidic water. You can age your water in buckets with IAL.... or try adding some distilled water to bring the range down a bit. They can adapt to higher ph... (but if you ever have a spawn to grow out... high ph = very slow growth).

Change the water more often. Give the betta a salt dip. Keep him in a quiet area. Look for discoloration along the edges of his fins. Trisulpha seems to offer better results if you need to medicate him.