Neverending fin/tail problems UUGH

[BettaMomma]

2 of my bettas (Amos & Harvey) seem to have never-ending issues with their fins.

Since the day Amos came to live with me, his fins have always been torn, shredded or have pinholes in them. The end of his top fin looks like someone curled it like the curling ribbon you see on top of a birthday present. The other day I came to work and a big ol' chunk of his tail fin was just gone.

The ends of all his fins are sort of curled up and over - not like they normally should be.

This is the same story at home with Harvey, except Harvey's looks more like hmm.....
I guess the only way I can describe it is to say that it looks like when you put elastic in something and the elastic gets stretched out - the ends are kind of white and sort of look gathered - like someone pulled on a thread and it got puckered.

They're otherwise pretty happy healthy guys. They both build endless bubble nests and happily flare at me when I come over to pay them some attention.
They live in 2.5 gallon tanks - I religiously change their water about every 5 days. They always eat every piece of food that gets dropped into their tanks, so there's not ishy food mucking up the water. Their pH is high (8.5), but it has always been so I will not mess with that...

I've tried MelaFix with Harvey @ home for several days - and have seen no visible signs of improvement.

I feel like I'm doing everything right - but what is causing this nonsense?
Uugh

 

[SRC]

I have 2 (Som and Det) that have had tail problems ever since I got sick and wasn't able to change their water for 3 days (I usually do it daily). No one else suffered any ill effects, but these 2, well their tails haven't been the same since.

Det's tail was long (he's a super delta) and Som's tail was medium (he's a regular delta). Som's tail looks like someone melted it...it turned black on the ends and was just all puckered up...Det's tail started splittling and getting gaps in it..some 1/2" long (yeah he has a long tail).

For a month now I have been treating them with salt baths twice a day (morning and night before and after work), put salt, aquarisol, and melafix in their tanks for the rcommended time. Nothing was making a difference.

I finally just went on and cut their tails.

I took a washcloth and wet it down, then took the fish out and put it on the washcloth (I kept my hand over them until they settled down a bit and stopped flopping about (so they didn't end up on the floor)),.

I folded the washcloth in half, then I put a flap of the washcloth over the fish (leaving only the tail exposed) and used my fingers to hold it down on either side (so they couldn't wiggle or flop out from under it, plus it held them still).

Then I took a pair of surgical scissors (they are blunt on the ends and have a flat cutting surface...instead of 2 sharp edges, they only have one..the top half. They are for cutting bandages off)..I'm sure a pair of fabric scissors would work just as good (cas they are more sharp then regular scissor's and have a better blade), and cut the fins off, just above the damaged parts.

(I'll go on and warn you...they know when you do this..they act like it hurts for a second..they'll jump..so be prepared so they don't end up on the floor)

Then I took a Q-tip and dipped it in peroxide and dabbed it on the ends of the fins (cas they were bleeding) and let it sit for a few seconds.

(during this time I used a plastic spoon to put some water on the fish..to keep it happier)

Then I put the net over the fish (still on the washcloth) and eased them back in the net, and used the left over salt dip water (4 tsp salt to 1 gallon water) to wash the peroxide off.

(being sure to angle the fish head up and tail down so the peroxide didn't get anywhere near the gills (that is bad news).

Then I put them back in their tanks...with salt added and some aquarisol for good measure.

So far, they are doing fine. They were a little miffed at me for a few minutes, but after I broke out some frozen bloodworms, they were my little buddies again lol. (funny how food works on all species of males )

They don't have much tail left, but I figure that's better then letting the fin rot continue to eat away at their tails, and it make it up to their body...after that happens...they're usually a goner.

 

[BettaMomma]

crap, man I could NEEEEVER cut any of their tails off, never - even if they were rotting.

Wow, that has to hurt them, doesn't it

My guys' tails aren't rotting away - they don't have any black stuff on them or anything - they're just kinda ripped and/or frayed. They never really get any worse, and on Amos' tail I can see some regrowth starting where he lost that hunk.

 

[RandomWiktor]

Doesn't mattered if they are blackened or not; if they have clear spots, holes, or look like ribbons, they have a type of fin rot. If they are already recovering on their own, I'd just increase the frequency of water change to keep it from getting a bacterial edge to it. But, if they get worse, I usually use Maracyn-2 for two consecutive treatments (not 2 days, two treatments), keeping the temp elevated and feeding lots of rich live and frozen foods. Considering that Tiny Tim literally had cheesecloth nubs for all of his fins when I got him, I think it has worked wonders ^^

 

[BettaMomma]

Yeah...
I know that just cuz they don't have the black stuff doesn't mean they're a-ok, but I just said that i couldn't cut their tails off even if the problem got so BAD that their tails were turning black.

I know they've got some sort of beginning stages of fin rot, but it just never gets better or worse.

I have both maracyn and maracyn two on hand (Amos had a case of popeye, my bleeding heart tetras (RIP) were very ill, etc. etc.)... but anyway - I had hoped with really clean water and melafix this stuff would go away. It never seems to get worse, just stays the same.

I'll try doing water changes every couple of days and see if that helps.

Thanks!

 

[SRC]

So, if cutting the dead, infected part of their tail off...to save their lives was upon you...you couldn't do it?


Because if the fin rot gets too close to their body and into their spines...it's pretty serious. My guys tails were getting close to the no-return point, even after treating them for a month. It had to be done.

My son is sick, and he needed a shot. It hurt him to get it and he cried, but I had them give it to him anyways...he's much better now though, and didn't have to go thru a week or more worth of taking medicine 2-3 times a day..he was better in less then 3 days after the shot.

You'd ever knwo I did it to these two now, well except for the shorty-do tails they're sporting lol.

 

[BettaMomma]

Honestly I don't think I could do it.

Really, I'm such a paranoid fishy momma that I don't know that their rot would ever get to that point.

If it did, I guess I'd have to reconsider, but I honestly don't know that i could cut part of a tail off

 

[BettaMomma]

Okay, folks.
I need some help here.
Since I started this thread, I got a 3rd betta (Archie).

He's got the black stuff on the ends of his fins, particular on his feelers (yeah, laugh -that's all I know them by). SO... upon the advice of my lfs, I've been dosing both he and Harvey with BettaFix for the past 5 days.

Harvey's (The original fish this post was about) fins seem like they're getting a bit better - and healing a little. I still have yet to see any black on his fins, but the "ruffled" look was starting to get to me. (Amos, at work, by the way is growing a new hunk o' tail fin like crazy - and he's currently staring at his new 5 gallon hexy tank being cycled so he can move in)

Archie, on the other hand, has a solid black body. Is it completely crazy of me to think that maybe, possibly (hopefully) there's a chance that the black stuff along his "feelers" is his coloration? He does have some black dots that run along the ridges in his upper fin which looks like normal coloration to me. The ends of his fins have some black on them, though, and they're obviously in pretty rough shape (rescued him from PetWorld for that reason)- in fact, we sometimes refer to him as the "Grim Reaper" cuz the ends of his fins sometimes look like the black floating cloak....

ANYWHO- I'm wondering at what point to bail on the BettaFix with him and start dosing him up with something stronger. And, how often to do water changes? He's in a 2 gallon hex tank w/air stone & undergravel filter. 78 degrees.

 

[cation]

What do you mean by "black stuff"? What's the texture? Does it just look like fin? Why does it worry you? (I'm not saying you shouldn't be concerned - but describe the symptoms that are making you concerned )

And they're ventral fins. Or just "ventrals" for short.

 

[BettaMomma]

Well...
on the ventrals, starting at his body and running down both sides of each ventral, it looks like someone took a black sharpie marker and drew along both edges.

Here's his picture:

I know it's hard to tell from the photos, but his body is actually black - the flash must have picked up some blue in him. Anyway, I don't know if you can see the black stuff on his feelers or not.

You are beginning to think I'm a paranoid mom, aren't ya?

Also, in the first picture you can slightly see the black stuff(what i'm suspecting to be finrot) at the ends of his middle tail section - these photos make him look so much brighter and the fins look so much better than the look in person...

 

[cation]

I think you may be overworried. In a dark fish like that, sometimes there is a black or a deep purple/red/blue coloration , especially in ventrals. He looks healthy to me. I can see the black bit on his tail you're talking about, that may be just a touch of fin rot starting. If you really want to nip this thing in the bud for all your fish, I would stop using BettaFix (a general tonic/preventative more then a medicine), and get an antibiotic (BettaMax if you can find it, if not, I'd use tetracycline).

 

[BettaMomma]

Okay, that makes me feel better.
He seems to be perfectly happy and healthy so I guess I'll pick up some BettaMax and start that tomorrow nite after their water change.

Thanks for all your help

 

[GSD]

i was stupid,my betta died beacause i couldnt cut his tail off! He rotted so far u his tail and i treated him with every med possible and his tail went grey afew days later he died i coludnt do it im sorry

 

[BettaMomma]

I'm sorry to hear that.
I'm afraid that would be the same case with me. It would be like me trying to cut a person's toe off because they had an infected toenail.

My boys' fins aren't really rotting away, per say, they're in the beginning stages I guess - and their good water quality has helped it to not progress very fast at all.

I am going to try some BettaMax and hopefully turn them around and get them all back to health. (I don't think Archie's problem is as bad as I had originally thought - he's got some black markings on him, and his tail is just sort of formed differently than my other 2 guys' tails so he's actually in pretty good shape - so what I thought was a pretty severe case of finrot (I got him because of that) just might not be - he might be a perfectly happy healthy fish except for a teeny tiny bit of finrot on the very ends of his tail).

Harvey has definitely been my problem child. His fins just never seem to do anything different, no matter what I do for him. I've only tried Maracyn Two (I suspected he had dropsy because he was a bit puffy, but wasn't 100% sure) - I bailed on that theory 4 days later because of my lfs's advice. He has now been given BettaFix for 6 days, with not a whole lot of change.

I'm going to start up BettaMax tonight - hopefully that'll get him back to great finnage.

One question about water quality - Amos (at work in another city, so diff water) seems to heal very quickly - like his tail, for instance - a hunk of it fell off one night while I was gone, and within 2 or 3 days he had a nice big ol' hunk of clear fin growing back. He also had issues with rips in his tail, those have now completely healed back up. Harvey, at home, has had rips in his tail too, and they seemed to take way longer to heal, although I go thru the same regime with him. One thing about Harvey, I guess, is that he's not in quite as warm of water as Amos. Amos is always about 78 - 80 degrees. Harvey's temp sort of fluctuates between 73 and 76, depending on the room temp (seasonal). Water temp & source of water - is that the diff here?

 

[Britty685]

Guys my betta has tail rot, fins are fine. It was shredded looking and now it it getting shorter. I have been using BettaFix, proper dosage without the carbon filter for two treatments. It is not getting anybetter. Is there any other medication that is reccomended to be better than bettafix? I am also using aquarium salt as a general tonic.