Sakana again!

[flautist]

I don't know what is going on with him! It's getting so frustrating... it makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong... I know I'm not, because I have three other healthy fish, two of which are in the same freckin tank. (Yes, with dividers, of course.) But I just can't shake the feeling that I'm being a bad betta mommy...

He was doing SOOO well... he was even getting some new growth on his tail! He loved his new home, playing in the flow of the filter, flairing at Diamond every once in a while, his color was back, he was eating again without getting constipated......

Today I come back from class, and his anal fin is in shreds. It looks like the bottom 1/4 inch went through a paper shredder, and there's one BIG split right up the middle, all the way up to his body. His head has taken on that marble appearance again, and his body has lost almost all color. Other than that, he is eating, he is active, there are no white spots to be found, no gold dust....

WHAT IS GOING ON?!?

 

[Kiarra]

Could he have gotten sucked up at all by the filter?

 

[BettaMomma]

I'm sorry for your frustrations
My Archie has chronic shredded tail too. It always seems to come back just when you are feeling good about him being on the path to a long flowing beautiful tail and perfect health. Aaaah!

What size tank are they all in again? Are you sure that he is okay with the filter being in with him? Might it be that he just hates it and he bites his tail in frustration from the filter?

Frustrating!!

 

[flautist]

I'm sorry for your frustrations
My Archie has chronic shredded tail too. It always seems to come back just when you are feeling good about him being on the path to a long flowing beautiful tail and perfect health. Aaaah!

What size tank are they all in again? Are you sure that he is okay with the filter being in with him? Might it be that he just hates it and he bites his tail in frustration from the filter?

Frustrating!!

Well, this time it's not his tail: It's his anal fin.

I have been thinking of the possibility of him getting caught up in the filter... I'm going to put some pantyhose over it when I get home. (I'm leaving college for the summer to go home tomorrow... 4 hour trip...I hope Sakana makes it okay. )

I know he loves that filter... he plays in it all the time. He literally sits right in the flow. He swims around the air intake valve, then uses the flow of the filter like a water slide! It's so cute to watch!

Could it be that he is just sensitive to the tank cycling? It was unfiltered, but water changes on a 10 gallon unfiltered tank were getting to be WAY too much, so I put in a filter. I've been reading up on cycling, and I think that my tank may be cycling, because I have noticed a lot of algea. I'm going to get a test kit today at petco, along with some more ammo lock and some meds for columnaris (just in case, since my home town doesn't have a pet store).

And to answer your question, BettaMomma, it is a ten gallon tank divided between three bettas, filtered and heated. Both of the other bettas are perfectly fine.

 

[abstract]

if he can see the neighboring betta(s) he is most likely shredding it by swimming around and flaring constantly! opaqe/transluscent dividers would work better

 

[flautist]

if he can see the neighboring betta(s) he is most likely shredding it by swimming around and flaring constantly! opaqe/transluscent dividers would work better

but that's just it: He's not flairing constantly. He only flares at him every once in a while.

 

[abstract]

if he can see the neighboring betta(s) he is most likely shredding it by swimming around and flaring constantly! opaqe/transluscent dividers would work better

but that's just it: He's not flairing constantly. He only flares at him every once in a while.

unless you are sitting there watchin him all day, you most likely miss a lot of it - bettas usually act quite different when the hand that feeds them is not around

 

[flautist]

Could high PH have anything to do with all this? It's at 8.4... at least, that's the highest my test strips go, but the color is a perfect match.

Wierd thing is, the other three fish are okay in the higher PH... but could it be that Sakana is sensitive to it?

The test kit I got does not test for ammonia, but that should be okay, because I use ammolock for my dechlorinator, so the ammonia should be detoxified. Everything else tested out perfecly. Nitrate and Nitrite were both 0, and hardness of the water tested in the moderate range. (120)

 

[BettaMomma]

Yep, it could also possibly be from the cycling.
Archie has been doing thru a bit of that and I think there have been some minor spikes in their tank. He also gets REALLY REALLY stressed out when I do any gravel vacuums and usually the next day I can almost guarantee that his tail will be missing some parts.

 

[flautist]

Should I try some of that stuff that lowers the PH? (Gradually, of course. )