Something's wrong with Nitro's tail!

[Kara101584]

Over the past 2 days Nitro's tail has been tearing, and I have no clue why. His water is fine, weekly water changes with added aquarium salt... he's got nothing but live plants.... I don't get it! Here are some photo's, anyone have any ideas???
Thanks!

Here's his tail before:

And here it is today:

 

[Haiku]

It looks like fin rot to me

 

[BettaMomma]

I'd have to agree - you might want to double the frequency of your water changes. That *might* be enough to take care of it. Sometimes when I leave the water go for too long, their tails start to look just like that. After a couple of water changes with a tad bit of salt and some extra stresscoat, they're usually back to normal.

What size is his tank?

 

[WILDER]

http/www.mushi.petfish.net/finrot.html

 

[mrplaty]

yep thats finrot
im sure hell be fine though

 

[Kara101584]

I'd have to agree - you might want to double the frequency of your water changes. That *might* be enough to take care of it. Sometimes when I leave the water go for too long, their tails start to look just like that. After a couple of water changes with a tad bit of salt and some extra stresscoat, they're usually back to normal.

What size is his tank?

He's in a 2.5 gallon Mini Bow.... I'll do another water change tonight...
Should I get some meds too?
I'm a little worried about him, he's one of my......favorites.......

 

[Bettaman]

what have you as a substrate as it looks more like tears in the tail as its all the clear membrane that is missing which is very delicate and will give that ragged appearance .............. need to illuminate all possibilitys..

 

[Kara101584]

This is his exact tank setup.

 

[Bettaman]

i personally don't think its fin rot as he still has all the black edge in his tail if it was fin rot that would be gone as well it looks only like the clear membrane has gone, i think he is splitting that membrane on his tail on the gravel, or something in the tank and how powerful is that filter if he is being moved around the tank a bit by strong current that can also rip fins and the delicate part will give in first giving that apperance as that two happen in two days is not fin rot........

 

[Kara101584]

Okay, did a 50% water changed, turned the filter all the way down, and added some salt. Cross your fingers!
Come on Nitro!

 

[aznmidnite]

Good luck with Nitro's tail!

 

[Synirr]

I'm almost 100% sure it's not fin rot, but if you're not careful to keep the water clean, torn fins can turn into finrot... It looks like he's tearing his fins on something, but everything in the tank looks safe to me... maybe he's a tail-biter?

Edit: I can't tell from the pics... is his anal fin torn too? If not, then I do think he could very well be chasing and nipping his own tail. A couple of my boys do this from time to time, and while sometimes they seem to do it at random, it's usually brought on by stress. Turning the current in his tank down will definitely help with that, but keep an eye out for any other potential sources of stress

 

[flautist]

I had a bowl like that, and my bettas tail looked EXACTLY like that. I took the filter out, and all was well.

 

[Bettaman]

Keep us posted, if my suspicions are correct you should see some growth within a couple of weeks and him back to normal, watch him close when he is near the filter outlet, if he is moved without swimming then then he is being pushed around to fast (will have to remane him FLYMO) it then need to come out and just a sponge or box filter run from an air pump will be better good luck and the salt should help move the regeneration on quicker......

 

[BettaMomma]

Lucky's caudal fin starts to shred up like that if I slack off on his water changes. I don't know if it's full-blown fin rot, per say, but it is definitely on its way to that. Lucky's fins heal up after just a couple of days with some clean water. You really should start to see some new clear growth starting up between them within just a couple of days.

It could also be the filter or the gravel, but since it's so uniform all the way around I'd have to say it's probably not from the gravel - maybe the filter? But either way with the water change and salt it should start to improve very quickly.

Good luck to him!