Treating fin rot in Betta

[Kelly Preussner]

I am fairly new to fish & we have a 5 gal betta tank that houses 2 fish with a separator. Water condition is always very good. Tank has filter & heater. Ammonia is 0, nitrate 0 & nitrate 5. This is actually my daughters tank & her fish. Last week she informed me her fish’s tail looked ragged & thought something was wrong. No issues with his tank mate. So, after some research we removed the fish & put him in a small 1gal bowl with heater but no filter. Added 1 tsp aquarium salt & changed the water every day. It has now been 8 days & his tail looks much better. We think the stress came from us going out of town. She fed the fish a little extra then no food for 2 days while out of town & little extra when we came back. With good water conditions that is all the stress we could think of.
with the other fish we did a vacuum, rinsed all stuff in tank with hot water & did a 75% water change. Tank mate is still in that tank still no issues.
so, my question is what do we do now? Do we put the betta back in the 5 gal tank? Will there be a problem going from salty water every day to no salt? Will the tail continue to heal & grow? I have included some pics of his tail today.

 

[Quin]

Hi there! I'm going to clear this up now so no one has the chance to be rude. It's not recommended to keep bettas together, especially if they're both male. There are many arguments on minimum tank size, but that's for another day

My immediate thought is that the fin rot could be stress from being housed with another male. Even if the divider isn't see through, fish release hormones that can be detected by other fish. I strongly encourage you talk to your daughter about getting another 5 gallon and house the bettas separately. It will give them both room to be happy and healthy, and reduce the stress they're in. Stress is the leading cause of death in fish, though it can almost always be avoided.

My second thought could be built on that. Another cause for fin tearing is when they get ripped on artificial decorations. Your tank doesn't look like it has any in the pictures though, so that may also be it. I recommend giving your fish something to hide in or around, like a plant or decoration. That way if the fish's instincts tell it that it's unsafe it has somewhere to go. Like how kids want to hide under the blanket when they're scared! Avoid plastic plants as they can tear fins further.

I don't believe the switch from salt to fresh water will kill him as long as you acclimate him a little bit, but I do recommend looking into getting another tank. Good luck, and if anything changes let us know! We are here to help you

 

[Kelly Preussner]

Thank you for the response. I had told her I didn’t think she should get another betta but she really wanted it. The fish have been together for about 6 months. The separator is dark so they can’t see each other. The fish that is sick is very calm & never shows his fins even with a mirror. The other betta is crazy & always showing fins to misc things. Very high strung. In the home tank, they each have 2 artificial plants. There is also a nerite snail taken from my freshwater tank to help with cleaning the algae (We periodically change sides for the snail to clean entire tank). There have been no issues in the past 6 months. I know the bigger the tank the better but would you recommend we put 1 fish in another tank even if only 3 gal (filter & heater)? Also, is it possible to get this fin rot even after being fine together for 6 months?
the tank in the picture is our make shift emergency tank with nothing in it so easy to change the water everyday. Thanks again for all the help!

 

[Quin]

Thank you for the response. I had told her I didn’t think she should get another betta but she really wanted it. The fish have been together for about 6 months. The separator is dark so they can’t see each other. The fish that is sick is very calm & never shows his fins even with a mirror. The other betta is crazy & always showing fins to misc things. Very high strung. In the home tank, they each have 2 artificial plants. There is also a nerite snail taken from my freshwater tank to help with cleaning the algae (We periodically change sides for the snail to clean entire tank). There have been no issues in the past 6 months. I know the bigger the tank the better but would you recommend we put 1 fish in another tank even if only 3 gal (filter & heater)? Also, is it possible to get this fin rot even after being fine together for 6 months?
the tank in the picture is our make shift emergency tank with nothing in it so easy to change the water everyday. Thanks again for all the help!

Ah I see, that is understandable as an empty emergency tank. There's a lot of debate over minimum tank size, so I will not tell you that my opinion is the ultimate truth. However, I personally wouldn't put a betta in anything less than a 5g permanently. A 2.5 is the absolute bare minimum, but most hobbyists go higher. My betta is in 10 gallons, for example. A 3 gallon would be better than the 2.5 split you have now, but I do think a 5 gallon would be more interesting to decorate anyways!

As for your fish's personalities that definitely sounds like it could be trouble. I've only started keeping betta since mid April so I'm by no means an expert yet, but it sounds to me that the temperaments of your two fish are very incompatible. Even if it's just to another 2.5 gallon I would separate them as soon as is safe (if you get a 5 gallon or more don't forget to cycle your water! 2.5s don't hold cycle as well, but the nitrogen cycle is extremely beneficial to fish.)

I'm not certain what could have suddenly caused the fin rot after 6 months unless there could have been a change that set him off?

 

[JuiceBox52]

How often did you do water changes and how much did you change each time? Fin rot is usually caused by poor water quality