Ack--Torn Fin!

[sillysall]

I'm a worried new Betta owner and have had my betta, Picasso, for about a week. He was fine when I got home from work today but after we went out and came home I noticed his tail fin looks like it was torn. I didn't see any tail pieces in the tank and he is in there alone. The plants are fake, but the fabric kind rather than plastic (well, the stem parts are plastic but the leaves are fabric). The aquarium is a 5 gallon Mini-Bow with the power filter that came with it. I'm wondering if the current itself torn the fins-he doesn't seem bothered by it and will actually deliberately swim head first into the current for no apparent reason then go about his business...

Picasso is eating well and seems lively--just less tail fin. Any ideas what could have caused this? Is there anything I can do to help him heal better? He is due for his first water change tomorrow--should I still do it or will it stress him?

 

[Haych]

ok, is it torn or "reduced", as in does it look like someone has tattily cut his tail shorter with scissors?

if its the latter one, he may have finrot which needs meds.

if not, if its a tear / split he may have caught it somewhere. it wouldnt be the current. has he got any ornaments?

 

[loraxchick]

most probably he snagged it on the plastig parts of the plant. check the "tips" of the leaves. often there are little plastic and pointy bits sticking out. may not be apparent with the eyes but give them a feel. i suspect the tips snagged his fins. if it is a slit in his fin that is injury and not nipping or finrot.
cheers

 

[sillysall]

This bis what it looks like--he's still very lively--it was hard to get these pics....

This one is kind of blurry but you can see how it is really split...

This one is more clear...

 

[Amberleaf]

He could be a tail-biter? But, I don't know; have you seen him do anything however small to his tail?

 

[sillysall]

I've never seen him bite his tail, but I did think of that because he seems pretty territorial. I have an exercise mirror that he flares like crazy at the first sight of--but it's only put in his tank a couple of minutes a day...

 

[Amberleaf]

Huh. Saw this picture more clearly now; could be fin rot? ^^; Try a little bit of aquarium salt or BettaFix, and *CLEAN* clean water. If it doesn't clear up in about a week or two, *then* worry! ^^;

LOLS. There's also a girl in my class who calls herself Pab5lo Picasso. (The 5 is silent. ) ^^; XD

 

[sillysall]

Is it common for fin rot to come on that quickly? I like to watch him and I swear I didn't notice a tail issue at all the day before. Also, I read that the cause is dirty water. He has not even had that water for a full week. Should routine water changes be done more often than once a week for a 5 gallon?

 

[loraxchick]

what size of tank is he in? is it heated and filtered? i prsume his tail was mych longer than that, right? it looks to me like finrot or amonia burns because there is a little balck tissue there. how long have you had him? best thing to try for now is changing a majority of his water everyday with dechlorinated water. most times with fin issues, clean water will help as much as any medication. a pinch of aquarium salt will be helpful with each waterchange as well. turn the heater sown a few degrees )if it is finrot, bacteria like high temperatures). set to around 76F. if there is no improvement, or you see very rapid degredation of the rest of the fin, get some finrot medication (antibiotic!).
those photos were very helpful.
best of luck wiht him. keep us updated
cheers

 

[loraxchick]

sorry to repost..i opened your thread and saw the pics and just repiled. i neglected to read the subsequent posts. to answer some questions.
you say you have him in a 5gal and change water once a week. some follow ups:
-how much do you change at a time?
-how long has the tank been setup?
-does he have any tankmates? if so what type of fish?
if it is a new setup (less than say, 2 monts old) then the filter is not capeable of eiminating ammonia, which is present in fish waste and other decaying organic material in the tank. until the filter bacteria can handle the bioload of the tank and convert this ammonia into a less toxic compound, the only way to eliminate the ammonia is by waterchanging. so many watercchnages are in order for a "new" tank (really, a new filter) until the bacteria can grow into a big enough colony to convert the ammonia for your fish. done ever throw old filter media away until it is literally falling apart. if you notice a reduced flow from your filter simply wash the media in old tankwater while doing a waterchange (tap water, and the chlorine in it can kill of lots of, if not all of your bacteria, then its back to square one with loads of waterchanges).

i hope that wasnt too much for you to digest. any questions on the last bit feel free to ask.

and if it is finrot, YES, it is possible for it to spread really rapidly, especially if the water quality is poor (ie ammonia in the water). but a healthy fish in a good environment (ie clean water) can usually fight it off without the need for antibiotics.

any more questions please ask.,
and welcome to the forum..wish it were under better circumstances
cheers

 

[sillysall]

This would be the first time we've changed the water--we've only had him since this past Monday. We bought a water testing kit and the ammonia and nitrates seem to be at safe levels, however the hardness is way high, the ph is 8.4, and the alkalinity is high as well. I'm wondering is the poor water conditions stressed him. We are going to change most of the water and try to get the ph and stuff slowly to a safer level....

 

[sillysall]

Well, we took out 3 gallons of old water and put three gallons of clean back in. Two of the gallons are our tap water (conditioned) and a gallon of bottled drinking water with a lower ph and hardness than out water. We also put aquarium salt in there and turned down the heater a bit--hopefully this helps!

 

[theshadowinc]

Well, we took out 3 gallons of old water and put three gallons of clean back in. Two of the gallons are our tap water (conditioned) and a gallon of bottled drinking water with a lower ph and hardness than out water. We also put aquarium salt in there and turned down the heater a bit--hopefully this helps!

I am going to assume this is finrot just for the safe side of things, really I am going to say this is vailtail and should have a longer tail. Also what kind of filtration you have, best thing is plenty of waterchanges, but since you tested water you said ammonia and nitrates what about nitrites? If money is ever a concern as buying test kits the best one to go with would be ammonia and nitrites, nitrates insn't as important.. don't get me wrong but its important but its something that kills fish only in huge amounts. Large waterchanges, I would say 4gals of new everyday! This will help making sure you have clean water and medicate the water to help although like someone states you don't need to med this with having temp raised to around 80F... simple waterchanges should help. Try it for a week you should see improvements in a day for sure.

As far as your PH goes it is hard but if he is used to this kind of water its not a huge issue, although I understand you want the best home for him, bottlewater has more junk in it then your tap water depending on your bottle water.... read the ppm on the bottle most say well over 500ppm, this is worse then what comes out of your tap. Another thing you can look at is a product called PH down as this is a small tank only a small amount will be needed! Adding salt to your aquarium water raises the PH value...... Leave the temp at 80F if you can reason is its much better for your betta, helps fight infections if any and I gaurentee that you won't end up with ick in the tank at that temp ick can't survive so another parasite you fight off without doing much. If you are going to use salt for treatments its best doing a bath having a seperate container or fish bowl for his 20-30mins in a salt solution 2-3x a day. I don't think we are this far as to treating with salt yet, simple water changes havn't been done yet, ... when in doubt water change!

 

[loraxchick]

just keep doing waterchanges for now. you say the ammonia is at a safe level? the only safe level is 0. until your filter builds up the bacteria it needs to take care of the ammonia, the only option is waterchanges. and lots of them. you will get some relief from this in about 6 weeks once the filter is "cycled".
as for temperature, i would turn it down to around 76. but for the simple fact that if this is bacterial finrot, higher the temperature, faster the bacteria multiply. so lower temp will help slow them down. while this does not encourage new fin growth as well as a higher temp, for the time being you are trying to stop those bacs (if it is finrot) from doing any more damage. a little aquarium salt will also make the water less tolerable to bacteria.
just my thoughts.
cheers

had another good look at the photos. what sort of filterdo you have in there? could his fin have been sucked up into it and shredded? just another thought. same remedy tho- waterchanges
cheers

 

[ellena]

Because you've only had him for a week and the filter is new, you need to do water changes much more often than once a week to keep ammonia down. When you say levels were safe, what were the readings exactly?
It looks like biting to me because the spiny bits are still there. This is what happened with one of my fish and it looked very similar. He stopped when I took 2 dwarf frogs out of the tank, but it's different for each fish and can be difficult to pinpoint what's causing it.
Whether he's biting it or it's finrot, clean water is the best thing, so a 50% change every day should really help.
BTW he is a stunning colour