Betta Fins Torn, Scales Whitening From Back

[molver]

Hi,
 
I got a Betta two days ago. I put him in a 20 gallon salted, filtered, cycled, aerated aquarium. Just a little while ago I noticed his dorsal, anal and caudal fin are really torn. His fins were already a little torn when I bought him (thought they were just like that). But now they are even more torn and smaller. His dorsal fin is pretty much gone.
 
Even more worrisome is that his scales are going white from the back. 
 

 
I moved him to a bowl because my ghost shrimp is trying to make a meal out of him. I don't want to keep him in the bowl because it's not filtered or heated. After moving him, I noticed that air bubbles are stuck on the white part of his scales. I'm having a hard time getting a good picture.
 
He`s swimming, but he`s not very energetic. He makes next to no effort to swim away when I move my finger close to him. And he doesn`t seem interested in eating either.
 
Any advice?

 

[molver]

After seeing him swim around, I think the white part of his body has gone stiff.

 

[Ninjouzata]

Salt isn't necessary in FW tanks unless you're medicating for something like ich, so would do a water change to get that out when possible.
 
I don't think your ghost shrimp is a ghost shrimp if it was going after your betta. It sounds like a macrobrachium shrimp. If that is the case you'll want to get rid of it ASAP. What else was in the tank other than the betta & shrimp?
 
What's the temperature of the bowl? If you can I'd take the shrimp out of the other tank ASAP and move him to it so he can be kept warm.
 
Did you check the decorations to see if they could have torn his fins? A way to do this is to drag a pair of pantyhose across them. If it snags then it will tear the bettas fins.
 
Hopefully someone more experience can say what is going on with your betta, I'm not sure what it is but warm clean water should help in the mean time.

 

[GuppyGirl20]

I agree with Nin and hopefully someone experienced will pop in with their knowledge but I have been informed by the lovely people of the forum that Indian Almond Leaves (IAL) are waaayyyy better than putting salt in your betta home. I hope he gets better.

 

[molver]

Salt isn't necessary in FW tanks unless you're medicating for something like ich, so would do a water change to get that out when possible.
 
I don't think your ghost shrimp is a ghost shrimp if it was going after your betta. It sounds like a macrobrachium shrimp. If that is the case you'll want to get rid of it ASAP. What else was in the tank other than the betta & shrimp?
 
What's the temperature of the bowl? If you can I'd take the shrimp out of the other tank ASAP and move him to it so he can be kept warm.
 
Did you check the decorations to see if they could have torn his fins? A way to do this is to drag a pair of pantyhose across them. If it snags then it will tear the bettas fins.
 
Hopefully someone more experience can say what is going on with your betta, I'm not sure what it is but warm clean water should help in the mean time.

Do you think my ghost shrimp isn't a ghost shrimp because it's bugging my betta? It only goes after fish that are dying (I say this from experience, sadly).

I also don't know where to get almond leaves. And he's gotten worse in these couple of hours. More of his body is whitened and stiff. I'm not even sure if it'll make it till morning anymore

 

[Wildbetta]

Do you have any other fish in the 20 gallon that could have been nipping at him?  What was the temperature of the tank you had him in?  

 

[molver]

I only have swordtails, a molly and some neon tetras. None them paid attention to the betta. I think I happened to pick up a bad one from the store. It was only two days old.

 

[WILDER]

Don't like the sound of whitening scales as that can sometimes indicate columnaris.