Fins disappearing - Another Update 6/23/05

[eudielynn]

Hunter is in a 1 gal tank by himself here at work. When I got him several months ago his tail fins were shredded. Over the time I've had him, I've given him at least 2 water changes per week with salt added to try to help his fins heal. Well, his fins kept the shredded look to them, but they didn't seem to get any worse.

Last Monday when I came in to work, about half of his back fin was missing. (Sorry, I tried to find something with the proper names of the fins, but since the pinned topics have all been moved and chopped up, I can't find anything.)

I thought he might have bitten it off in frustration since I'd brought Vince in to work with me the week before and even though they were carded, he knew Vince was there and would constantly flare at him even though he couldn't see Vince.

I upped the water changes to every other day and kept putting the salt in to help ward off infection. This Monday I came in and part of his top fin is gone. I have not found any tail pieces when I did water changes, so again I thought he was biting it off and eating it.

This morning when I came in, he had what looked like a piece of fuzz hanging off his back fin. It stayed on there for a couple of hours before it finally fell off. I know that it was probably some type of fungus that is causing his fins to deteriorate, but I'm not sure if it's fin rot, body fungus, or what.

He is swimming around just fine, and is flaring like crazy at Vince whenever possible, but he is not eating very much and he is spending more and more time in his cave hiding. I do not see anything anywhere else on him. No fuzz, no gold dusting, no discoloration, nothing. I'm really not sure what to treat for. I know the clean water and salt is not doing the trick. I feel like I am watching him deteriorate.

Any ideas?

 

[riogal_11]

I would add a drop of melafix to the next water change.... I always add a VERY little amount, as well as some salt, and I've had great luck with it. See if that helps any and up the temperature at the next water change.

 

[eudielynn]

I don't use melafix because of the danger in overdosing bettas, I use bettafix, but truthfully, I can't say that it's ever done any good with any of my fish. Also, this is a 1 gal tank, thus no heater, but the temp stays at a fairly constant 77 degrees with the light on in his tank.

 

[riogal_11]

I have never used bettafix, as I've always had good luck with melafix. Maybe later someone who is more experienced with treating this kind of thing can help you out. Sorry I couldn't help more.

 

[eudielynn]

Thanks anyway, I appreciate your trying.

Anyone else have any ideas what I need to treat for here?

 

[Saucy]

Well, seeing as Melafix and Bettafix are the same thing, let's just move past that... haha. Try a piece of JFE (Jungle Fungus Eliminator or Jungle Fungus Clear) in his tank. Beware as it WILL turn your plants and ornaments blue. My columns have a great blue tinge now.. but anywho. It'll stop whatever's attacking his fins if it's a fungus.

So he doesn't have any plastic plants or anything in his tank? Anything sharp that he could have caught himself on? It could be that he's seeing his reflection and nipping, though. Maybe try covering a couple sides of his tank with some fabric or paper and see what he does. Poor little dude! Hang in there!

 

[riogal_11]

haha, i didn't know they were the same thing. Why do ppl talk about them like they are different things then?

 

[BettaMomma]

He is eating his tail, I'm almost certain.

Something is bothering him. He's either torked off that he has a neighbor, or he's torked off cuz he doesn't like his temp.. or his tank... Something is really bothering him.

I tell ya what.
Someone at work has offered me a 2.5G minibow and another smaller tank for ten bucks. I'd be willing to send you the 2.5G tank and give that a try. LORD knows I need another tank like i need a hole in my head.

Wanna give that a shot? I won't get the tank until probably thursday... so it won't be to you til Monday...

 

[riogal_11]

Bettamomma- you need another tank about like I do..... But I'm always looking for good deals haha!! I mean it's not like you could turn down such an offer

 

[Synirr]

haha, i didn't know they were the same thing. Why do ppl talk about them like they are different things then?

They both have the same active ingredient -- tea tree oil -- but Bettafix is more diluted and Melafix is more concentrated
Melafix is 4x stronger, if I remember correctly, so when using it on bettas you just use much less than the recommended amount on the bottle.

 

[riogal_11]

I figured it was something like that. None of my lfs's have bettafix so I've just always relied on a very diluted melafix. Thanks for the clarification.

 

[eudielynn]

I came in this morning and it's worse. Another chunk is gone out of his back fin and another part of it is really ragged. He's freaking out. I don't know if it's because he knows Vince is on the other side of the card or if he's seeing his reflection, but something's gotten him spooked this morning.

He's not rubbing against anything so I don't think it's parasites. There is nothing in his tank but his cave, which is one of the Walmart neon deals and smooth stones in the bottom, and an air stone set to a very low bubble rate. I've checked him over pretty good and I don't see any signs of fin rot or fungus of any kind.

BettaMomma, you're probably right, I think he is tail biting, but I can't for the life of me figure out why he just started now.

 

[BettaMomma]

Don't panic.

Once you figure out what the problem is, his tail will start to grow back really nicely. Almost every single fish I have has gone through this, and you just have to work out what is bugging them, and then change it. It's EXTREMELY frustrating, because it's not exactly like you can flip open the lid and ask what the problem is. heh! So I feel your frustration. Harvey is biting again, and so is Petey - and for that matter, Barnacle Boy's entire tail is just about gone. I'm almost positive all their problems are with temps.

The first thing I would try for him is moving him as far away from the other tank as possible. Give that a try for a day - and then consider whether or not there might be temperature fluctuations that might be bothering him.

As odd as it may sound, he really could have the "I USED to be an only child!" syndrome and it might be driving him nuts. I have 2 tanks on my desk and each of those 2 boys is totally oblivious to the fact that the other is there - they each just see me and are perfectly happy it seems.

So - give that a try for starters, and then we'll talk about the bigger tank, where you could possibly give him a heater and make his environment really stable and see what happens.

Hang in there, you'll figure it out

 

[eudielynn]

Hunter seems like he is calming down a little now. The light has raised the temp in his tank a couple of degrees, so it could very well be from temp fluctuations.
I'm going to turn the a/c off when I leave tonight and hope it doesn't get to hot for them in here overnight.

I accidentally knocked the card out from in between the tanks when I was fooling with the airline tubing and I thought that would set Hunter off again, but it didn't. He's watching Vince build a bubble nest. He flares a little when Vince gets close to his side of the tank, but he's not really upset. Looks more and more like the temp to me.

 

[eudielynn]

Well, another bite out of the tail this morning. I took BettaMomma's advice when I did their water changes this morning and moved Hunter to the other side of my desk from Vince. I also put a squirt of BlackWater Extract in his tank and he seems a little calmer at least. He is even building a bubblenest right now, and he hasn't done one in several weeks.