Fixing His Tail

[tdecker1]

First of all I want to say sorry if this is in the wrong forum. Secondly, I just got my betta, Ichi, about 3 months ago and he was doing great! but now that it is getting cold, it was harder keeping his water temp. up, and his fin started to look ragged. I clean his tank once every two weeks, and have recently(4 days ago) put him on a heating pad to keep his temp at 80. And he seems very happy and swims around a lot... he loves playing "fluff up" with mine and my boyfriends fingers!!

My question to you all is how long will it be before his tail starts to grow back?? Or is it fin rot, and how will I know??

I really want to help him live, as he is my first pet as a college student. Any advice you could give would be awesome!! Thank you so much in advance!!

 

[blue_ram]

You will probably get much faster response if you post to the Betta Forum. Anyway, I had a betta with a "blown" caudal fins. His fins grew back (most of it anyway) in about 2 weeks. The rate of recovery depends mostly on the temperature and diet. Higher temperature results in faster recovery, as will good diet. I think the water temperature was around mid 80 degrees F, and I fed them Hikari Pellets and frozen blood worms. Other factors may include age, and state of health.

 

[dwarfgourami]

Is the tank filtered? Even if it is, I would do weekly water changes. Have you tested for ammonia and nitrites, as that is often a factor in finrot?

 

[tdecker1]

Thanks guys! I feed him 5 pellets of Hikari Betta Bio Gold every day... 2 in am and 3 in pm, but for some reason he wont eat the frozen bloodworms they just floated in the top until I took them out! Is there another supplement I coud give him?? Yes his tank is filtered, but I will definately bump up his cleaning schedule. I havent tested his water, where can I get test strips to test all of that? And what are the normal ranges??
Thanks for helping!!

 

[zoekin8yg]

Your pet store, should have testing kits for the water, ammonia should be 0ppm nitrites also should be 0ppm and ideally nitrates should be less than 50ppm.

also get a heater for the tank

 

[starrynightxxi]

definately get a heater for that tank. they sell them for tanks 2.5 and up but make sure it comes with a thermostat. A heat pad can be dangerous because you can easily overheat your fish. also, leaving it on all the time is a fire hazard, and unplugging it occasionally will cause temperature fluctuations that are bad for the fish.

It is likely fin rot. bettas long fins are very susceptible to that, and even a filtered tank should bet getting waterchanges and gravel vacs once a week. If this tank is unfiltered it should be getting 100% water changes at least once a week (possibly twice). Except in advanced cases, pristinely clean water will cure the finrot and a litle melafix will aid in fin regrowth (though don't be fooled by advertsing, it's largely useless for CURING fin rot).

When you get that test kit, get one of the liquid tests with vials and chemicals rather than the test strips as these can be innacurate and have a shorter shelf life than liquid testers.

 

[tdecker1]

Thanks! I will definately be going to get his test kit today!! His tank is only 1 gallon which is big enough for him, but I cant find a heater that is small enough to fit his tank! I also was giong to buy some Melafix, but it said 1 tbsp/tsp(?) for 10 gallons, so how much would he get in his 1 gal. tank??