Help :'(

[jae23]

I've had my betta.. his name's Chief .. for a few months. I've got a class 4 days of the week and basketball tournaments every day until class so I'm not home that much, this makes it really hard to keep an eye on my fish.

I got him as a gift, and he came in the traditional vase w/a plant.
I decided to move him into a 1 gallon aquarium, with a filter, about a week ago, that day i was showing Chief off to a friend when i noticed his left fin was gone. I was worried, and my first thought was that it was ripped off in the filter. Soo.. i asked my parents if they knew anything, they said the filter couldn't hurt Chief.. so I just decided I'd keep a closer eye on him.
Two days after I noticed his right fin was gone..
Can a filter really hurt him? I make sure the tank is kept clean and he's fed regularly..
He seems depressed now.. {can a fish go through depression?}
and isn't perky at all anymore. I don't know what to do, and i don't want to lose him. help me???

 

[-germ-]

Fish can be stressed and when missing fins i'd assume that they would be....
Stick the end of a fine denier (grade) tight over the inlets to your filter, oh... boil it first, on the off chance it contains dye or other badness.
If you have your doubts then your better playing safe with your filter than losing your fish and thinking "damn, i knew it was that."
Get a finrot treatment, most antibacs will do this or try melafix.
Good luck and all the best

 

[Betta91]

I've heard of this happening with male bettas and filters. That's one of the reasons that it's better to keep female bettas in aquariums than males. You don't actually need the filter, he'll be fine without one just as long as you do pretty frequent water changes. Take it out for a bit, and see if things get better. Hope all goes well.

 

[knt5005]

I would just pull the filter out and be sure to keep his water nice and clean. Filters seemed to stress out my guys...too much current for their liking I suppose.

Anyway, one of mine was without a chunk of fin when I tried to spawn him, but it grew back in just fine like any other fin. Good luck.

 

[jae23]

thank yall so much! i hope this helps

 

[-germ-]

Let us know how it goes