Holey Fins?

[Hollyweb]

Lately my betta boy Brutus has been a bit lethargic. He is still eating well, but he isn't nearly as active in the tank as he usually is. In fact, he actually held still and let me take a picture which is a miracle in itself. Anyway, I noticed that there were some missing spots on his dorsal fin right where it meets his body.
 
I tried to get a couple of pictures but they aren't very high quality. Hopefully you can see what I mean. I just want to know if it's something that's normal, or if it's something to be worried about.
 
 

 

[attibones]

Okay, this looks like bad fin rot to me. Can you post a picture of the edges of his fins?

To combat this, he really needs to be in his own tank so that he can receive daily water changes with warm water (82 degrees) and zero chance of being disturbed by other fish. He especially needs to be isolated in your case since you've had some nitrate issues. He will get better over time, but only with isolation and good, clean water. The addition of anything with a good amount of tannins would also benefit him. Mopani wood, almond leaves, betta spa, all of these are good options. In this case, the leaves would work best because you can buy them in bulk and add them as needed. The betta spa is reported to work well. I'm not sure which brands carry it, though.

 

[Hollyweb]

He is hiding right now so I can't get a picture of him. But his fins don't look white or clear around the edges like I've seen with fin rot before. However, it is kind of whitish on his body where the fin actually grows from his body, and I was trying to get a picture of that earlier but I couldn't get the right angle.
 
I don't have a separate tank I can put him in right now. I get paid Friday and I could maybe see about getting a 3-5 gal tank then for him but right now our tanks are all filled up and our quarantine tank got turned into a nursery tank for some platy babies.

 

[Tongue_Flicker]

Way severe fin rot if it's starting from the base out. Treat him asap

 

[attibones]

He is hiding right now so I can't get a picture of him. But his fins don't look white or clear around the edges like I've seen with fin rot before. However, it is kind of whitish on his body where the fin actually grows from his body, and I was trying to get a picture of that earlier but I couldn't get the right angle.
 
I don't have a separate tank I can put him in right now. I get paid Friday and I could maybe see about getting a 3-5 gal tank then for him but right now our tanks are all filled up and our quarantine tank got turned into a nursery tank for some platy babies.

Clear fins are usually signs of new growth. You should be looking for fraying, darkening, and curling. If you can't isolate him in a tank, maybe you get a Rubbermaid container with a filter and heater in it. But since you will be doing daily water changes, I suppose the filter is not necessary, as long as you increase the volume of those changes.

 

[Wildbetta]

With fin rot you are going to be looking for black edges, a melting disintegrating look to the edge of the fins, or small holes in the fins.  If the areas in the pictures are actually holes in the fins and not clear spots in the fins, then you are dealing with either fin rot or tears from something in the tank.  What are the water stats for this tank recently and how often/how much are you changing the water?  What is your tank temp?  Do you have anything sharp in the tank or other tankmates?

 

[Hollyweb]

I can get something to put him in, or maybe switch him out with my other betta who has his own 3 gal tank so that he can heal. It has a heater and a filter.
 
 

With fin rot you are going to be looking for black edges, a melting disintegrating look to the edge of the fins, or small holes in the fins.  If the areas in the pictures are actually holes in the fins and not clear spots in the fins, then you are dealing with either fin rot or tears from something in the tank.  What are the water stats for this tank recently and how often/how much are you changing the water?  What is your tank temp?  Do you have anything sharp in the tank or other tankmates?

 The ammonia is at 0, the nitrites are at 0 but I've been fighting nitrate spikes on the tank for the past few days. I did a 50% water change on Sunday, and a 50% water change yesterday trying to get Nitrates down. On Sunday Nitrates were around 160, and yesterday when I tested they were between 80 and 100. I'll be testing again today when I get home from work to see how they are today.
 
The tank temp is 80f and I have some live plants and a barrel hidey thing but I'd think if his fins got torn from something like that, it would be torn at the ends and not close up against his body. He does have other tank mates. 4 guppies, 3 platies, 5 whiteclouds, a silver molly and a clown pleco.

 

[Wildbetta]

What size is the tank?   I would say it is not tears from anything in the tank with what you listed.  Which means if they are holes then it is fin rot.  To fight fin rot, you need really really clean warm water.  82-84F would be best to accelerate the healing.  Do you know why your nitrAtes are so high?  You might need to add some nitrate sponge plants like hornwort to help keep them lower.

 

[Hollyweb]

What size is the tank?   I would say it is not tears from anything in the tank with what you listed.  Which means if they are holes then it is fin rot.  To fight fin rot, you need really really clean warm water.  82-84F would be best to accelerate the healing.  Do you know why your nitrAtes are so high?  You might need to add some nitrate sponge plants like hornwort to help keep them lower.

 
It's a 20 gallon tank. I have a 3 gallon I could put him in but I would have to switch him out with my other betta. Also, I've had some consistently high ammonia in the 3 gallon and I'm having trouble getting it down even with water changes so I don't know that putting him in there would even help if the ammonia is high. I think the nitrates are high because I had a dead fish and a dead snail in my 20 gallon, but I've done two 50% water changes since then. I just tested for nitrates, and it's getting better, it's around 40ppm now so the water changes are definitely helping.

 

[Hollyweb]

poor Brutus isn't doing so well. I moved him into isolation in the 3 gallon yesterday but today he hasn't move much and he's been laying on the bottom of the tank for the past several hours. His gills are still moving, but slowly and he just looks like he's not going to make it for much longer.

 

[Wildbetta]

Unfortunately putting a fish dealing with a case of fin rot in a tank with ammonia issues is probably not the best thing to do.  Since you are having such issues with ammonia in this small tank, I advise removing the filter and changing 100% of the water EVERY day while setting the temperature to around 82F-84F to promote healing.  Also if he is eating, feed really high protein foods.  Frozen bloodworms or brine shrimp and good quality betta pellets (first several ingredients - meat) should help him heal as well.

 

[Hollyweb]

I did a water change on the 3 gallon yesterday but it was only about a 50% water change. I can do another one today and check the ammonia levels in a bit to see how they're doing. I don't have any plants in there at all and only one fish so I just don't understand why I'm having such trouble with ammonia in that tank. The good news is the nitrates in my 20 gallon are much better.

 

[Hollyweb]

Unfortunately putting a fish dealing with a case of fin rot in a tank with ammonia issues is probably not the best thing to do.  Since you are having such issues with ammonia in this small tank, I advise removing the filter and changing 100% of the water EVERY day while setting the temperature to around 82F-84F to promote healing.  Also if he is eating, feed really high protein foods.  Frozen bloodworms or brine shrimp and good quality betta pellets (first several ingredients - meat) should help him heal as well.

 I just did a 100% water change and washed all of the gravel and put fresh water in. I tested the ammonia and it's testing at about 0.50ppm. I added some prime to the water and hopefully that will help. Brutus is still alive but he seems very weak.

 

[Wildbetta]

Have you tested your tap water to see if you have ammonia issues coming from the tap?

 

[Hollyweb]

Just did a test, one with water conditioner and one without water conditioner and both were between about 0.25 and 0.50ppm for ammonia so I guess it is the tap water.