Why is my betta's fins ripped?

[P&BtheBetta]

I seriously don't understand this. My male betta, Blueberry's fins have grown back since the last time I posted the thread, and just when it almost completely healed, his fins are all torn up again. I have silk plants, a sponge filter (which is on the other side), and two heaters (idk why but just 1 didn't work, the temperature dropped a lot). I also have sand. He shares a 10 gallon with my female betta, Pearl, who is on the other side of the tank.

I know it isn't fin rot (it happened overnight, and my water parameters are fine) but what I'm suspecting is tail biting (the fin looks jagged for some reason though) or he scraped himself somewhere (there's a bit of plastic on the silk plants, could that be it?). He's eating fine and I'm doing water changes every other day, 30-40.

This is really frustrating and stressful... can anyone help find the cause? :c Thank you.

 

[Abaddon]

What's your pH and water hardness? Hard & alkaline water sometimes messes up the fins and makes them prone to splitting. Do you have any other animals in the tank with him that could've done this (shrimp, crayfish, other fish etc.)? Hardscape - rocks, driftwood etc.? Photos would be helpful. Tail biting usually looks like neat chunks that have been ripped out of the fin in one or two places, it doesn't cause overall ragedness. You can ease up on the water changes I think - 30% weekly is perfectly fine under most circumstances, especially in planted tanks. Add some catappa leaves or extract - it has mild antibacterial properties and helps reduce stress. My bettas used to get ripped fins on occasion as well, for no apparent reason - usually it's a mechanical injury or split and heals on its own pretty quickly. Excessive flaring can sometimes cause damage as well. Did you do the pantyhose test on your plants?

 

[P&BtheBetta]

What's your pH and water hardness? Hard & alkaline water sometimes messes up the fins and makes them prone to splitting. Do you have any other animals in the tank with him that could've done this (shrimp, crayfish, other fish etc.)? Hardscape - rocks, driftwood etc.? Photos would be helpful. Tail biting usually looks like neat chunks that have been ripped out of the fin in one or two places, it doesn't cause overall ragedness. You can ease up on the water changes I think - 30% weekly is perfectly fine under most circumstances, especially in planted tanks. Add some catappa leaves or extract - it has mild antibacterial properties and helps reduce stress. My bettas used to get ripped fins on occasion as well, for no apparent reason - usually it's a mechanical injury or split and heals on its own pretty quickly. Excessive flaring can sometimes cause damage as well. Did you do the pantyhose test on your plants?

I will upload a photo later when I take a good one. My pH is low, I think, only at 6.2, and my alkaline shows only like 0 on the test strip. Should I post a topic about that? I need some way to raise my pH. Also there aren't any other tank mates besides my female betta on the other side. I didn't do a pantyhose test, how would I do it exactly? Thank you for the advice! I can be really clueless since I just recently learned about all the things a betta actually needs.

 

[Abaddon]

Test strips are very inaccurate - I'd get liquid tests if I were you, or ask your local pet store to test the water for you every once in a while. Don't try to mess with the pH too much, most fish can adapt to conditions that are slightly out of their range - what's important is that it stays stable. The pantyhose test basically means you take out the plants/hardscape and run pantyhose (or another delicate material) along them - if it rips, it means it can damage the betta's fins and shouldn't be in the tank.

 

[P&BtheBetta]

Test strips are very inaccurate - I'd get liquid tests if I were you, or ask your local pet store to test the water for you every once in a while. Don't try to mess with the pH too much, most fish can adapt to conditions that are slightly out of their range - what's important is that it stays stable. The pantyhose test basically means you take out the plants/hardscape and run pantyhose (or another delicate material) along them - if it rips, it means it can damage the betta's fins and shouldn't be in the tank.

Hi! Super sorry for the late response, I was a bit busy in the past few days. Good news- the fins are growing back rapidly. Here are two pictures (before, after) if you could determine what cause it might be that would be awesome. If you can't, no problem.

It only look a week for this progress- thanks so much for the tips!

 

[Abaddon]

I'm glad he's doing better As for the cause, it's impossible to tell for sure just from a photograph. All I can say is that it doesn't look like fin rot, so it's probably some kind of mechanical damage, either from tail biting, rough hardscape or pH/hardness issues. I could probably make a more accurate diagnosis if I knew exactly what your water parametres are - pH, GH/KH, ammonia & nitrites. But if he's improving it means you're doing something right, so keep at it & hopefully the problem will resolve itself ?If it makes you feel any better, my betta also tore his tail recently on something, and all I have in the tank are live plants and some driftwood (plus a few large shrimps). I didn't do anything beyond my normal maintenance schedule (plus catappa leaves) & it's already healing. Most fish recover very quickly under the right conditions.