Alex S.

Thank you so much! I really appreciate it!

How long would you recommend keeping him in the quarantine tank with the salt?

I don’t have kanaplex, but I do have aquarium salt on hand. Could I use that instead so I could go ahead and start treating?

Thanks for looking into this @Colu My water parameters are as follows: Nitrite: 0ppm Ammonia: 0ppm Gh: 150ppm KH: 80ppm PH: 7.2 Chlorine: 0 Let me know if any other info would be helpful!

Tonight when I went to feed my fish, I noticed my poor betta’s tail has split in half! I know I’ve been busy with school and haven’t been able to provide as much care to my tank as normal, but I still feed the fish and look at them every day, so I’m fairly certain it would have had to have happened just today. He’s acting perfectly normal, swimming around and still eating great. I haven’t noticed any agression with the other fish for it to be fin nip, and I feel like it happened way to fast to be fin rot, but I’m really not sure! I also checked my water quality, and all parameters were within normal range! Does anyone have any tips for how I should treat it? What’s really weird is it seems like a very clean split! I’m not sure what to do, but I’m really worried about it! 🙁

8/29/23 Update: The neon tetras are officially out of quarantine and in the 40 gallon tank. They seem to be doing pretty well with the betta. The betta will chase them around every once in a while, but the more I watch it seems to be more out of curiosity than aggression. There has been no flaring or nipping. They typically interact with each other for just a few seconds, and then go their separate ways. It’s looking like I’m going to be able to pull off this project. Next on the agenda is to build up the school of neon tetras, and figure out what else I want to put in the tank. As of right now, the plan is a school of rasbora hets, and a couple kinds of corydoras. If anyone has some ideas, on what might look good, I would love to hear them!

Looking back at some old pictures I found, this is what its dorsal fin looked like back in May. It definitely looks like it’s changed a little, but is it possible that that is just normal change? Are there any specific signs I should be looking at? They would indicate it’s time to move it to a quarantine tank and medicate?

I’ll definitely have to check them out!

I thought this was an incredible documentary! I’ve thought about investing in the equipment to start snorkeling, and maybe even getting certified to start diving, and this film sparked that flame even more! Watching fish in an aquarium is amazing, but seeing them in the wild in their natural habitat would be out of this world! Jaw is one of my favorite movies, but I had never heard the story about the shots the Taylor’s collected. I’m gonna have to go back an watch that film to pay closer attention to them. I will say, I also never realized the impact Jaws had on the way out culture views sharks. It’s crazy to think about how much the shark population has declined and not that long at all, and I can’t help but think that some of it came from the repercussions of that movie. I will say, this is making me want to invest in a several hundred gallon aquarium so I can house a school of bala sharks and at least pretend to have a piece of that world 😉 Excellent choice for the first film! I’m excited for the next one!

Does it look like this betta has fin rot on its dorsal fin? I noticed it looking like this tonight, but I honestly can’t tell if it’s been like this or if this is new. All of my water parameters have been normal, and the betta as acted normal, eating well and swimming actively around the tank! I’m drying to decide if I should pull it from the tank and medicate or if it’s ok! Any suggestions?

From what I can tell I’m pretty sure she’s a girl. It’s hard to tell in the picture, but especially if it looks like she’s got an egg spot I think you’ve got it right. That is crazy that she acts like that though. I know that each betta has its own personality and some females are still agressive, but she seems over the top. I wonder if her being in a sorority tank made her that way. I know some people have luck with them, but I have heard a lot of people don’t recommend them. My guess is that maybe she just got territorial with the other bettas in order to hold her own. That really is just a guess though. I will say, that may be one of the most beautiful bettas I’ve ever seen. I know it’s not your plan A, but I think she would look amazing in a tank by herself. Hopefully the longer you have her the more she will mellow out. None the less, she’s an awesome find!

I use root tabs as well! I’ve read some places they feed from the roots, but other places suggest they prefer liquid fertilizer. I’ll use more root tabs as well and see if that helps!

Thank you so much! Thank makes a lot more sense now! I appreciate the info! That’s a great point! I need to invest in something like that. I only have strips right now and I’ve wondered just how accurate they are.

I am currently working on growing some Vallisneria in one of my tanks, and I have been dosing easy green as a fertilizer. I have been dosing according to the bottle (1 pump per 10 gallons), but when I test my water the nitrates are pretty much unreadable. Should I keep adding easy green until my nitrates get up to around 20ppm like some recommend, or should I stick with the bottle dosing and let it do its thing? The plants seem to have some die off, but they've only been in the tank a couple of weeks so I'm sure its still getting established. I just want to make sure I ease it through the transition as much as I can.

That is so strange. If they hadn't always been like that I would definitely think popeye, but I'm not sure since they have been. I guess there's a chance it could have had popeye when you got it, but that makes it less likely to me, especially with it seeming to act normal. Sorry that's not a fantastic answer. I'm not an expert either. I know its tough not knowing what happened. I wouldn't beat myself up too much over it though. With fish being living things, sometimes things just happen. People spend entire careers trying to learn more about these creatures, let alone us trying to know all about them as hobbyists. Unfortunately, this is just one of the not so fun parts of the hobby. The best we can do is try to learn something from things like this. Speaking of which, do you quarantine and medicate fish when you first get them?