jtownsend

Sorry, I checked our nitrite levels again just to be sure they were reading well. It definitely looks like zero. We don't do 100% water changes, only 20%. each time. I really doubt he's nipping his fin, or at the very least it doesn't look like that at all--we have a lot of things in his tank for him to interact with and we actually do have a betta mirror that we let him interact with on occasion. He never seems to have any issues getting around--we keep our filter on a slower setting so the tank still gets oxygen but it doesn't create a lot of disturbance within the tank, and there are a lot of plants in there that he can use to support himself as he gets around. But hey, I definitely won't rule out fin nipping. Also, how do you know if you're overfeeding? He gets a small breakfast of a few bloodworms, and then a small dinner of a few mysis shrimp. Would it dirty up the tank that quickly? I was under the impression the plants would help with that (as well has him being the only thing in the entire tank that gets any food). Like I said, I'm not sure what the problem is. It's such a frustrating thing, we can't figure it out! Thank you both for the input.

Here are some photos of our handsome yet weathered man.

Hi all... Our beloved betta, Mr. Richards, has been struggling with fin rot for the better part of a year. Our current water parameters are as follows, as taken from the API Master Test Kithttps://imgur.com/a/0ouDJuk: Nitrates: <10 ppm Nitrites: <10 ppm Ammonia: not detected pH: 7.2 Water hardness: around 42 initially, though we use almond leaves and peat moss to soften it. KH: 60-80, but we don't have a great way to measure this Mr. Richards lives in a ten gallon planted tank with one nerite snail named Wendell Gee. So it's a nice, calm environment with lots of places for him to hide and explore. Throughout his entire time living with us, he has always been a happy guy! He is very active and has a great appetite for his frozen bloodworms and mysis shrimp. That has never changed. When it first started, we determined the cause to be high nitrate levels. We brought those down and kept the tank as tidy as we could in the hopes that that would help him. We change his water once or twice a week at the moment, and we are always very careful about rinsing our hands thoroughly before we ever put them in his water. When that didn't work, we thought maybe something was wrong with our pH. It was testing at about 7.4, but I read conflicting reports about whether that was actually our biggest problem. We treat his water with India Almond Leaves (we're big tannin fans) to soften it and bring that pH down, and we also have some peat moss in the filter. It's been months, and the pH has only come down to about 7.2. I also removed all of his toys and made sure to sand them down before adding them back into the tank in case he was snagging it on anything. We've tried treating him with Maracyn, Maracyn two, Paracleanse, and ich x, just in case. He's always handled these treatments well, and still eats and swims regularly. Whenever we medicate him, we notice some slight improvements and new growth, but it's always one step forward and two steps back as about a week later, his tail looks worse than before. Our next plan of action is to move him into a hospital tank and treat him with aquarium salt. I keep wondering, though... is there something we're missing? He keeps getting worse and it makes us so sad to see. We've even been thinking about setting up a new tank for him to live in and then scrapping that ten gallon and starting over. We have a 20 gallon tank that has never had any issues, so we wonder if something is just not adding up in his current home. What else can we do to help him? Is there something else he may be suffering from?