redmare Posted October 23, 2020 Share Posted October 23, 2020 Joey the betta has tail problems. I'm gonna start with all my tank details and then get into his situation Tank 10 gallon tank Tank was set up early April, fish added May 1 2020 Filtered with a sponge filter Heated to 78-79 F Joey the betta lives in it with some shrimp and snails. Quite densely planted with bacopa, hygrophila, amazon sword, chain sword, various anubias, java fern, and java moss. Maintenance Water changed every 2-3 weeks 30-40% water changed Treated with prime I do not vacuum the substrate, on purpose letting mulm build up for the plants. *Parameters - Very Important Tank was cycled before adding fish. Had a small nitrite spike in the first few days but resolved quickly Water tested weekly with api liquid tests Ammonia: 0 Nitrite: 0 Nitrate: 5-10... can barely keep enough nitrogen in the water for the plants. pH: 8.2 Hardness: Very hard. I believe around 18 GH, 12 KH Feeding Fed usually every other day He eats bug bites, omega betta flakes, and live fruit flies mainly (cultured for dart frogs) and occasionally gets frozen blood worms and mysis shrimp. So here's a photo from the day Joey came home, on May 1: And pretty soon after, his tail started to get darker around the tips. Here's a photo from mid July: And now here's a few photos from today: He's actually just as blue and sparkly, I just didn't have the light capturing him right today. But that tail...! I just don't know. I really don't think it's fin rot- it doesn't look rotten, and his water parameters aren't indicative of that. There's only a few rays right on his tail fin that are actually any shorter too, the rest are just curly. The few rays that are coily really confuse me. He's a super happy guy- he loves eating (especially live flies), is super interactive and always comes to say hello, loves exploring in his plants, he loves chasing shrimp around (never seen him eat one! I think he likes the game) and has no symptoms of illness. He's really living his best life. There's a good piece of mopani wood and some IAL so there's some decent tannins in the water for him, too. I do know that the pH and hardness aren't ideal... could that cause this fin issue? I am moving across the country next week and the new house will be getting an RO unit, so I will be able to get him softer, more acidic water. Does anybody have any ideas, has anyone seen this before? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pookies Aquatics Posted October 23, 2020 Share Posted October 23, 2020 This once happened to my halfmoon betta. I am not an expert, so I am not sure if this is exactly the same thing, but it looks like it. I did a 30 percent water change every day and gave him salt baths every 3 days. After a couple of days, it started getting better and after two weeks, it was completely gone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redmare Posted October 23, 2020 Author Share Posted October 23, 2020 I'd just like to say I have no idea why the text is so large on my post! Sorry. Thanks @Pookies Aquatics! That's definitely worth a try Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pookies Aquatics Posted October 23, 2020 Share Posted October 23, 2020 If that doesn't work, I guess you could try medicating the betta, but I have found that sometimes, water changes and salt baths work better. Keep me updated on how your betta does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redmare Posted October 23, 2020 Author Share Posted October 23, 2020 19 minutes ago, Pookies Aquatics said: If that doesn't work, I guess you could try medicating the betta, but I have found that sometimes, water changes and salt baths work better. Keep me updated on how your betta does. I've been reluctant to use any sort of meds, partly because I'm Canadian and don't have access to any of the good stuff. I'll give those salt baths a try! I might wait until after the move, since we leave in 5 days, then we can get settled and figure out if different water helps. I don't think whatever's wrong is gonna kill him in the next week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ange Posted October 23, 2020 Share Posted October 23, 2020 7 minutes ago, redmare said: I've been reluctant to use any sort of meds, partly because I'm Canadian and don't have access to any of the good stuff. I'll give those salt baths a try! I might wait until after the move, since we leave in 5 days, then we can get settled and figure out if different water helps. I don't think whatever's wrong is gonna kill him in the next week. Salt is honestly just as good as meds, especially if you're not 100% sure what you're dealing with. The main disadvantages are that it is lethal to most plants and that it needs to be removed through water changes. If you have fin rot, it's a VERY slow killer and would be obvious if it was advanced enough to be life threatening. My personal guess is that bettas change as they age. Sometimes the curling fins happen as they age and there's nothing actually wrong with the fish. Color changes are also very normal (most apparent with any marbled pattern betta, though it also happens often with butterfly and mustard gas bettas). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrozenFins Posted October 23, 2020 Share Posted October 23, 2020 It looks like maybe fin rot, you can buy aquarium salt (NOT marine) and does the reccemoneded amount doing water changes every day. very beutiful betta!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pookies Aquatics Posted October 23, 2020 Share Posted October 23, 2020 If it were fin rot, it doesn't look like it is very bad. Your betta will easily survive the next week, so you don't need to worry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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