Snowy II: Jagged feathertail normal or slow fin rot?

[Christina CC]

I noticed that the fins of Snowy II, white dumbo feathertail, are quite jagged, in comparison with how he looked when I got him a year ago in Jan 2022. The thing is he is a feathertail. His tails have always been a bit jagged. Over time as he grows, the tail gets more uneven and more jagged. It slowly changes over time that I did not notice the magnitude of change until I took photos of him a few days ago. 

He never gulps down food. Over time his appetite seems to reduce as well. Now he takes a bite at a time, swims back to his floating log home, then takes a bit again. He would munch the food over a period of time. He eats moderately and there is always leftover food. I feed him twice a day.

He is more on the sedentary side. He does not seem to have problem swimming. Most of the time he hides inside his floating log home and watches outside. Sometimes he comes out to swim. Sometimes he rests on the substrate or against the plant. When he sees another betta, he would flare for some time before ignoring the other guy. Usually he is the instigator.

Would love to hear what other hobbists think. Should I be worried about his fins getting more jagged?

First two photos: Jan 2022

Other photos: Jan 2023

[Christina CC]

Housing:

16 Gallon tank with a separate sump. Divided into two housing two betta

Filter: Biomedia, activated carbon and filter floss in the sump.

Heater. Maintain temperature between 76 to 80 F

Aeration with return pump

Food:

Feed twice a day. Excess swiped away.

Rotaie freeze-dried food between pallets, bug bites, blood worms, brine shrimp, daphnia.

Maintenance:

Weekly 25% water change.  Monthly 80% water change.  Gravel vac each time.

Water source: Filtered tap water.

Additives:  API Stress Coat. Kordon Protector. API Stress Zyme. Seachem Stability. Seachem Equilibrium. Fritz TurboStart. API Leaf Zone. Easy Carbo.   0.25 teaspoon of aquarium salt per 1 gallon.

Tourmaline balls.

Water Parameters:

Ammonia: under 0.005 mg/l (ppm)

Nitrite: 0

Nitrate: 0

pH: 7.0

Hardness (GH): 0 

 

[Christina CC]

Because of dark spots on his body and curly white patches on his left side from fights, I put him through a course of API General Cure, Marycin and Ich-X treatment in November 2022. Zero visible changes. That led me to believe the curly white patches are scar tissues, and the dark spots could be beneign trails left over by parasites.

 

[Colu]

It could be the start of fin rot  I would stop adding seachems stability and Fritz turbostart bottled bacterial is just a waste of money and doesn't do anything in a cycled tank you only need two add API stress coat when doing water changes its been proven to not do much to speed up the healing process and API leaf zone for your plants adding that many things to your tank will be stressful to him not very beneficial what I would do is add Indian almond leaves as they have antibacterial and antifungal properties you might have to add 1 leaf per gallon to get a beneficial effect depending on the quality of the leaves and keep adding aquarium salt as he's acting lethargic I would do a course of kanaplex in food feeding a small amount twice a day for 7 days  keep his temperature at 80-82 they do a lot better long term @Christina CC

Edited February 14, 2023 by Colu

[Christina CC]

Thanks for the reply. I want to give an update on Snowy II's condition. I proceed to treat him with aquarium salt and three courses of Kanaplex. While there is zero change to his jagged fins, the part of the fins that was bitten in November started to regrow after treatment in January (two months after injury). His appetite now gets better and is more normal. He makes bubble nests occassionally. He still does not swim that actively but that is in line with his sedentary behavior. So I think he does recover from whatever infections after quarantine.

I can make out the few pedals of his pectoral fins. Each is sort of a pedal shape but they are of different sizes and lengths. I now believe his jagged fins are just how he naturally grows to become.