Clamped fins

[Theresa_M]

I know I'm full of questions today! But, I picked up this Betta from a local breeder Saturday. She's been playing and seemed to be doing well, but last night I noticed clamped fins. My plan was always to wait until Monday morning to start meds so I could feed her and observe. Guess I waited too long. 

Amonia 0-.25 (barely showing a green color in master kit)

Nitrites 0

Nitrates somewhere between 20

pH 8.2

I am feeling like it's the harder water and pH causing the issue, which there is nothing I can do about with immediacy. The water in my area is much harder than the breeder's, but I didn't realize this until after already bringing her home that this could be an issue. 

I'm heart broken 😢 Poor thing. 

Started med trio first thing this morning. 

Have you ever had a fish that's recovered from clamped fins before? She has no other signs of distress.

Edited January 18, 2021 by Theresa_M

[FrozenFins]

The med trio wont do much.

To correct the clamp fins you need to figure out the problem and fix it. I'll give you an example of a betta I had with clamped fins (keep in mind this was YEARS ago and I have learned from my mistakes)

-I had a betta in a bowl with no heater the betta develped clamped fins. The problem: The water parameters and the tempeture of the water. I fixed the problem and he was all fine.

I am thinking its the amonia and ph causing this. Do a waterchange an then lower the ph. To lower ph you can introduce tannins or get:

-Seachem Betta Basics This will buffer the ph to 7.0.

-Aquarium Salt will also help.

 

[Theresa_M]

1 minute ago, James Black said:

The med trio wont do much.

To correct the clamp fins you need to figure out the problem and fix it. I'll give you an example of a betta I had with clamped fins (keep in mind this was YEARS ago and I have learned from my mistakes)

-I had a betta in a bowl with no heater the betta develped clamped fins. The problem: The water parameters and the tempeture of the water. I fixed the problem and he was all fine.

I am thinking its the amonia and ph causing this. Do a waterchange an then lower the ph. To lower ph you can introduce tannins or get:

-Seachem Betta Basics This will buffer the ph to 7.0.

-Aquarium Salt will also help.

 

Thank you! Started the med trio this morning so I'm not apt to change the water. The low ammonia - which is nearly 0 - is considered to be in the "safe" parameters. The tank is cycled - but this little bump did come up yesterday. I should have changed water before I did meds. Dangit! 

I will head out to see if I can grab the buffer. I do have a couple of cattapa leaves in the tank. I think I read one of this per 10gal...

[FrozenFins]

54 minutes ago, Theresa_M said:

Thank you! Started the med trio this morning so I'm not apt to change the water. The low ammonia - which is nearly 0 - is considered to be in the "safe" parameters. The tank is cycled - but this little bump did come up yesterday. I should have changed water before I did meds. Dangit! 

I will head out to see if I can grab the buffer. I do have a couple of cattapa leaves in the tank. I think I read one of this per 10gal...

Yes cattapa leaves will work too! 

[Theresa_M]

Found that three of the six I picked up had clamped fins. Transferred them all to another H tank - salted and cycled. Have it dark and covered with a towel. (I did just take a peek and see that two appear to have perked up!!) May be wishful thinking that this will work... Each in their own breeder box for security.

[Kriskm]

Any amount of ammonia is bad for fish, and having a high pH makes the effect even worse. I'm guessing the high pH isn't the problem so much as the effect that pH is having on that little bit of ammonia. Hopefully you've taken care of that by putting them in this cycled tank. Prime is a good dechlorinator that also make any ammonia in your tank non-toxic to the fish. At the same time, it leaves the ammonia in a form that the beneficial bacteria can still digest, so your tank can keep cycling.

[Mr_Manifesto]

As a side note, If you use a pH buffer, please be careful.  Huge pH swings will kill fish instantly.

[Theresa_M]

13 hours ago, Mr_Manifesto said:

As a side note, If you use a pH buffer, please be careful.  Huge pH swings will kill fish instantly.

Thank you! I don't use buffers. All of my fish are adapting to the pH and I'm trying to bring it down in natural ways. 

[Theresa_M]

Happy update!! 24 hrs after my initial post all three are perfectly fine! Thank you for your help!! 

Transferred to new tank;

Raised heat to 80;

Added salt;

Turned the lights off and covered the tank with a towel.

Took a peek tonight to find all of them swimming around! Fed them each a couple of blood worms and all seems right in the world tonight. It really is a great feeling to see them doing well. 

Their tail fins seem a little tore up now, so I figured I'd try erythromycin next.

Again, thanks to everyone who commented!

[Colu]

If  you are  only feeding blood worms you could try hikari Betta bio gold good quality food

[Theresa_M]

Thanks! I have a fridge full of different foods. Flakes, live black worms, frozen brine shrimp, pellets, bug bites... But, haven't tried any of the Hikari line yet. Thanks for the advice! It's going on the list 🙂

[FrozenFins]

51 minutes ago, Theresa_M said:

Happy update!! 24 hrs after my initial post all three are perfectly fine! Thank you for your help!! 

Transferred to new tank;

Raised heat to 80;

Added salt;

Turned the lights off and covered the tank with a towel.

Took a peek tonight to find all of them swimming around! Fed them each a couple of blood worms and all seems right in the world tonight. It really is a great feeling to see them doing well. 

Their tail fins seem a little tore up now, so I figured I'd try erythromycin next.

Again, thanks to everyone who commented!

Be patient. One treatment of salt won't fix their torn fins and neither will erythromycin. Give it a weeks salt treatment at 2 tsp a gallon and it should fix it just fine.