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July 12th, 2008
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Fish Keeper
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How common is tail bitting? (self destructive)
I have noticed the back of my bettas tail has some missing fins, he doesn't have fin rot. But I have noticed he is twisting around funny a lot so I am guessing he is biting his tail?
What can I do for him? I have plants in his tank, and his water quality is great.
Also is it okay to use melafix on him?
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July 12th, 2008
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Master Of Fish Poo!
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It's not real common, but does happen. Sometimes it's boredom, sometimes excitement over a female, fiery personalities.. etc.. that causes it. I'd treat with Fish Protector, Garlic Guard and Vita-Chem. 1 drop of each daily.
Definitely NO melafix anywhere near him.
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July 12th, 2008
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Fish Keeper
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Quote:
Originally Posted by COBettaCouple
It's not real common, but does happen. Sometimes it's boredom, sometimes excitement over a female, fiery personalities.. etc.. that causes it. I'd treat with Fish Protector, Garlic Guard and Vita-Chem. 1 drop of each daily.
Definitely NO melafix anywhere near him.
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thanks, I will get him some! I am just so used to melafix from using it on my cichlids so I didn't know how they respond to the melafix. |
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July 12th, 2008
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Master Of Fish Poo!
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No problem. Yea, the air labyrinth organs can suffer from exposure to the Melaleuca Oil.. often leading to death.  |
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July 12th, 2008
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Fish Keeper
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Quote:
Originally Posted by COBettaCouple
No problem. Yea, the air labyrinth organs can suffer from exposure to the Melaleuca Oil.. often leading to death. |
thanks, that is something good to know! |
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July 12th, 2008
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Master Of Fish Poo!
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Yea, thank God for FishLore or I probably would've bought and used that on our Bettas. It really should have a warning on it.
Good luck getting his fins healed up fast. How often do you rearrange his decor?
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July 12th, 2008
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Fish Keeper
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I just did it for the first time today when I cleaned his tank. We have a little planiara infestation from a plant I bought last sat so I took everything out of his tank (plant wise fake and real) and cleaned them off.
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July 12th, 2008
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Master Of Fish Poo!
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Definitely rearrange his decor weekly. It helps to keep them from getting bored and unfortunately, I've found that, from the 2 tail-biters that we've had, that they tend to be repeat offenders.
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July 12th, 2008
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Fish Helper
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I have had only one tail biter, I thought he had fin rot before I caught him in the act. I tried putting a female next to him to distract him from his tail but he didn't pay any attention to her. I finally put a orange ping pong ball in his tank and he would go over and attack that. After a year he finally doesn't have to have his ping pong ball. He is in a well planted tank now and seems to enjoy hanging out on the java fern and watching the world go by.
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July 12th, 2008
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Fish Mentor
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It's looking like I may have a tail biter here for the 1st time......I found Patron with a large section of his top fin in his mouth the other day....He was swimming around with it looking rather proud of himself....He is almost completely naked now....I haven't caught him in the act but something is causing his finnage to fall off in chunks!
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July 12th, 2008
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Fish Keeper
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Poor Patron! He is such a beauty, what a tragedy. |
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July 12th, 2008
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Fish Mentor
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Yes it is a tragedy! It's hard to look at him right now.....The good thing is he acts totally fine....He just swims kind of lopsided lol...He'll be fine...I see regrowth but this is going to take some time to get his gorgeous finnage back....If I could I send him to his room for time out lol
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July 12th, 2008
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Fish Keeper
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thats so sad!!!
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July 13th, 2008
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Master Of Fish Poo!
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Yea, it's a little frustrating.. Mickey has such a beautiful double-tail but he nips at it.
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July 13th, 2008
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Fish Keeper
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I put a ping pong ball in the tank for my betta after moving everything around, he seems to be busy now playing w/ that. Hopefully he will stop soon.
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July 13th, 2008
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Fish Mentor
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Do they really play with the ping pong balls? I bet that's cute! I'm going to have to try that one....
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July 13th, 2008
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Moderator ~ Betta Mommy
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They do play with ping pong balls some if you have the right betta. They also play in hamster tubing and will play in tunnels and bridges and any type of thing that has a lot of holes for them to swim in and out of. PVC pipe makes great tunnels and I have seen some wonderful things made of it. One guy smeared his with silicone and rolled it in the gravel to match the substrate and it looked really nice. Another one I saw not long ago was rolled in the flat glass marbles and looked so sparkly and lovely. But another thing they like is the air wands that bend and snake around things and do not need to be attached to anything. You can change the shape of them and make different patterns every week and they fall to the floor of the tank with no attachments needed. They are weighted somehow and they make them different bubbling patterns to swim through every time they are changed. Biters are bettas who cannot stand to be bored and they are unfortunately more common than we are wanting... seem to be becoming more common lately. When this board was started we were only faced with maybe one a year and this year we have had maybe 7 or 8 already. They are naughty but you are not able to do more than love these fish and to do that you have to just find some way to distract them and keep them busy with other things and in the case of one naughty little boy obsessing over a bubblenest does not count.... you know who you are. 
Rose |
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July 13th, 2008
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Fish Mentor
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Bubble nesting? Who's obsessing over bubble nests? Certainly not me......Look at this sweet innocent face....
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