All my betta fish get fin rot.

^Title

This is my third fish, so by now I know that I'm doing something wrong and its not just the fish. I've tried everything. IAL leaves don't work. Salt doesn't either.

I currently have two betta's the first one is a double - tail(twin-tail) halfmoon and the other is a Dumbo/Elephant Ear betta. Twintail is in a 5 gallon and the Dumbo Ear is in a 15 gallon tank.

I got the dumbo around two weeks ago and already I see his fins getting choppy, and I don't think its tail biting because he's building massive bubble nest all around the tank. I use silk plants with the exception of a small anubias nana and a piece of driftwood.

The halfmoon's tail was damaged when he got caught in the filter. It proceeded to get worse, until it stopped about a month ago. I've had no luck healing his tail.

My late betta's tail was also ripped up and broken (it's why I came here lol) although I don't know how much of it might have been tail biting. I've gone to use betta fix to treat them because nothing else works. I'll attach some before and after pics so you can see the changes. I'm just looking for ideas to restore their fins.

 

If you have done very frequent water changes over a few weeks, and that didn't help, along with the aquarium salt and the IAL, then maybe it is time to add an anitbiotic.

Of course in reading on this forum you will have seen that a lot of people in the hobby hate the thought of using antibiotics.

I always say that using antibiotics are the very last resort. If you add an anitbiotic to your established tank, it will kill off a lot of your beneficial bacteria. A QT tank would be better if you have that available.

There are a lot of meds out there for fin rot. You just want to make sure that you are getting something that will treat gram negative bacteria, since that is ususally what causes fin rot.

API has fin and body cure (doxycycline); Seachem has a number of meds, including kanaplex (kanamycin), Sulfaplex (sulfathiazole), or Polygurad (sulfathiazole and malachite green). Polyguard is a little messy, as it is green and gets everywhere (at least, when my clumsy self tries to use it, it does ).

Hope this helps!

Edit: Forgot to add - it is very important to find out why this is happening in order to avoid it in the future. I know that it's hard to pinpoint causes sometimes, but if you don't fix the cause, it will happen again and again.

 

Thanks for the reply, I do have Kanaplex on hand. I read on

How do I cure Fin Rot in a Betta? | Betta Fish Forum | 448947

this thread that Meth Blue Dip might, although it was never finished. Would that help too?

 

Thanks for the reply, I do have Kanaplex on hand. I read on

How do I cure Fin Rot in a Betta? | Betta Fish Forum | 448947

this thread that Meth Blue Dip might, although it was never finished. Would that help too?

You could try that. I have used it in the past for minor fin rot. I have found people who recommend meth blue over a lot of other meds/methods of treating fin rot.

Just be warned that it will stain anything that it comes into contact with. I did a fish dip (the 10 second one), and found that to be a lot of work/use of resources for a small benefit. So the next time, I did a fish bath (see the instructions), and left my betta in for a little while. It will actually dye the bad areas of the fins blue. If you don't see him stressing over it, you could probably leave him in a little longer than the directions indicate.

Make sure that you use a container for the dip/bath that it won't matter if you have to throw it away.

 

Honestly, I don’t think you’re doing anything wrong. I’m certain it’s the fish...

After being here for a while you’ll notice the hugely disproportionate amount of people complaining about their betta’s health. I think it’s just that the linebred variants are exponentially weak, and the long finned variants especially find it difficult to swim, leaving them lethargic.

Bettas are bred to be attractive and interesting fish, but most betta owners are left freaked out and scared throughout their fish’s life, which often only lasts a few months even if the owner practices basic husbandry.

Betta splendens is a fish I’ll never keep again. It’s unfortunate how weak the species has become. Similar case to the dwarf gourami, a fish I only want to steer people away from.

As captivating as bettas might be, your next one will very likely succumb to the same premature fate as the others you’ve kept. I wouldn’t want for you to go through it all a fourth time.

Anyways, if there’s stuff in the tank that’ll rip the betta’s fins, you’ll never get past torn fins and fin rot unless you remove the objects that are ripping the fins. This even includes the filter and parts of the scape, which obviously can’t be removed without killing the tank.

 

If every one of your bettas has torn fins but you don't suspect tail biting then you may be doing something wrong. Shredded fins can be due to high ammonia or nitrites in the water or water source (I recently rescued one from an abuse case with ammonia poisoning - his fins are destroyed), bad tankmates, sharp decor, driftwood or stress. Test the temp, pH, ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. Make sure the tanks are away from drafts, filtration isn't too strong and tankmates are suitable. Keep an eye out for self-inflicted fin biting as this is only seen in long-finned males (halfmoon, doubletail, rosetail, feathertail) or stressed fish.