Body Rot???

I have a male veiltail betta. Almost since I got him (little over a year ago), he has had fin rot that heals, then gets worse, then heals again. I began to think it was just tail biting, but recently it has gotten a lot worse relatively quickly. I am at a loss as to why he has such bad fin rot as he has a 5 gallon heated and filtered tank, eats very well, and was pretty active. Also, my other betta in the exact same conditions (who I got in November), has absolutely no fin rot. I got pretty alarmed after his fin rot reached his body, and now part of his body is transperant(shown in pic) . Is this body rot???? He recently started sinking down to the bottom of his tank and seems to have trouble swimming around, although he still does the best he can. I did a 90% water change after I saw that because I thought the problem might be infrequent water changes leading to bad water, and he seems to be a little more active, but I really hope I can prevent this from getting any worse. I bought API Fin and Body Cure, is this a good thing to use to help him? Thanks for any input!

 

I can't tell from your picture, can you try to get a clearer and maybe more close up pic?

How often were you doing water changes before the 90% change? (And how much water was changed.)

Even with a filter, regular water changes are a must. I assume you use a dechlorinator, as chlorine in tap water is not good for fish.

With the persistent rot, I would do frequent water changes. Like 50% every other day if you can, as this is an ongoing problem. Clean (very clean) water alone can help cure fin rot.

 

I did 50% water changes every 3 weeks about. I tried to get a clearer picture, its attachted, but I'm not sure if its much clearer. If you see the lighter patch on his body where the bottom fin is almost gone, that's what I'm concerned about(it might not look very transperant on camera but it does look pretty transperant in real life. I do use a dechlorinator, however I actually don't use tap water at all. I use my filtered drinking water (no softner, no minerals), with the hose water (no softner, lots of minerals) to get a balance so the water has some minerals. Should I go ahead and give him the medication? it is one packet for every ten gallons( he only has five), but will a double dose be ok in this situation?

 

I did 50% water changes every 3 weeks about. I tried to get a clearer picture, its attachted, but I'm not sure if its much clearer. If you see the lighter patch on his body where the bottom fin is almost gone, that's what I'm concerned about(it might not look very transperant on camera but it does look pretty transperant in real life. I do use a dechlorinator, however I actually don't use tap water at all. I use my filtered drinking water (no softner, no minerals), with the hose water (no softner, lots of minerals) to get a balance so the water has some minerals. Should I go ahead and give him the medication? it is one packet for every ten gallons( he only has five), but will a double dose be ok in this situation?

You should definitely be doing water changes way more than once every 3 weeks, this could be causing the fin rot. In my 5 gal I do a 25% water change and vacuum the gravel once a week which was suggested to my by the lovely people of Fishlore The best way to treat fin rot is usually clean water and water changes because some medications for fin rot can seriously harm labyrinth fish. Also, as long as you use a water conditioner you could just use your tap water

 

I would do daily water changes of 50% instead of meds, to see if that helps first. You should start seeing an improvement to his fins (or at least a reduction in the loss of his fins) in a few weeks. Fin rot could be caused by the poor water quality by the lack of water changes.

You should be doing weekly water changes even when the fish is healthy.