Damaged fins and now fin rot?

Hi I’m a newbie to the forum, we got a Betta tank for my son’s birthday and the intial filter was came with the tank. I think it was too strong and George (his Betta fish) damaged his fins. I changed it to the fluval U1 but even that still seemed a bit strong for him and his fins started looking worse, not sure if he has fin rot, mainly his dorsal fin which he was clamping.
he left me looked a bit sad and stopped making bubble nests so I wasn’t sure is he was happy in his tank. I moved him out of the 10 gallon into the fluval spec 16.
I have been doing 20% water changes daily, water treated with Prime. He has IAL added to the tank.
He is eating and swimming fine just his fins look a bit sad, I haven’t medicated as read that melodic can sometimes cause issues with Betta’s. He shares his tank with 6 black neon tetra’s, white wizard snail (Mildred) and some shrimp. Last test was PH 7.1, nitrates 0, nitrates 0, ammonia 0 (using API master test kit)
It is a planted tank which use flourish and flourish excel, temp between 26-27celsius. He has hikari betta gold pellets, sometimes the tetra’s flakes, refuses blood worms and hasn’t even tried to eat the shrimp.
Does it look like it’s getting better with the water changes, what else must I do?

 

First off Welcome to the forum.

I George’s fins look pretty good. I think you are doing it right but the 0 nitrates is concerning. I assume it is because you do WCs everyday. Although, Is the tank cycled? I wouldn‘t medicate and most people will say the same. Someone else can Confirm and I hope does, as I am still a beginner. Lol Hope George does better.

 

Maybe discontinue using fertilizers but continue with water changes and see if he shows signs of improvement. At least you’d know if they are contributing to his condition or not. Also look up reviews on excel, I think it can be literal overkill sometimes. I don’t remember exactly, just remember thinking nope, not for me or my fish.

 

Welcome to Fishlore from one betta parent to another! George is beautiful! What a sweet-looking veil tale!!!

I can only see that one dark patch on his dorsal fin that might have a slight issue. It could very well be his normal coloring, though.

Indian almond leaves are great. The tannins that are released from the leaves contain slight antibacterial and antifungal properties, and fish just love the stuff.

Keep an eye on it to see if he loses any finnage. If you see that his fin mass begins to shrink, or that the black coloring spreads and he loses fin mass, then that would be fin rot. If that happens, then I recommend that he goes into a hospital tank by himself, where you can dose him with aquarium salt, water changes, and Indian almond leaves. If it continues to get worse, then and only then would I go for an antibiotic that treats gram negative bacterial infections.

The water changes will help a lot. Pristine water is the very best medicine for fin issues.

I don't really see any tannins in the water, if that is a current pic of him in the Fluval 16. When you can see brown tinted water, you know that you have a good amount of tannins. Below is a pic of my betta tank with tannin saturated water (just to give you an idea). It's usually a bit darker than that. This was after a water change.

Hope this helps!

 

Thanks that’s a really nice tank. His other tank water was a darker colour but between the new tank and water changes it may have diluted the almond leaf effect. He has 3 in at the moment, 2 are quite old that have been left in for the shrimp to eat so is it worth putting another in and stopping the water changes for few days?
I reused about 50% of the old tank water, the ceramic and kept the old sponge for the filter. His old tank had fluval stratum in that had started to break down and have algae blooms, I tried to change the substrate on his old tank but it was so hard on George while he was in the tank as the clarity went off so I decided the easiest was to get a new tank for him but all the filter equipment, plants, driftwood etc was from his existing tank.
The excel is for the plants, I only use it 1x per week as he has a sand substrate now.
His fin is looking a bit better he just hasn’t flared for a while so haven’t seen it fully spread.
I’ve got him a Betta log to relax in and hopefully he picks up, he quite a character so would hate anything to happen to him.

 

When I add new Indian almond leaves to the tank, the water darkens over night, so I think you can add more, and still do your water changes, and it will be ok.