Filter Tears Or Fin Biting?

So my vail tail betta’s tail fins have been sort of disappearing by chunks over the pass month or two and I just want to know if it is tail biting or if it’s from my filter? I would really appreciate it if you could help me.

 

I am not a betta expert, but it would help a lot if you posted a picture of your fish, so it can be easier to diagnose your problem

 

well, I would probably guestimate that its other fish. I have cichlids and not a day has passed where everyone in my tank has nice, long fins. There is always a chunk or tear taken out of someone. Betta are slow swimming though, and depending on the filter type, if it's strong enough it might be sucking him in but...usually not. A picture would help. .

 

I am not a betta expert, but it would help a lot if you posted a picture of your fish, so it can be easier to diagnose your problem

well, I would probably guestimate that its other fish. I have cichlids and not a day has passed where everyone in my tank has nice, long fins. There is always a chunk or tear taken out of someone. Betta are slow swimming though, and depending on the filter type, if it's strong enough it might be sucking him in but...usually not. A picture would help. .

well I don’t have any other fish in his part of the tank and he is the only one of my three bettas with visible fin damage and his side of the take is where m

well, I would probably guestimate that its other fish. I have cichlids and not a day has passed where everyone in my tank has nice, long fins. There is always a chunk or tear taken out of someone. Betta are slow swimming though, and depending on the filter type, if it's strong enough it might be sucking him in but...usually not. A picture would help. .

well I don’t have any other fish in his part of the tank and he is the only one of my three bettas with visible fin damage and his side of the take is where my filter is ?

well I don’t have any other fish in his part of the tank and he is the only one of my three bettas with visible fin damage and his side of the take is where m

well I don’t have any other fish in his part of the tank and he is the only one of my three bettas with visible fin damage and his side of the take is where my filter is ?

Also here are a few pics of him

 

From the pictures you posted, it looks like fin rot to me. It is very common for bettas, and it is an easy thing to cure. Check out this site: , it should tell you everything you need to know. Good luck, and don’t worry, bettas are extremely hardy fish.

 

ooo, yeah, I agree, It does look like fin rot. I was expecting just 1 or 2 little chunks taken. Bettafix might help. a non-invasive (sensitive) fungal medication will help clear it up. You could probably get away with medicating the whole system w/o a problem (even if the other's don't have it).

It won't negatively affect them, and you won't have to stress the 'sick' betta out with moving him to another tank. Just remember to pull your carbon media insert out of your whisper 10. You could stick a sponge in there for the time being if you want, but it'll be okay if the filter is just circling water (with no media) at least if just for the time while you're medicating. If you don't pull the carbon out while medicating, the carbon will take the medication out of the water and you'll be medicating nothing (basically).

He looks kind of rough, but in some cases, fin rot will cure itself with healthy water conditions and plenty of live bacteria. Again, betta fish are really hardy. It's not necessarily contagious in my experience, however it will affect a fish if the fish is stressed and already not at it's best. Its like the fish flu, or an infected scrape.

 

ooo, yeah, I agree, It does look like fin rot. I was expecting just 1 or 2 little chunks taken. Bettafix might help. a non-invasive (sensitive) fungal medication will help clear it up. You could probably get away with medicating the whole system w/o a problem (even if the other's don't have it).

It won't negatively affect them, and you won't have to stress the 'sick' betta out with moving him to another tank. Just remember to pull your carbon media insert out of your whisper 10. You could stick a sponge in there for the time being if you want, but it'll be okay if the filter is just circling water (with no media) at least if just for the time while you're medicating. If you don't pull the carbon out while medicating, the carbon will take the medication out of the water and you'll be medicating nothing (basically).

He looks kind of rough, but in some cases, fin rot will cure itself with healthy water conditions and plenty of live bacteria. Again, betta fish are really hardy. It's not necessarily contagious in my experience, however it will affect a fish if the fish is stressed and already not at it's best. Its like the fish flu, or an infected scrape.

Thank you soooooo much I really appreciate it!

 

Check out that site that Sam posted if you haven't already though, if you choose to medicate, do your own research about what the medication treats. I personally have never used bettafix. I just know it's an all around, non-invasive medication specifically made for bettas. I've read that pimafix (a fungal medication I have used, and do like) can be harmful to labyrinth fish, like bettas.

He'll be fine regardless of how you treat him though. .

 

Check out that site that Sam posted if you haven't already though, if you choose to medicate, do your own research about what the medication treats. I personally have never used bettafix. I just know it's an all around, non-invasive medication specifically made for bettas. I've read that pimafix (a fungal medication I have used, and do like) can be harmful to labyrinth fish, like bettas.

He'll be fine regardless of how you treat him though. .

HI also can u possibly tell me what is wrong with my other betta when I got him we was a beautiful crown tail and now he never flares and is really pale in color and he hasn’t had fun rot I check for that all of the time he was looking great and very active for the first few weeks and ever since I moved him into a split 10 Fallon he just hasn’t looked very good. The first pic of him is when I got him and the second is a few days ago

 

Wow, are those pictures of the same fish? That is very curious, loosing color indicates a lot of things for bettas, and if the pics are of the same fish, there is defiantly a problem there, that is a big transformation. I would wait for FishGirl38 to give her opinion, she seems like she knows a lot about bettas, but it defiantly looks like an illness.

 

He does look a little sad. But I don't see anything specific that would spell out a sickness.
Betta fish that I've seen, who look like that, might have a sort of velvet, or excess body slime. But if you're not seeing anything up close, than I don't think that's it.

This may sound silly, but what are you feeding him?
If it's just regular flake, or a betta staple pellet. Try giving him some small bloodworms, live, frozen, or individually freeze dried. Omega sells a 'betta bloodworm' food, where I work it has an orangey-brown cap.
And have you tested your water lately? how often do you do water changes, how much water do you usually take out?

To me he doesn't look...like a sick betta per say. He just looks a little unhappy.
Does he have tank mates on that side that he doesn't like? Though that's prob not the case anyway.

 

I've never actually taken care of a betta though, I've had a female before in a community thank. But that was really it. You could try posting another thread about that betta, to get more opinions on him too. Since we've figured out what the chunks taken out were on the other one.

Is that fish, the one with the fin rot, In the same separated system as the other one....
Fin rot is a secondary infection, meaning that it occurs when water conditions are right for it, and if the fish is already feeling down. You said this other guy doesn't have fin rot, BUT, maybe the water in the tank is high in ammonia or nitrite? Do your betta stay at the top alot?

They're labrynth fish and can breathe air directly from the surface, whereas most fish need to process O2 through their gills to get it--Fish who aren't labirynth fish are more suseptable to ammonia poisoning because the only way they can get O2, is by filtering it out of ammonia rich water using their gills--ammonia burns the gills and essentially suffocates the fish, if in high concentrations.

So betta are more resilient to high ammonia and nitrite (because of their ability to get air from the surface, they can somewhat avoid the high ammonia concentrations).

The water quality would explain how/why the red betta got fin rot, and may explain why this betta looks so down.

 

I mentioned food, because a fish's diet can have a lot to do with their color. If you feed the same thing all the time, the fish is likely to be dull. (however he looks a little more than just dull considering he's not flaring).

In the wild, fish eat a variety of things, and whatever they want. For betta, bloodworms are considered a 'good' thing to feed them. Though you could also try brine shrimp. I'd recommend either live brine (they'll love you forever) or frozen, though if you choose frozen, the cube will surely be too large for 1 feeding. I'd cut em in half or 4ths for thawing, then feed individual pieces--to avoid overfeeding.

Bloodworms- Some people have reported fish getting parasites by feeding live bloodworms. I have fed them before and my fish seem okay, but do so at your own risk. The freeze drid ones are a safe bet though.

I don't want to-unknowingly/ignorantly-misdiagnose your betta fish in case there is something truely lurking there.
So I'm looking up some info to see if I can find where this instance is the case. Below are links for betta disease info.
My only other thought is that it may be parasitic....(when fish 'get sick' but don't show signs of 'getting sick'...in my experiences, it's been something internal, if it's not the water quality)


It also includes anchor worms and Hold In The Head, both parasitic, both left out in the prior links.

In viewing some of these links, I hope it somewhat gives you solace that you're not dealing with something like say, columnaris or pop-eye...Like I said, He doesn't necessarily look 'sick', just unhappy/uncomfortable.

I'd just give your water a good testing and get back to us. Check the PH too. anything below 6.0 is WAYY too acidic for fish. Anything above 8.0 and you're in saltwater alkalinity...(not salinity, just amount of CA and MG.)

 

He does look a little sad. But I don't see anything specific that would spell out a sickness.
Betta fish that I've seen, who look like that, might have a sort of velvet, or excess body slime. But if you're not seeing anything up close, than I don't think that's it.

This may sound silly, but what are you feeding him?
If it's just regular flake, or a betta staple pellet. Try giving him some small bloodworms, live, frozen, or individually freeze dried. Omega sells a 'betta bloodworm' food, where I work it has an orangey-brown cap.
And have you tested your water lately? how often do you do water changes, how much water do you usually take out?

To me he doesn't look...like a sick betta per say. He just looks a little unhappy.
Does he have tank mates on that side that he doesn't like? Though that's prob not the case anyway.

Well he just isn’t very active and the betta next to him is very calm and dearest flared so he shouldn’t be stressed by him and I don’t know ever since my first betta died he has never been the same. It was really sad because the betta who died would lay at the bottom a lot and the other one would look at him like we was a concerned brother I felt really bad. He had swim blatter and I did a 100% water change and still he has never been the same. Also the water qualities are normal and the other fish are just fine and really active

 

I'm going to organize this reply, I'm noticing that I write books compared to other individuals, and I want to make them easy to read and reply to.

For Future Reference w/ Swim Bladder Issues: I believe there is medication for it. But I've also heard feeding plant material (specifically skinned peas--buy them frozen from supermarket, thaw a few, peel the skin off, and let betta nibble) can help, though this works best for goldfish.

For Betta With Swim Bladder Issues: Try feeding spirulina. Omega brand sells a frozen spirulina. San-Francisco Bay brand sells spirulina infused brine shrimp. Spirulina a micro-organism of some type, but it is plant based and can be beneficial for swim bladder issues. When fish get swim bladder issues, its not necessarily an infection. They just have either too much or too little air in their labyrinth organ. (what allows them to breathe straight from the surface.)

Test Kit?: 'Normal' water quality doesn't really help us. So you HAVE tested the water? and ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are all fairly close to 0? If you haven't tested the water I would do so. Things may seem 'normal' but if you haven't tested you really can't be sure. What is your PH at?

Feeding: What is the name of the food you've been feeding? Is that the only thing you ever feed him?

Water Changes: Was that 100% water change fairly recent? You almost NEVER want to take out 100% of an aquarium's water. I've heard some interesting things in this forum so far (like how there isn't really any bacteria in the water column (I disagree), and that larger water changes are better....). However that is not what I've been told where I work (it's a family owned business with managers who've worked there and with fish for 20+ years, there's about 60+ years of collected experience).

When you do large water changes like that, it can stress the fish more than it actually helps them. Because you're taking them from water they're used to (even if it's 'dirty' water) and putting them directly into water that is a brand new environment. Even if there is plenty of bacteria in the filter, changing 100% of the tank water at one time can essentially simulate a new tank.
If you need to do massive water changes, I'd recommend 70%-80% at one time, refill, then the next day do another 50% or so water change.

BUT I'd really only recommend that if you've had a parasitic out-break that you can't kill have have to remove from the tank. I'd recommend weekly or bi-weekly 20-30% water changes. Though individuals on this forum have told me that isn't quite enough. (My fish are generally fine though) and have recommended weekly 30-50% water changes. (though I believe that is WAY too much/frequent). Also depends on the bio-load, the more fish, the more water changes.

 

I'd be really helpful to know:
What are your tests reading, what are the results? NH4, NO2, NO3, and PH.
and
What are you feeding him?

 

I'd be really helpful to know:
What are your tests reading, what are the results? NH4, NO2, NO3, and PH.
and
What are you feeding him?

Just small betta pellets and some betta flakes and I have no clue what the NH4 NO2.NO3 are and I can’t really go out and buy all of the testing stuff because I’m only 15 and don’t have a job yet but I do know that my ph is normal

 

I'd be really helpful to know:
What are your tests reading, what are the results? NH4, NO2, NO3, and PH.
and
What are you feeding him?

HI um well you were the first person I though of when this happened. So my half moon male betta was perfectly fine last night but when I woke up he was stuck inbetween my air stone and the pipe like thing that helps the bubbles go up and not he has this huge white spot on the top of his head and looks to be blind in one eye. It’s been about 7 hours since it happened this morning and he is still not swimming a lot and I am worried that he might of damaged something. I fed him and he seems to be responding to food like normal but he just stays still for a bit in the middle Of the tank.