Fin Damage From Filter

my daughter has her betta in a 5 gallon bow front tank. He constantly swims past the filter intake and this morning I’ve noticed significant fin damage to his tail fin. What’s the best way to prevent this and will his fin repair over time? I’ve heard of people wrapping pantyhose around the intake. How exactly do you do that? Just wrap and use something to hold it in place? Will that also help to lessen the current from the filter? I’ve noticed that in certain parts of the tank the current is very strong and the betta has to really swim hard to not get pushed across the tank. Thanks in advance for your input.

 

His fin will repair overtime with good clean water and people would tie it with rubber bands, but that needs to be replaced after a while because they degrade or tie it with a cotton thread. It would barely change the current. If the current is too strong, there's many diy baffles you can search for online.

 

Ok. Thanks for the info. Would something like Stress Coat help speed up the fin repair?

 

I guess that it would help speed it up a tad bit because of the aloe vera inside it, but I don't think it would do much.

 

I use stress coat when I see damage. It might help but most is important is frequent water changes to keep the water pristine.

You can buy an intake sponge for the filter.

 

I wrap a filter bag (those white things you put inside the hang-on-back filter with the plastic frame--I take the frame off,) and wrap it around the intake pipe. I wrap a rubber band around it, or you can tie it with thread. Don't use anything that will hang out and catch the fins again, like a zip tie. For the outflow --the portion that falls back into the tank like a water fall--I bought a new kitchen sponge holder or soap holder with suction cups and placed it up high under the outflow lip stuck to the side of the tank. The suction cups are out of the water, but stuck Under the lip of the filter outflow. What it does is catch the splash and as the cup fills up it flows back into the tank. I got a deep one so I could also lay filter floss or filter bag inside with filter floss. It lightens the splash so that there's only a ripple. I'm assuming you have a hang-on-back filter.

 

My problem with the filter bag is that it can clog too quickly. I'm not sure if that would be an issue with this tank.

Another DIY idea is to go buy one of the Aquaclear sponges. Look at the different sizes and find one that would be big enough for the intake of your filter and cut a hole in the top. People have done that to make their own intake sponges. It'll look ugly eventually as the Aquaclear intakes are white.

 

My problem with the filter bag is that it can clog too quickly. I'm not sure if that would be an issue with this tank.

Another DIY idea is to go buy one of the Aquaclear sponges. Look at the different sizes and find one that would be big enough for the intake of your filter and cut a hole in the top. People have done that to make their own intake sponges. It'll look ugly eventually as the Aquaclear intakes are white.

There is one called Edge that has a hole in the top that I have also put over my intake. It also fits in the lip of the overflow as well, and the lid holds it in place.