Help! Treating Fungal Infection on Betta Fins? Fin Rot?

Hi! I’ve had my betta for about 9 months. For background, he’s a fin nipper— i’ve mitigated it by keeping him entertained/moving his decor around, as he seems to do it mostly when bored. I recently moved into a new apartment, so he did have a big stressful day on thursday.

He’s been doing fine, seems happy and perky, but this morning I got up and noticed this fuzzy bit on his fin. I’m not sure if it was there yesterday (I was working all day and didn’t pay him too much attention), but it was definitely NOT there on Friday. Anyone know what this is?? I did a 20% water change immediately, but looking for suggestions on what this is and how to treat my baby!

Tank background:

5 gal heavily planted tank (real plants)
Stocked with one single male betta. There are some little snails in there as well
Heated at 79F
Filtered w sponge filter

Parameters (tested with API freshwater master kit):
PH: 6.8
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0ppm

 

Looks like a scar, is there anything sharp that he could have bumped up against?

 

Looks like a scar, is there anything sharp that he could have bumped up against?

my concern is that it's kinda fuzzy and white, so i'm a little worried about it being a fungal thing or just infected? He and the tank just moved to my new apartment the other day so it's definitely possible he got scraped up during the move.

 

I didn't see the fuzziness in the picture. That definitely sound like a fungal or bacterial infection then.
Avoid most medications because they can be harmful to your fish.
Aquarium salt and clean water can help but maybe someone else can chime in with better advice.

 

Hi! I made a post a few days ago but am still looking for a solution.

My betta boy has developed what I think is a fungal infection on his fin-- either fungal fin rot, or bacterial fin rot that has developed fungus on the infected section? It's confined to a single fin, nothing on his other fins or body. He does have some rips in his other fins as he's a boredom and stress induced fin nipper, but they show no signs of rot, and have been healing over the past few weeks.

I recently moved him into a new apartment, (Last thursday 10/28), so I'm guessing he may have gotten an injury in the move, and that combined with stress led to the infection. Friday and Saturday he looked fine, happy, healthy. Sunday morning (10/31) I noticed a fuzzy white thing on his fin. I did an immediate water change and tested parameters with API Freshwater Master Kit, which were:

PH: 6.8
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0ppm
He's in a 5 gallon planted tank (live plants), and it's stocked with only him and some snails. He has a sponge filter and heater, which is usually set to 79. I currently have it set to 76 to slow the fungal infection. The tank is fully cycled and has been running for almost a year. I've had my little guy for 9 or 10 months.

Attached are photos of the development over the past three days. 10/31 is when it first showed up. 11/1 I woke up and the big chunk had fallen off (it was stuck to a plant-- I removed it from the tank), and there was just a little wisp. 11/2 things seemed better-- there was a tiny bit of white but looked like it was going away. 11/3 (today) I woke up and it was looking worse again! He has white fuzz again and a couple little pinholes in that fin, although it's still confined just to that one fin. Photos are labeled with the dates.

He doesn't seem stressed at all-- He's excited to see me when I walk up to the tank, eager to eat, active and chipper, and his colors are just as bright as usual. I wanted to try treating by just keeping it super clean and not going into medicating, but that doesn't seem to be working... So I'm looking for suggestions!

I'm going to get a hospital tank set up today to treat him. My best guess is that he either has fungal fin rot, or bacterial fin rot and some kinda fungus has developed on the rotting fin. If you have an idea on what else this might be or if I've maybe got it wrong, please lemme know! Any suggestions on the best meds out there to clear up fungal infections and fin rot? Using salt?

 

Hi,

If you don't want to start on using a med, then I am attaching a link to a thread about using hydrogen peroxide. You might want to try that to see if it helps. I start with this because most people have hydrogen peroxide already, and it's something that you can use while waiting for meds, if you decide to go that route. You can use it directly in the hospital tank, or you can actually use if full strength by painting it on his affected fin, if you are up for that. If you paint it on yourself, it will be a little stressful, and you have to be careful not to injure him in the process. Make sure that you don't get any full strength hydrogen peroxide in his eyes for sure.

Aquarium salt and frequent small water changes can help.

Thread 'Peroxide How To'


If this doesn't work, there are a lot of meds on the market. (methylene blue, API fungus cure, and Polyguard just to name a few)

 

my crowntail betta would often get that, I guess some fish are more prone to it and it seems like ones with longer fins. for him I just did small water changes very often (like 3 times a week) and put in some aquarium salt it healed up within a few days although it always come back if I stoped with the frequent water changes so I did about 25% 2x a week.