Help With Tail Rot in Betta

Hi guys! I have a halfmoon black orchid betta male named Noah. I noticed a week ago that he had some fin rot. It didn't look like it was breaking off, but his tail looks like a crown tail instead of the halfmoon. He lives in a 6.5 gallon, and he lives with 3 small rosy red minnows and a black racer nerite. I plan on moving him and his tankmates to a 12 gallon soon. His fin rot has postponed the move. How can I cure it? I've been treating him with jungle's fungus cure, and he hasn't gotten any better or worse. Is it a bacterial infection? His tank is fully cycled.

 

Welcome to Fishlore!!!!


Can you post a pic of Noah? What is your water change schedule? Do you have a heater? Do you use a water conditioner? Below is a link to the emergency template, and your answers will help us give you the best advice.

Aquatic Emergency Template

 

Welcome to Fishlore!!!!


Can you post a pic of Noah? What is your water change schedule? Do you have a heater? Do you use a water conditioner? Below is a link to the emergency template, and your answers will help us give you the best advice.

Aquatic Emergency Template

Yes. I do monthly water changes, but I will start doing a water change every 2 weeks now that I added the minnows until I move them to the 12 gal. I attached a before/after photo. The second photo is a pic from a few days ago, His color has returned, but his tail hasn't improved yet.
Tank
What is the water volume of the tank? 6.5
How long has the tank been running? 1 year
Does it have a filter? yes
Does it have a heater? yes
What is the water temperature? 76 F
What is the entire stocking of this tank? (Please list all fish and inverts.) 1 Betta, 3 rosy red minnows, and 1black racer nerite

Maintenance
How often do you change the water? every month
How much of the water do you change? 50%
What do you use to treat your water? tetra water conditioner
Do you vacuum the substrate or just the water?
I vacuum the substrate when I do my water changes

*Parameters - Very Important
Did you cycle your tank before adding fish? yes
What do you use to test the water? API master test kit
What are your parameters? We need to know the exact numbers, not just “fine” or “safe”.
Ammonia:
Nitrite: I will test it as soon as i can.
Nitrate:
pH:

Feeding
How often do you feed your fish? twice a day
How much do you feed your fish? a small pinch
What brand of food do you feed your fish? tetra color tropical flakes
Do you feed frozen? nope
Do you feed freeze-dried foods? nope

Illness & Symptoms
How long have you had this fish? 2 months
How long ago did you first notice these symptoms? August 27
In a few words, can you explain the symptoms? color faded and receding tail
Have you started any treatment for the illness? yes
Was your fish physically ill or injured upon purchase? no
How has its behavior and appearance changed, if at all? Just his tail

Explain your emergency situation in detail.
(Please give a clear explanation of what is going on, include details from the beginning of the illness leading up to now)
His tail is receding. He is a halfmoon but looks like a crowntail.
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If you are not aware of what the aquarium nitrogen cycle is, then please read about it here!
Aquarium Nitrogen Cycle
Important - Important Cycling Information

 

One thing fish with fin rot need is clean, clean, clean water. I think your tank is slightly overstocked and your water changes are not near often enough. Water changes should be weekly, no matter what. Like 50%. I would remove the 3 rosy reds for good, put them in the 12 gallon and cycle it with them maybe. Put an indian almond leaf in the water with your betta. You may have to change the water even more often for him, someone else here can maybe chime in on that. That may be enough to cure him. When my betta got fin rot I increased his water changes to one every 5 days instead of seven, 50% each time. I treated him with Furan 2. It worked beautifully but was hard on the plants. .

 

Hi,

I wanted to say that I love your user name. I actually had 2 female bettas - one named Mercy and the other Grace!!!!!

Like blushrimp1 indicated, I think the issue is the condition of your tank water. It is best practices to include weekly water changes. To get your betta healthy and to keep up with the extra bio load on your 6.5 gallon, for right now I would recommend doing small frequent water changes every other day. If you could change out 20% every other day, that would insure that your water is very clean and will help your betta boy recover as well as keep your minnows and nerite in good shape. It won't take a lot of time or effort to change 2 gallons of water, and it will really help your fin/snail babies.

I also agree that you could add some Indian almond leaves to the tank. They will produce tannins, and tint the water brown, but bettas love it. I think the minnows will, too. The tannins help to de-stress the fish, and also have some slight healing properties.

I would also recommend that you bump up the heat just a little. Bettas do best when their water temps are kept at 78 to 82 degrees, and the minnows and nerite can take that temp, too.

If you start making these small changes now, you should see some improvement in the betta's color and fins.

If his fins continue to dissolve, you may need to take some exta steps including some form of med and/or aquarium salt baths (if you need to know more about this, please post and let me know).

But I would definitley try the frequent water changes, raise the temp, and add the Indian almond leaves first for a few days. I would also check to see if you can use the water conditioner every time you do the small changes. If it holds the toxicity of ammonia and nitrites, that will help a lot, too. (Sorry I am not as familiar with Tetra water conditioner as I am with Prime, by Seachem, which can be used every other day when needed).

I hope this helps, and I hope that he bounces back quickly and is restored to the absolute beauty that he had when you first got him!!!

 

I could have sworn I posted in this thread...

Anyway, subscribed so I can follow more easily.

 

Ok! Thanks guys with all the help! I had the minnows in my 20 gal guppy tank until I started to notice some fin rot on one of them. Since my betta already had it and there was already some medication in there, I just added the group in to stop it from getting worse. Thanks for all the advice, and I will definitely start working on those changes. I will let y’all know when he gets better!☺️

 

Update on Noah
His colors are fully back and his tail looks like it’s starting to regrow.

 

Excellent!!! So glad that his tail is starting to get back to normal!