Jasper has fin rot!!

:'( I am so upset...I've been medicating first EM tablets( first week I had him) then Triple sulfa Jasper off & on since I got him. He came with frayed fins...which looked fine. Then with all of you here having trouble with fin rot I decided to read more about it. Yup he had/has it and last week he had a lot of fin growth. He "appeared" to be healing up...then wham! Yesterday morning he looked all chewed up again. He is in a 10 gallon with an apple snail & a tiny bristle nose pleco baby. The parameters in the water are what they should be. I was doing two water changes a week...he looked better. He is on his second batch of triple sulfa (a week break) This is SO frustrating!! I just lost Sammy, if I lose Jasper too. No more male betta for me. Just females.

 

Can you show us a pic? Is it possible he's a tail biter?

He "appeared" to be healing up...then wham! Yesterday morning he looked all chewed up again.

Finrot doesn't happen that quickly, which is why I'm thinking he's biting his tail.

 

Barbrella, I have seen finrot return all of a sudden before. I know it wasn't chewing, because there were still "strands" or "ribbing" from the fins hanging there.

Yeah, fin rot can be such a pain to deal with.....good luck getting your guy better soon!

 

Can you show us a pic? Is it possible he's a tail biter?



Finrot doesn't happen that quickly, which is why I'm thinking he's biting his tail.

I haven't noticed chewing...but he has had fin rot. All the symptoms applied to him.
I took pixs but I am not home atm I'll post them later.

Here's a pix from a post I made thinking something else...

 

One of our bettas, Aslan, had a recurring case of finrot that he developed back when we still used gravel for the substrata. We had mild success with Fungus Clear, but it returned. We had longer, better success with Triple Sulfa, but after a while it returned. Then we tried a combo treatment of Triple Sulfa and Rid-Fungus (the only anti-fungal med we would use for this treatment), which seemed to have the best results so far and he's been looking much better and regrowing fins very well.

If you can find VitaChem and/or Fish Protector, both are a great help in the fin regrowth.

The finrot can really hit fast like that and unless you've seen him chasing his tail, i'd be inclined to say the sudden loss is due to finrot.

 

I'd also add (to put all the chances on your side) to check your water parameters and make sure there's practically zero nitrates.

I'd also, like Dave says, make sure that your substrate is really easy to clean. I ended up with just a handful of pebbles, rather than a lot of small gravel. That way, I could get the aquarium floor sparkling clean (well, vaccuumed). I ended up doing PWCs 2x per week on my betta with finrot, just to be sure.

Also, what could help make him better is avoiding current. Are there any sources of current in the tank that can be decreased?

 

I will check the nitrates, but they were at zero yesterday, plus I did a gravel vac/water change yesterday. We put the filter from our 3 gallon on the 10g. There is definitely less current.
I was doing water changes 2 times a week. Until I noticed the regrowth of his fins. Back to doing that again.
I've never seen him or any betta chase their tail before.

 

Sometimes they do it at night (the eating its own tail), but like Dave says, there's a difference in appearance between self-harm and finrot, and he's voting finrot.

Nitrates of 0, that can't be bad.

Good call on removing the extra filter for the current.

So there's some regrowth now? That's great news.

 

Sometimes they do it at night (the eating its own tail), but like Dave says, there's a difference in appearance between self-harm and finrot, and he's voting finrot.

Nitrates of 0, that can't be bad.

Good call on removing the extra filter for the current.

So there's some regrowth now? That's great news.

No regrowth..yet. But no more fraying either.

 

Okay lots more fraying...his tail is getting really short. He is still in good spirits...but his poors fins.

 

sounds like Aslan when we moved.. his fins were mostly gone, thinning out and actually seemed to be developing holes all through all of his fins.. he was almost out of tail fin and had a split in his analfin all the way to his body.

Are you able to get Rid-Fungus, VitaChem & Fish Protector there to go along with the Triple Sulfa? what about Kanamyacin.. Kanaplex by Seachem is one med that has that in it.

 

Oh Allie. That's really bad. I am really sorry to hear this. I HATE this disease.

 

sounds like Aslan when we moved.. his fins were mostly gone, thinning out and actually seemed to be developing holes all through all of his fins.. he was almost out of tail fin and had a split in his analfin all the way to his body.

Are you able to get Rid-Fungus, VitaChem & Fish Protector there to go along with the Triple Sulfa? what about Kanamyacin.. Kanaplex by Seachem is one med that has that in it.

I have Fish protector which seems to be helping a bit. He has some growth as of yesterday.
One day he looks better the next, his fins are fraying. I hate this disease too.

 

Great, I love Fish Protector. Finrot is frustrating! Our first 2 Bettas got it and we've gone to great lengths to prevent it in our Bettas and have been working on knocking it completely out of our 2nd Betta, Aslan.

I have Fish protector which seems to be helping a bit. He has some growth as of yesterday.
One day he looks better the next, his fins are fraying. I hate this disease too.

 

So you can get rid of it completely?

 

that is our hope.

So you can get rid of it completely?