Lewis continues to hurt himself. What can I do?

Hey all, long time no see.
I've been a little away from the fish hobby due to attending college across the country, so my beloved aquariums have been under the care of my mom (who's doing an outstanding job).

I did post a while back that Lewis was somehow hurting himself by what I assumed was him getting stuck into places he shouldn't be, or scratching himself on the gravel. I replaced half of his tank with play sand and literally checked every single edge of every item in his tank for sharp edges. All of his plants are real, and the driftwood and rocks and smooth with no edges that could harm him.

Well, a few weeks back, I got home for Christmas vacation and found my poor baby with his eye completely swollen (I freaked out and posted about that here too lol). Thankfully, it healed in under a week with just multiple water changes and salt, but that was most likely due to a physical injury. I saw that he had some redness and a couple of scraped scales around his eyes, which indicates that he probably got scratched on the rocks or driftwood. Aside from the eye issue though, he continues to injure his tail like before, except it's even worse this time. It is for sure not fin rot (yet) due to water quality, because it's ONLY his tail. His other fins look great, though he seems to have worn off the white tips of his ventral fins probably due to sitting on the bottom a lot. At this point, I have absolutely no clue what is causing his tail injury. It has gotten worse ever since I moved his tank to a different location, though I can't see how that would be related. There's nothing around his tank that I can think of that would be stressful. We moved him there so he would be able to see my mom and dad a bit throughout the day, and not completely alone in the other room. But yeah... what started as two small holes in his tail has now evolved into a giant V-shape chunk missing. I have considered that he may possibly be tail-biting, seeing it is only his tail that is being affected, but none of us have ever witnessed him doing that. I also never see like, pieces of his fin in the tank so I have no clue. I've tried rearranging the tank, adding more plants, adding a ping pong ball, and an exercise mirror to try and entertain him to avoid injury, but it doesn't seem to be working. He continues to squeeze himself into tight spots and in return, continues to get injured. That, or the possibility of tail biting.

The only solution I can possibly think of would be to basically move him to a new tank with nothing but plants and his heater/filter. No decor, no substrate, or anything, to avoid him from injuring himself. That would mean though that he could not be in a room with anyone else, and therefore would be alone. I also would hate to do that to him... put him in a bare, ugly tank. :/ But I just don't know what else to do for him. He seems to have permanently damaged the nerves in his tail too because I have seen no new growth whatsoever, despite adding stress coat, vitachem, and numerous water changes every week. I was treating with salt, but I try not to overdue it since it's not too great for them. I feel like every time it starts possibly look like it's healing, he re-tears it and it starts the entire process over again. I don't know if medication would be necessary at this point or not. :S

I'll post his tank info and a pic of his tail down below, but does anyone have any ideas on what else I can try? I just fear it will continue to get worse and become infected in the future. Trying to avoid that at all costs since well... my last two betta's both died to a nasty strand of fin rot. I can't go through that again.


Tank info;
5 gallon, filtered, heated @ 81F.
Live plants, driftwood, rocks, with cherry shrimp and snail.
Gets 50% water change weekly.
He's still eating and active, though I have noticed he seems a little on the "down" side. He spends a lot of his time at the bottom at his favorite spot, hiding. He always has been kind of like that, but in the past few months since this whole thing has started, he seems to be doing it more. There's nothing that shows he's sick though. :S

And here's a pic of his tail. Sorry for the blurriness- he's hard to photograph lol.

 

I'm sorry you're having all these issues.

It does look like he bit a couple chunks out of his fins, you don't have to catch him at it. What tail type is he?

 

Can you post a picture of the whole tank? Right now I have no advice, but if we could see the whole environment, maybe one of us would pick up on something (i.e. sometimes you just don't see the forest for the trees because you are too close...kind of thing). Also, what are your water parameters? pH, Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates, and GH/KH if you have them.

 

He's a half moon betta. His fins were in gorgeous condition when I got him (the ventral white tips were slightly worn down though) but now he's just ruined his beautiful tail. It did heal, but then slowly larger chunks started missing and we're at where we are now. :/

I don't have a recent tank pic and I can't get one right now (I'm back in California now) but here's the picture from August right after I rearranged a few things. The only additional changes made was a put a bushy stem plant in the left corner, removed the little plant towards the right at the bottom, added a moss mesh background, and added some things for him to play with at the top. I also moved around his equipment a bit but other than that, the overall set up is the same. Here it is from August. You can also see his tail injuries then vs. now.

I don't have the water quality info on hand but I can definitely say his water is clean. I've never got a reading of ammonia or nitrites since the tank has been set up. Plus, his tank gets a more thorough cleaning than the others since dirt tends to collect at the bottom easily. Nitrates are probably between 0-5ppm at the most. Our water is pretty hard but unfortunately I don't have an exact number on that either. It seems fine though, seeing that my little nerite snail in his tank is thriving, despite me reading how too hard of water can damage their shells. But I'm not entirely sure. I won't be able to find out until I'm home in April again. >.<

I can try and have my mom take a picture of the tank tomorrow so you guys can see his current set up. I'm willing to try anything at this point just to get his tail to heal, and hopefully figure out a way to prevent him from biting/tearing it.

 

What kind of diet is he fed?

 

He's fed 3 different kinds of pellets and when I'm home, he gets frozen brine shrimp and bloodworms. Right now he's only getting pellets because it's easier for my mom to handle but occasionally she does feed them frozen food. He's fed everyday aside from one fasting day every week.

 

Bump- can anyone else post their input? My mom's been monitoring him and she says he continues to sit on the bottom in his little spot just squeezed in the corner or partially under the driftwood. She says his tail hasn't gotten worse but it doesn't seem to be healing either.

I was actually thinking of something new for him. I have another betta, Norman, who's in an 8 gallon. It wouldn't be very fair to him, but I've been thinking of switching the two and putting them in eachothers tank. I was hoping this might give Lewis more space to swim around and more areas to explore than his current set up, and just maybe he would stop getting hurt. But then I'm afraid my poor Norman would be upset with the change, especially considering how much he loves his tank and playing in the filter flow all day. :/ As of now, I can't set Lewis up in a new tank because my mom is already taking care of too many animals by herself. Adding another tank to care for is out of the question. The only option for him right now is switching him to Normans tank, or maybe even adding him to my community 20 gallon. Of course, I know it's a huge risk to my other fish, but out of curiosity, I placed some new neon tetras I had bought in his tank (they were bagged) just to see his reaction. He showed interest, but never flared or tried attacking. He just kind of watched them and swam around, then actually just swam off within a couple minutes. He's not very aggressive really. The only time he flares is when I put the little mirror in there for him, otherwise he's pretty docile. I think he might chase a few of the smaller fish at first, but would eventually give up. That's kind of what he did with the cherry shrimp, and now he just doesn't care about them at all haha. Same with the snail- he actually LIKES the snail I think. Again, I know this is entirely controversial and risky, but I really don't know what else to do with him. At least in the bigger tank, there really is no places for him to get stuck in, and the tank is basically filled with plants throughout the entire tank. It's definitely not a favorable option, but maybe with more space, he'd be happier?

As of now, the 20 gallon is pretty much stocked at its max, and its current residents are;
5 cherry barbs
7 neon tetras
4 glowlight tetras
2 platys
2 siamese algae eaters (yes, I know they'll outgrow this tank. They are still tiny right now and will be rehomed to a larger tank in the future).
5 amano shrimp

All of my little fishies get along very well in this tank. The barbs will occasionally nip at the others during feeding time since they are pigs, but otherwise everyone's pretty content with eachother. Adding a betta wouldn't really alter the water quality, since the tank is heavily filtered and heavily planted. Plus they're all pretty low-waste producers aside from the platys. I understand the first few days would need to be spent heavily monitoring the fish to insure no fights take place. I think the only fish that may risk getting attacked are the neon tetras due to their bright colors. Platys may also be at risk but not as much as the neons I don't think. I could always put the 7 neons in the 5 gallon if it comes down to that.

So what do you guys think of this? I really just want to help my poor guy out before he ends up hurting himself to where I can't physically help him anymore. :/ That would be heartbreaking for me honestly.

 

I would say as long as you're keeping an eye on things that it's worth a shot! Alternatively, can you move their tanks closer together so he can see the other fish but not actually hurt anybody should he decide to?

 

Unfortunately due to where the main tank is, I can't move him any closer. He's right across from it though, so I'm sure he can kind of see the others but never has shown much interest. Unfortunately because I'm not home currently, my mom is taking care of everyone and she's a little nervous about placing him in the main tank. We came to an agreement that we'll let him float inside the tank for maybe an hour or so before deciding to release him. If he acts aggressive while in the bag then she doesn't feel comfy releasing him. I did say though that a little chasing/nipping is pretty common with new fish. I think he'll kind of "know his place" since the tank has been established for months now, and he's the new guy lol. We're going to give it a trial run though this Friday hopefully. I'll have her monitor him very closely for that afternoon and hope he behaves. If he begins acting too mean then back to his tank he goes. >: Gah, why can't he be like my other betta Norman lol. That little guy never gets into trouble. He spends most of his time at the top playing in the filter flow and snoozing on top of his filter. Lewis could learn a thing or two from him. T_T


Anyways, wish me luck. :S Lets hope no one ends up dead by the end of the week. x.x

 

I don't know that I'd move your other betta to a smaller tank. He may become depressed about less space, and then you will have another dilemma. I understand that your mom is nervous about putting Lewis into a community tank. I would be too, and for me personally, wouldn't do it. But you never know, maybe he will be ok with other fish. He may not show any aggression while in the bag, as it will be a new situation for him and he may need time to suss things out. It seems like there are already a lot of fish in the 20G, and while they might have a comfortable pecking order now, the addition of one more fish might upset that. You do have a dilemma, don't you? I'll be following this post to see what happens - the situation you are in is new to me and I'm interested in how you finally resolve it.