Treat betta fin rot without meds?

The edges of my betta's fins are clear and not entirely smooth and it's been like that when I got him. I thought it would heal by itself over time, but it hasn't. Anything I can do about it without going out and buying meds?

 

That clear part sounds like "Butterfly" markings to me. That is actually a desirable trait for a Betta.

 

Hello I agree but a picture would help alot

 

Feeding good foods will help. New life spectrum pellets are very recommended around here. Soaking there food in garlic, fresh or seachem's garlic guard will help boost his immune system. Vita Chen is a great source of vitamins. Stress coat/guard will help replace his slime coat. And the best is more water changes.

How big is his tank? Is it cycled? Dose he have a steady temp of around 80f?

 

Can I just feed it bits of straight garlic? I tried to take a picture but they all turned out my camera's not that good and he won't stay still. The ends of the fin are see-through but the very edges are bluish so I'm guessing it's regrowing, but it's been over a month and it doesn't look like other veiltails that I've seen.

 

iv never head of feeding straight garlic so I'm not sure. the fact that I haven't head of it means it prob isn't recommended.

 

He sounds like a pearl to me I had a white veil tail and the ends of his tail was transparent and they has a blue tinge to him he looked irredescant in the right light. I think it may just be his colouring don't feed him straight garlic either food with garlic already in it like new life spectrum or soak his food in garlic juice I would try and research exactly what colour strain he is and then check out the particulars of his colouring

 

Feeding straight garlic isn't bad, but most fish won't eat it. Have YOU tried the stuff? I did, big mistake.

I agree, a picture would be best. I have a bad camera too, but you just have to take TONS of pictures! For every couple dozen bad pictures, there are one or two good ones.

 

What do you mean pearl? He has a black body but his fins are red and blue. I've seen veiltails at Petco which perfect fins that are round and smooth. Mine looks like a tattered flag and when he flares he kinda looks crown-ish.
I grabbed a better camera but it's still eh:







The lighting makes it look better than it does in person and up close.

 

Hello and welcome to FishLore!

Thanks for the pictures, they help. It does seem like his fins are damaged and trying to grow back. I have a veil tail betta with similar problems.

The best non-medicine thing you can do is make sure his water is perfect. Frequent small partial water changes; zero ammonia, zero nitrite, and less than 15 nitrate. Make sure the substrate is clean as possible. Keep the temperature warm, around 80.

Some live foods could help also, as will garlic-soaked foods.

Keep us posted!

 

Good morning pearl just means he shimmered like a pearl he was beautiful. Thank you for the pictures he is very handsome.

Is he is in a fluval edge? Just a thought and probably nothing but how high have you got the filter on, do you have the pre filter sponge for it?

All the right advise from Donnerjay above I would follow that routine and check for improvement if it is fin rot.

 

It could be regrowing fins; I had a betta who suffered from ammonia burns back when I didn't know anything about keeping fish. When his fins grew back, the new growth was translucent before the color came in. However, I think it could also be your betta's natural coloration. It might just be the pictures, but the edges of his fins kind of look like the color of his body. My current betta's caudal fin is a slightly different color around the rim, but he's always been like that. There is no ammonia in his tank, so I know it isn't ammonia burns, and his fins aren't "disappearing," so it isn't fin rot.

I think the best course of action is exactly like Donnerjay said, make sure he has pristine water - no ammonia or nitrites, and keep the nitrates low with frequent water changes. If you are going through a mini-cycle, make sure you add Prime to keep him safe from ammonia and nitrite. If you don't see any changes after awhile, maybe it's just his natural coloration. He's very handsome, by the way.

 

It is indeed a fluval edge it's on the smallest setting but he often tries to swim against the current when it's high for some reason. Ammonia and nitrite are at 0 and nitrate is barely readable I use Prime which detoxifies it so maybe that's why. The edge of the fins are a bit translucent and it's been that way for a while. He only looks good underneath the light where his color can shine otherwise he just looks black like his body.

Does anyone know how to make his fins spread out like the first photo? I wish he would stay like that all the time. Most of the time he looks like the 4th one.

 

Hello I have the same thing with HoudinI in his fluval edge. I generally don't get good pics of him unless the light is off he is silver ish
Unless he is swimming without the current he won't present his tail I too have seen this with Houd. There is no way to make him bush out his tail he will when current allows or he is flaring

 

Most people get good pictures when their bettas flare at something, like their reflection on the wall.

Also, be sure you're waiting to test the water until 24 hours after you dose Prime, as it can mess with test results.

 

Prime has an incompatabilty with the API liquid ammonia test and will test positive for ammonia if the testing is done within 24 hours of adding Prime wheter there is ammonia in the water or not. But other than that, detoxed ammonia, nitrite and nitrate will still test at the correct levels. The test kit does not diferentiate between detoxed and toxic ammonia/nitrite/nitrate.

 

Warm water, about 80-82 will help boost metabolism and help the fishes body fight the infection/regrow fins. Cleaning the tank with 50% a week to keep it clean if not more often. A high quality food with high proteins will help such as NLS, attisons and kens. Also frozen(NOT freeze dried) blood worms, brine shrimp and daphina will all encourage a healthy fish. I'm pretty sure he has the bacterial infection commonly known as fin rot, aka, the scourge of betta keepers. Its a pain, I know. BUT if you do decide to go the medicinal route(if the rot gets too close to the body, you have to) marcyn2 treats gram negative bacterial infections like fin rot and is a choice med for the situation. DO NOT under any circumstance let the rot reach the body of the fish, it becomes body rot. This is basically death. Normally it cause irreparable damage to the fins and body which even if cured leaves the fish deformed and unable to regrow fins.

 

Something happened because this morning the end of his fin looks shredded like a piece is missing. When he flares his fins it looks like an old torn cape there are small holes too. It wasn't like that yesterday. If he's biting himself I don't think there's anything I can do about that. He's the only fish in the tank at the moment.

 

some of my bettas have pretty bad looking tails. one had a split almost to his body but it healed up eventually. I heard sometimes they will bite there tail if there is to much current. idk if that's true or not but a idea.

 

Do you have the pre filter sponge for the edge? I ask because I have my betta in an edge and he did get stuck once on the filter and that was on the lowest setting. It's a possibility if he wasn't paying attention it could have happened it's worth getting just incase