Update: Betta With Curling Fins - Now Has Ragged Tail (pics)

Jennywren
  • #1
HI guys, (see below for tank specs/water parameters)

Here's my original post about my gorgeous boy Shiro and his sudden onset of fin curl:

The fin curl continues to progress (I've given up on a cure), but now in addition he's battling little splits and raggedness in his tail. I feel like he has a new bit of tail damage every day. They seem to heal and re-occur. Today's are the worst so far, with pieces actually missing! His energy also seems a bit low, and while I was photographing him I also noticed a strange coloration, his body seems blue/purplish and his his head more opaque/ivory yellow (this might have been the light, but I thought I'd mention it in case it's significant... you can see best in the labeled photo). NOTE: I'm also seeing some smokey pigmentation in his fins/body, but I don't think that's pathological, just a color wash that hadn't yet manifested when I bought him (maybe I should have skipped the color-enhancing food).

The raggedness tail doesn't look infected/rotten to me, but if it's physical damage rather than bacterial, I can't think how he would be injuring himself in his tank (could he be scraping against the coarse sand?). Does this look like tail biting to you guys???

SYMPTOMS:
  • ragged tail
  • strange coloration(?)
  • lower energy
#1

1.jpg
#2

2.jpg
#3

2b.jpg
#4

3.jpg


DATA/INFO:

Housing
Tank size: 1 gal
Filter: custom sponge filter
Heater: yes
Temp: 77deg (varies by 1-2 degrees over the course of the day)
Aeration: yes
Tank mates: none

Water Parameters (last tested: 4/2/2016)
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: <10ppm
pH: >7.2 but less than the next level
Hardness (GH): 7 degrees
Alkalinity: (KH): 5 degrees

Maintenance
Water change schedule: once a week
Percent of water changed: 50%
Vacuum the substrate?: yes
Additives: Prime 2dr/gal

Food
Brand: Betta BioGold
Other: froz blood worms, raw salmon/tuna, etc...
Schedule: 1/2 pellets morning, 1 bloodworm in the evening or similar

Symptoms and Treatment
When did you first notice the symptoms: about three days ago
How has your Betta’s appearance changed: ragged tail
How has your Betta’s behavior changed: lower energy
Is your Betta still eating: eagerly
Have you started treating your Betta: no
Does your Betta have any history of being ill: fin curl
How long have you owned your Betta? : brought him home on March 17

Note: I did a 50% water change this morning, and saw no change in his energy. I'm planning to do daily water changes and also pick up a bigger tank for him.

Apart from clean water (which he has), is there anything out there that's ideal treatment for torn fins that I could be using to help him? It doesn't necessarily sound as though StressGuard is the right product...and I hear Melafix isn't a good idea... any other antiseptic?

:'(
 
TexasDomer
  • #2
I don't really see many issues with his fins. They look good.

I would move him to a larger tank - 2.5 gal minimum, but a 5 or 10 gal would be better.

I would also start doing more frequent water changes for a few weeks to see if that helps. Maybe every other day or so? It's a small tank, so it should be easy!

EDIT: Just saw your second post. Good! Maybe also try increasing the heat to 79 - 80 F.
 
Jennywren
  • Thread Starter
  • #3
I don't really see many issues with his fins. They look good.

HI Texas, thanks so much for your reply,

Sorry, I should've included "before" pics... when I brought him home he was a perfect little beauty. I was so looking forward to watching him grow big and strong and fabulous, and instead I feel like he's declining before my eyes.

Here he is, fresh from his Pet Supermarket cup:


before - 2.jpg
Even, perfect tail, clean flat dorsal fin, etc.

Compare that to this pic where you can really see the curling/kinking of his dorsal fin (the tail issues had just started - see 2 small, mostly healed split holes). His anal ventral fins are now completely clubbed at the ends, the top edge of his tail folds over, and his analfin has a bunch of spiky kinks at the bottom edge.

dorsal - 1.jpg

Scroll back up, and you'll see how shabby he looks by comparison :'(

I can accept that the aesthetic changes since they are harmless to him (even though it's maddening not to know the cause or solution), but the ragged tail surely shouldn't go un-diagnosed ...
 
cooneyms
  • #4
I stand by what I said in your last thread, and I agree with Texas. Your betta really doesn't look bad.

He's a fabulous fish with big finnage and there's consequences to that. Nicks, shreds, and slices happen to the fins with regular movement. What's happening to your betta's fins is neither severe nor out of the ordinary. It's also unrealistic to compare his fins now to what they looked like in the cup. In the cup, there was no water flow or decor so of course his fins were perfect. So don't fret about the fin changes unless big pieces are actually missing ir rotting, and just make sure you're on top of water changes.

He definitely still needs a bigger tank though, no way around it. 1 gallon is far too small for a betta. He could very well be biting his own tail from feeling confined, either to lessen the weight of his fins or from anxiety. Plus it's hard to gague how low his energy actually is when he doesn't have much room to move to begin with.

A 5 gallon tank only costs a few dollars at most chain pet stores, and 10 gallons aren't much more. I think you'll be able to more accurately gague his condition when he's in an appropriate tank size.

Edit to add: as for the color changes, that's normal too. Since your guy was white it's possible he had other colors all along. Bettas pale when they're in poor conditions such as the cup they're sold in. You never truely know what you're gonna get with bettas, because it's common for them to change drastically when put in better conditions

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Mcasella
  • #5
He may also be laying on the decor and swimming off of it - one of my have a chunk of lava rock in his tank that I think is the culprit for his raggedy fins, i'm going to remove it and see if he improves (I have it in there for the shrimp who seem to like it, I'll just move it to my other shrimp tank to avoid it drying out!). If it has an sharp spots that could cause the nicks you are seeing (It doesn't look like he is biting it to me, because they don't look like little mouth bites, just tears from either over flaring or catching on something). Upgrade when you can you'll notice a load of difference!
 
dcutl002
  • #6
Jennywren
  • Thread Starter
  • #7
thanks for the responses guys <3

Thanks for the responses guys

His tail frays are improving (after an initial worsening that I attribute to a nitrite spike/minI cycle that followed my last water change - I shook out the filter sponge and apparently evicted too many nitrospira). That spike was promptly controlled with with Prime and has resolved as of this morning).

I'm trying not to be such a worrywart/perfectionist. If you guys are telling me there's nothing to stress about, you're probably right.

I'm shopping around and working on a redesign of my fish cabinet that will allow for larger aquariums. I love his little "reef" tank and took such care to prepare it for him... makes me kinda sad to give it up:


Shiro Reef 1.jpg

Shiro Reef 2a.jpg

Shiro Reef 2b.jpg


In the meantime, he does seem tolerably comfortable, active, and chipper:

 
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cooneyms
  • #8
It is a beautiful little tank! You can always repurpose it for snails for shrimp!

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Jennywren
  • Thread Starter
  • #9
It is a beautiful little tank! You can always repurpose it for snails for shrimp!


That hadn't occurred to me Cooney! I do love snails
 
Mcasella
  • #10
You could do both snails (not mystery, breed to easily lol) and shrimp if you felt like it (little nerites sweeping around the tank at high speeds and cherry or some other color shrimp dashing about on little legses), but upgrading him is priority (if you can file down the sharper edges of the decor you could probably keep it for him for a large tank). He is a gorgeous boy, definitely a catch!
 
TexasDomer
  • #11
You could do both snails (not mystery, breed to easily lol) and shrimp if you felt like it (little nerites sweeping around the tank at high speeds and cherry or some other color shrimp dashing about on little legses), but upgrading him is priority (if you can file down the sharper edges of the decor you could probably keep it for him for a large tank). He is a gorgeous boy, definitely a catch!
Actually, mysteries don't take over. You need both sexes to reproduce, and if you don't want them to breed, simply remove the clutch of eggs (deposited above the water light, and large and pink so it's easy to see).
 
Mcasella
  • #12
Actually, mysteries don't take over. You need both sexes to reproduce, and if you don't want them to breed, simply remove the clutch of eggs (deposited above the water light, and large and pink so it's easy to see).

Some can come from pet store "pre-hit" (not sure if that would apply to snails, but livebearers yes...), but yeah they are easy to remove I just figure a golf ball sized snail would not be the most attractive invertebrate in a smaller tank (I mean the couple I have that have reached that size are huge!, easily two inches as they glide over the glass). The smaller nerites would likely be much more attractive to sit and watch and you would have more unique looking shells to choose from (I have a couple bi-colored shells on my mysteries that are from new growth vs old, my blues that I got are just now starting to look like the tell-tell light blue you'd get if they were in good conditions (they looked like jade ones, but not quite right, now they have a soft shade of baby blue for new growth)).
 
TexasDomer
  • #13
Some can come from pet store "pre-hit" (not sure if that would apply to snails, but livebearers yes...), but yeah they are easy to remove I just figure a golf ball sized snail would not be the most attractive invertebrate in a smaller tank (I mean the couple I have that have reached that size are huge!, easily two inches as they glide over the glass). The smaller nerites would likely be much more attractive to sit and watch and you would have more unique looking shells to choose from (I have a couple bi-colored shells on my mysteries that are from new growth vs old, my blues that I got are just now starting to look like the tell-tell light blue you'd get if they were in good conditions (they looked like jade ones, but not quite right, now they have a soft shade of baby blue for new growth)).
So size is a different issue than prolificness
 
Jennywren
  • Thread Starter
  • #14
You could do both snails (not mystery, breed to easily lol) and shrimp if you felt like it (little nerites sweeping around the tank at high speeds and cherry or some other color shrimp dashing about on little legses), but upgrading him is priority (if you can file down the sharper edges of the decor you could probably keep it for him for a large tank). He is a gorgeous boy, definitely a catch!


Mcasella, what a cute/compelling vision! (You sound an aweful lot like my sister, how funny is that). I forgot about cherry shrimp! I was thinking of CRS and how sensitive I they are (from what I hear). What other colored shrimp could I consider? ...Do shrimp prefer/need planted tanks? I've had wood shrimp and amanos in planted community tanks, but I'm steering toward a hardscape look for my aquariums these days. Ditto for the snails? I've never kept nerites... I've always yearned for a golden/white mystery snail, but could never have one bc my fish were too nippy. @__@

No rough edges whatsoever on that rocky ornament. I'm extremely careful about my betta decorations.

Oh, and thank you for your compliments, guys! I take treasure hunting for bettas very seriously
 
TexasDomer
  • #15
Mcasella, what a cute/compelling vision! (You sound an aweful lot like my sister, how funny is that). I forgot about cherry shrimp! I was thinking of CRS and how sensitive I they are (from what I hear). What other colored shrimp could I consider? ...Do shrimp prefer/need planted tanks? I've had wood shrimp and amanos in planted community tanks, but I'm steering toward a hardscape look for my aquariums these days. Ditto for the snails? I've never kept nerites... I've always yearned for a golden/white mystery snail, but could never have one bc my fish were too nippy. @__@
I wouldn't keep shrimp without live plants. They feed on the microorganisms on the plants. Some plants are very easy, and Java moss would be perfect for them.

Cherry shrimp (RCS, though you can get other colors) are less particular than CRS.
 
Mcasella
  • #16
Mcasella, what a cute/compelling vision! (You sound an aweful lot like my sister, how funny is that). I forgot about cherry shrimp! I was thinking of CRS and how sensitive I they are (from what I hear). What other colored shrimp could I consider? ...Do shrimp prefer/need planted tanks? I've had wood shrimp and amanos in planted community tanks, but I'm steering toward a hardscape look for my aquariums these days. Ditto for the snails? I've never kept nerites... I've always yearned for a golden/white mystery snail, but could never have one bc my fish were too nippy. @__@

No rough edges whatsoever on that rocky ornament. I'm extremely careful about my betta decorations.

(Well I know you're not my sister cause neither of mine have tanks or like snails lol!) I have the orange colormorph of the cherry shrimp (they are a little pale but i'm working on that! i've already got a ton of little babies that are growing!) and I have black/blue rilI shrimp (need to get a few more of those to up their group numbers, some of them didn't make it but the ones I have have grown to almost adult size, I just can't get a good enough look to see who is what gender lol) - but there are neocaridina and caridina which are more common (neos are the cherry and colormorph of it shrimp - so my orange shrimp are neos) (cardinas are the CRS and a bunch of others *I want to get some green or dark green/jade shrimp to keep with my orange, since the colors would look nice and they should not breed to each other - no wild colors lol*)
I have one ivory snail, I think it is female (I have enough clutches, please be female! none of clutches are from the ivory) and a couple goldens (one of my poor babies recently died I don't know what happened but i'm letting the shell aerate before I do anything with it - whew do they stink when they pass!)
 
Jennywren
  • Thread Starter
  • #17
I Java moss would be perfect for them.

I guess I could try for a teeny weenie iwagumI setup or tree-on-cliff look with moss...that would be a fun challenge, and the shrimps would look great .

(I've done lots of plants in the past, but I prefer low maintenance as I don't really want to tangle with co2).
 
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TexasDomer
  • #18
I guess I could try for a teeny weenie iwagumI setup or tree-on-cliff look with moss...that would be a fun challenge, and the shrimps would look great .

(I've done lots of plants in the past, but I prefer low maintenance as I don't really want to tangle with co2).
There are many low maintenance plants. I have 6 planted tanks, and don't dose Excel or use CO2 in any of them!
 
cooneyms
  • #19
Same here! No carbon or CO2.

All 3 of my tanks are planted, I just use root tablet fertilizers and a liquid fertilizer that has micro and macro nutrients. I also add an extra dose of liquid Potassium because my plants tend to get a deficiency (little holes all over the leaves), but that's just my personal situation and not a thing everyone needs to do.

I would recommend Anubias plants! They're very hardy and have strong leaves. There's a few different varieties, some with round leaves like the Nana, and others with long pointed leaves. They grow best when tied down to some kind of decor or driftwood, or just plopped into the tank without the roots buried. I have a wild morph of red cherry shrimp in my nano tank and they like to hide on the underside of the Anubias leaves. It's very cute. Anubias would also work well in the upgraded betta tank, since he might like to use to sturdy leaves as furniture haha.

If you only had the the moss and/or Anubias, you wouldn't need any special substrate since nothing would be planted, and you wouldn't need root tab ferts either. Just a good liquid fertilizer would do. My nano tank I mentioned earlier is like this, and I chose to do it that way so I wouldn't waste any of the already limited swim space with an inch of substrate. I just have a very sparce layer of aquarium gravel to make it look nice.

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Jennywren
  • Thread Starter
  • #20
There are many low maintenance plants. I have 6 planted tanks, and don't dose Excel or use CO2 in any of them!

Yes! Planted tanks are really fun. I'm just exploring a different aesthetic these days with hardscapes. But I think I could stand to do a little weenie shrimp tank using moss, just to keep that pretty 1 gal tank in service .


My old 60 gal community tank (no Co2):


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Low tech planted 5 gal hex (4 years ago):


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I would recommend Anubias plants!

I loooove anubias, they are so versatile and as you say, come in many nice types. I've attached them to rocks, logs, walls, decorations, etc. Java fern is also fun that way
 
Jennywren
  • Thread Starter
  • #22
WOW! nice aquascaping!

Thank you so much Dcutl002 <3 That 60 gal was my pride and joy
 
TexasDomer
  • #23
The tanks look nice!
 
Jennywren
  • Thread Starter
  • #24
The tanks look nice!

Thanks very much Texas. Sadly I had to leave the 60 gal behind when we moved from Dallas to South Florida. :-\

Shiro's tail is worse again. He's buzzing around his tank and seems in great health, except for his ragged back end.

I nearly have his tank upgrade figured out, fortunately.

I tried placing a "betta bed" suction leaf near the surface in case he was feeling stressed from insufficient lounging places, but he doesn't seem interested.


photo 4(1).JPG

photo 3(1).JPG

photo 2(1).JPG

photo 5.JPG
 
cooneyms
  • #25
It happens! My halfmoon boy will have perfect fins one week, tattered fins the next. It's the price they pay for the way people breed them

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Jennywren
  • Thread Starter
  • #26
You're very soothing to my nerves, Cooney

Aaaaand we have finrot. Whether it's been causing his ragged tail all along or just took hold recently is anybody's guess, but he has some redness to the frayed parts as of his tail this morning. Quite difficult to photograph, but I did my best.

His energy is still good.

I'm upgrading everybody to 2.5 gallon tanks today as a stopgap until I get them into 5-10s.

What's everybody's preferred medication/treatment approach? I would usually go with Kanaplex, as it doesn't damage the biofilter (though I read some unsettling comments to the contrary lately, possibly from people with improperly cycled tanks to start with). Tripple sulfa, Furan(1 or 2).... I'm a little rusty on fish meds....

I'd prefer not to have to treat him in a hospital tank.

I'll be interested to see if the tail mends entirely after treatment or what.

Thoughts??


finrot 4.jpg

finrot 2.jpg

finrot 3.jpg

finrot 1-v2.jpg
 
Annie424
  • #27
Posting so I can follow this. I noticed today that my Max has a few ragged places as well - which is new. My water tests perfect for me also, so I am interested in what could cause this when water quality does not seem to be the issue.
 
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cooneyms
  • #28
No meds are necissary for fin rot, which is convenient. Daily water changes are the best medicine, 40-50%. Even though your Ammonia/Nitrite are 0 and Nitrates are low, removing waste from the tank is imperative so it can't affect the tears in his fins. Keep that up for at least a week, and if you see improvement, keep going with it. If you add extra StressCoat or a similar conditioner that increases a fish's slime coat, it'll encourage the healing.

I'm really glad to hear that he's getting a tank upgrade! He will LOVE the space, and the water volume being over double of his old tank will really help with the water being clean. Even in a cycled tank, solid wastes are still present that needs to be diluted. With plenty of water changes and a bigger home, your betta's fins should start improving!

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Jennywren
  • Thread Starter
  • #29
No meds are necessary for fin rot, which is convenient. Daily water changes are the best medicine, 40-50%. Even though your Ammonia/Nitrite are 0 and Nitrates are low, removing waste from the tank is imperative so it can't affect the tears in his fins.

Frustratingly, clean water is no longer the bountiful resource I thought it was three days ago. My current tap parameters are:

AM - 0.25
NI - 2ppm
NA - 20 :-\

I posted for advice here:


I just bought 9 gallons of freaking Zephyr Hills RO water (apparently Publix "drinking water" is no longer filtered by reverse osmosis) and re-mineralized some of it with RO right (which took like 30 mins to get correct) so I could upgrade at least one of my boys to his 2.5. I've never worked harder or paid more for 1.5 gallons of water. :-\

I haven't upgraded Shiro yet because I have no way to fill his 2.5 more than 3 inches without additional water. I was reluctant to use my DIY RO bc I didn't want him to be my guinea pig in the event of stress from imperfect water matching. My plakat seems happy in his new digs though, so I'm encouraged.

If I can figure out a formula of RO right that works the first time and simplify that process, I can at least upgrade Shiro to his bigger tank tomrrow, although water changes under these conditions are going to be a problem...

I'm going to go test the tap water at my office tomorrow morning and see if it's any better. If so, I 'll be back in business. If not... don't know what I'll do...

Re: pH
The last time I tested for pH I recorded 7.2 (this was on 4-3-16). If that was accurate (and I'm now unsure whether I was giving the test enough time), then the pH in Shiro's tank has increased to something like 8 since that reading. My tap tests at 8.2-8.4 (a rich mulberry color-I'm not used to interpreting my high range pH kit, and I've lost the card so I had to look online). I hope a spike in tap water pH hasn't been a cause of stress for him, contributing to his issues.

re: fin rot meds:
I had a philosophy when I was keeping livebearers. If a new guppy had ordinary white/gummy edges fin rot, I treated with clean water and maybe a little salt. If the fins had a red edge (aggressive infection), I didn't mess around. I treated them with Kanaplex, and healed them every time.

I hear your advice Cooney, but I might go with meds too if he doesn't show improvement with the tank up grade and a couple of wcs.


Thanks so much to you all for your care and your time!! <3
 
Flowingfins
  • #30
Sorry I've been absent from this thread. Sorry to hear about Shiro's fins

In confused on why you are using bottled water, could you explain?
 
Jennywren
  • Thread Starter
  • #31
Sorry I've been absent from this thread. Sorry to hear about Shiro's fins

In confused on why you are using bottled water, could you explain?


HI Flowingfins, glad you're back <3

I got the RO water because I just ran a full batch of tests on my tap:

Tap Parameters: (tested last night and this evening)
AM: 0.25ppm
NI: 2.0ppm
NA: 20ppm
pH: 8.2-8.4

Tank Parameters: (tested two days ago)
AM: 0
NI: 0
NA: <5
(in fact, the reading is zero...more on that here: )
pH: 8.0

Given these results, it seemed like I'd be doing more harm than good introducing this water into my tanks! I'm not sure how long the tap has been like this (the only value I tested the tap water for when I set up was ammonia, but I know there was no nitrite in my tanks initially when I did my fishless cycling.)

Giving it some more thought (and considering feedback I've received), I guess it's really just the same thing as keeping more fish with a higher bioload, huh? (The difference would be that if I were just keeping more fish, (or if high ammonia in the tap were my problem) the ammonia and nitrite levels would at least be tied to one another, but this tap water is totally random which would seem to pose challenges to my biofilter.) I suppose as long as it isn't fluctuating too sharply and I don't suddenly overwhelm my nitrospira with nitrite .... I can use nitrazorb or something to control nitrates on the back end...

What do you think??
 
Flowingfins
  • #32
Wow, your tap water is crazy.

I think it's best to stick with spring water for now, R/O water isn't necessary though. I know prime detoxifies ammonia and nitrite long enough to be converted to nitrates, but since your nitrates are high... I've never used a nitrate eliminator. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.
 
Jennywren
  • Thread Starter
  • #33
I think it's best to stick with spring water for now, R/O water isn't necessary though.

I've always steered clear of spring water... my understanding is that it's extremely variable in its minerals/composition, (even from one batch to the next) as it comes from a natural source... true?
 
Flowingfins
  • #34
I've never heard that, although it sounds true. When I first had fish and thought you had to use bottled water I always used spring water. I never noticed anything wrong with them.
 
Mcasella
  • #35
I guess i'm lucky to have well water then? I mean the bottled "spring" water has been altered, at least filtered, because it tastes nothing like true spring water i've had (bland to be honest, like it has had minerals and other things stripped from it). (I hate city water because I can taste the chems in it.)
 
Jennywren
  • Thread Starter
  • #36
Okay! Shiro is in his 2.5 gallon with a bunch of freshly adjusted RO water that amounted to a 2/3 water change. His tail is a little worse today, but he seems to be settling in well. Meanwhile, my plakat is about to achieve exit velocity in his 2.5.

After testing:
1) my tap water
2) the tap water at my friend's place (15 mins east)
3) the tap water at my office (10 mins west)
4) the filtered drinking water at my office (sourced from tap)
5) Publix spring water
6) Publix "drinking water"
7) my own mixed RO Zephyr Hills water
8) All my tanks

I finally have a winner. The tap at my office is much better than the tap at my place:

AM: 1ppm
NI: 0ppm
NA: 5ppm
pH: ~8.2
GH: 5
KH: 4

And the filtered water at my office is even better:

AM: 0ppm
NI: 0ppm
NA: 0ppm
pH: ~7.8
GH: 5
KH: 4

The pH is close enough to my tank that I feel comfortable not messing with it (esp if I introduce it slowly). I can fill up 2.5 gal containers there and use those till the tap water gets its act together.

I'll do another 50% water change tomorrow.

Here's my question about daily 50% water changes. If I'm using the above mentioned "clean" filtered water for my changes, I'm going to be cutting the bioload down to basically nothing. Isn't this going to starve off some of my biofilter? I don't want to have to re-establish it when my fish recovers.
 
TexasDomer
  • #37
Glad you got it figured out! It should be easy to take water from your office since it's such a small amount

Here's my question about daily 50% water changes. If I'm using the above mentioned "clean" filtered water for my changes, I'm going to be cutting the bioload down to basically nothing. Isn't this going to starve off some of my biofilter? I don't want to have to re-establish it when my fish recovers.
Your betta is still producing ammonia in between water changes, so the bacteria won't starve.
 
Jennywren
  • Thread Starter
  • #38
Your betta is still producing ammonia in between water changes, so the bacteria won't starve.

That's true of course, but I was concerned that the rate of production would be cut back dramatically, causing my biofilter to shrink. (You know, like if you start out with 50 fish and cut back to 25... you're not producing enough ammonia to sustain 50 fish's worth of BB, so over time the biofilter is going to adjust to match those 25 fish).

Thinking about it though, the RATE of ammonia production is actually going to stay the same since I still have my one fish... I'm just resetting the clock to zero(or 50%) more frequently. I dunno, this stuff gets really complicated. I'm probably overthinking it, and I'm sure it's fine.

No meds are necessary for fin rot, which is convenient. Daily water changes are the best medicine, 40-50%. ...With plenty of water changes and a bigger home, your betta's fins should start improving!

I'm happy to report Shiro's fins are clearing up! The red is gone (or almost gone) and the tears are showing new growth. The only treatment has been his tank upgrade and daily 50% water changes (which I will continue). I'm not even using stressguard. etc. It's just as you predicted cooneyms, and I'm really grateful to you for the good advice. I'm so glad I tried those conservative measures first...if I can get him back to 100% with no meds/potions whatsoever, it will be a real win.


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I also made some adjustments to my heaters. My little preset ones have done a great job in the past, but my tanks are currently in a cabinet that's directly across the room from my AC vent (which I can't adjust), and I was noticing some disturbing fluctuations... just don't think they were able to handle the lows. Fortunately I have like, a dozen heaters of various types, so I doubled up two preset ones in Shiro's tank and gave my other two boys PanPlex adjustable ones that do a great job. Much more steady now. That should help everybody out for sure (I just wish the Pan Plex were either more attractive or easier to conceal.)
 
cooneyms
  • #39
I'm so glad it's working out! Shiro is absolutely gorgeous and I can't wait til his fins get even better. I'm loving how pearlescent he is!

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Jennywren
  • Thread Starter
  • #40
Bad news. This morning Shiro has a new split in his tail, and the infection is back (red tips again). I did his 50%wc faithfully last night, he showed no signs of stress, and his water parameters are perfect this morning:

AM: 0
NI: 0
NA: 0
GH: 5
pH: ~7.8

Temp is a steady 77degrees. My other two boys are fit as fiddles.

This fish is going to be the death of me!!!

The damage/worsening always seems to happen overnight...**** is going onnnn?? :'(
 

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