Hi everyone, brand new betta fish owner here. Have had my first betta for almost a month now and have noticed some fraying in his tail. The fraying has been gradually getting worse over the weeks I've had him, and I'm not sure what is causing it or what to do. Should I be worried, and if so, what should I do?
For context: All of the plants in his tank are made of silk except for his live betta hammock, so there's not an obvious candidate for him to get stuck on. I've read that fin rot is usually accompanied by redness or blackness, which I'm not seeing, and fin nipping is usually "U"-shaped, which I'm also not seeing. But I'm new to betta care, and would love to get some more informed opinions from some more experienced eyes!
He's in a filtered and heated 2.5 gallon tank. I check his water parameters with a test kit weekly and perform weekly water changes of 25-30%. He gets 4-6 betta buffet pellets per day and a dehydrated bloodworm treat once a week. Upon reading some other threads here, I recently added some catappa leaves and bark to darken the water and prevent infection, but so far that hasn't seemed to help. Anything you recommend to help stop the progression, I would very much appreciate! I just want him to be healthy and happy.
To note: I know his 2.5 gallon tank is too small – I'm working on saving up for at least a five gallon one soon.
https://i.redd.it/dq6aktgyl21g1.jpeg
Posted by amateur_pickpocket_6
2 Comments
I had a problem one time with my fish’s fins and turned out my water was too hard I now use distilled water to top off and it’s seemed to help a lot
Congrats on your new fish!
What is your tank maintenance like? How often are you doing water changes and do you know what your parameters are? Typically if you see bettas’ fins “fraying” it means that there’s waste in the water slowly damaging them. Is your tank cycled?