After i realized my poor boy i had fin rot, i did absolutely everything to upgrade his tank and conditions. He’s in a 5gal planted tank with a heater and filter, no plastic decoration he could scrape against, i’ve dosed kanaplex and used tannis leafs, and the water parameters have been stable for months now: 0 chlorine, 10ppm Nitrate, 0 nitrite, 50 hardness, 80 alkalinity, 7.2 PH, 0 sodium chloride, 0 amonia. I guess my question is whether or not he is just straight up fin nipping at this point, especially because it even seemed like he was getting better earlier before i noticed new tears.🥲 His colors are just splotchy and he genuinely looks ill…
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1pikcf2
Posted by Hopeful_Traffic_7820
2 Comments
Can you get a video of him in his tank? Maybe there is something going on that’s stressing him out. Are there any tank mates? What’s the temperature of the tank?
He might be fin nipping from stress caused by an illness. Unfortunately, it’s hard to diagnose these guys unless they have visible symptoms.
Additionally, long-finned bettas are hard to keep intact. They literally can tear their fins on anything, even by just getting them sucked into the filter’s intake. That, or they bite their fins because they are too heavy.
If you want to try something in the meantime, I would add almond leaves to the tank, which add tanins. Those have antibacterial properties and turn the water tea-colored, which bettas seem to like. Also try lowering the brightness of your light to reduce stress. You could try a broad-spectrum medication, but I dpn’t like medicating my fish if I don’t have to, since that also stresses them out.
Good luck!