help asap!

[Katome556]

i was checking in on my betta cole for his afternoon feeding and his tail fin and fin on his back has big peices missing like they were bit out, he's also displaying horzonal lines like this ------ is their anything i can do to stop him from killing his beautiful tail and are the lines a bad thing to be displaying???

 

[Lotus]

Is he in a tank by himself? What are the water parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, temp)?

 

[Katome556]

yes he's alone in the tank except for a snail , looks like the amm spiked 0.1 from the 0.0 yesterday , nitrites 0 and the nitrates are 5.2 temp is 80, just did a 25% water change when i seen the amm at 0.1.

 

[Lotus]

Keep an eye on him. Some bettas start to bite their own tails. Also make sure none of the ornaments or plants in the tank have sharp edges. Plastic plants can be sharp enough to tear a betta's tail.

If it looks like chunks missing from his tail, it's most likely physical damage. If the tail is more frayed and is shrinking, then it's more likely tail rot.

Have a look at Welcome to bettatalk.com, the ultimate betta site for all betta lovers! health section to see what tail rot looks like.

 

[Katome556]

it does'nt look like fin rot, looks like he's been chewing it and i even caught him chanceing it like a dog earlier, it can't be his plants theirs a few sharp ones but they've been in their with him since his first tank.

he's kinda darting around some should i be worried??? ;_;

 

[Lotus]

It sounds like something is stressing him. Is there something next to the tank that's the same color as him, or can he see other male bettas? Is he flaring? Is it possible he's seeing reflections of something in the tank walls?

 

[Katome556]

well their is a mirror on the wall to the far side of him and a male betta across the table from him but he's not flareing,could it have been the amm that stressed him?

 

[Lotus]

Yes, of course the ammonia will have stressed him.

 

[Katome556]

do you think since i did the water change that he will return to his normal none stressed self ?

 

[Lotus]

It's hard to say. You should keep an eye on him and see if he's still chasing his tail/biting it. If he continues, you may have to change where the tank is, although you can't be certain what exactly is stressing him.

 

[Katome556]

well i blocked off his seeing range of the other male betta across the room and i covered the mirror, it seems to have put him back to his normal self he's stopped darting and is swimming normally.

 

[Katome556]

One last thing should i treat him with anything to help grow his tail back?

 

[MissFishy]

You could try some melafix to help his tail a bit. Keep water quality high so the tail grows back and doesn't develop fin rot.

 

[Katome556]

>.> i'll try to get some melafix tomarrow if i can if not he'll have to wait till the 1st, i'll keep up with water changes and keep his tank as clean as possible =3 till he starts and finishes regrowing his tail and uper back fin.