# Fin repair



## BettaBoy84 (Jul 25, 2010)

Hey All,

I have had to remove MAUI, my smallest female from the sorority because she was being constantly picked on, and her fins have taken some serious damage. I have removed her and put here into her own tank with BETTA FIX and clean 80'f water. 

Is there anything else I can do to speed up the recovery of her damaged fins, and help her get back to full status!?!

THANKS,

BETTA BOY


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## ScuitoAmi150 (Nov 19, 2009)

aquarium salt helps a lot!


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## kuklachica (Dec 23, 2009)

I'm sorry to hear about your girl  Add some aquarium salt to her hospital tank, this will help prevent infection. Also, feed her high protein food (frozen bloodworms, other frozen or live food, high protein pellets). This promotes growth. I would not add betta fix as I believe this has oil in it (like melafix and pimafix) and that can permanently damage their labrynth organ. AQ salt is far more effective.


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## bloo97 (Mar 6, 2010)

Ditto the Aq. salt.


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## BettaBoy84 (Jul 25, 2010)

Thanks a lot everyone, I will hold off on the daily Betta Max an invest in the aquarium salt, any recommendations on how much and for how long I should keep her out and using the salt?
Thanks, any other help would be great!

Betta BOY


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

For fin treatment I use-first I QT then add Aquarium salt 1tsp/g along with 100% daily water changes for 10 days.
I like to pre-mix my salt in a 1g jug to make dosage and water changes easier, if you have IAL or oak leaf you can add this too, I like to let it steep in the pre-mix jug of salt.
You should start to see re-growth in 3-4 days


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## Welsh (Apr 13, 2010)

Oldfishlady said:


> For fin treatment I use-first I QT then add Aquarium salt 1tsp/g along with 100% daily water changes for 10 days.
> I like to pre-mix my salt in a 1g jug to make dosage and water changes easier, if you have IAL or oak leaf you can add this too, I like to let it steep in the pre-mix jug of salt.
> You should start to see re-growth in 3-4 days


I thought oak leaves could be used like IAL but no one could clarify it for me lol.


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

I use oak leaves instead of Indian almond leaf-they do the same thing, IAL-you need less of them to get the same amount of tannins than the oak leave and the oak leaves break down faster too-in my experience


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## Welsh (Apr 13, 2010)

Gonna get me some oak leaves tomorrow then lol, I have been searching high and low for IAL when I could have used oak leaves along and they are minutes from where I live lol


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

Make sure the leaf collection location is free of pesticides and heavy pollution, you want the naturally dried and fallen leaves, rinse well and either add to the tank or rip them up and pour hot, not boiling water over them and steep for 10-15 min. dilute with cool water to bring to fish tank water temp and add to tank, (dilution to desired color)


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## Welsh (Apr 13, 2010)

Do I need to change these with every water change or can I just re-use them? I'll be using them with my male QT betta


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

I use them until they stop producing tannins to stain the water the color I want. 
For treatment I like the stain/tannin to be a dark amber color- so I also keep them in my jug I use for their water changes.


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## Welsh (Apr 13, 2010)

Think I'll keep them in my bucket, I'm driving my mother mad stealing her tuppaware lol


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## BettaBoy84 (Jul 25, 2010)

Wow, great posts guys. Thank you so much OldFishLady. I have picked up some aquarium salt, and MAUI is now in a new 1 gallon hospital tank. I will keep changing the water daily, and adding the salt, and have started feeding here strictly blood worms.

I will also goto the Arboretum tomorrow and pick up some clean, dry oak leaves...

Any specific type of oak leaf, (bur, red, white)?

Thanks again for the help everyone, I will post here progress soon!


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## BettaBoy84 (Jul 25, 2010)

*MAUI in Hospital Tank*

A shot of MAUI in her new temp. house.

Enjoy


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## Welsh (Apr 13, 2010)

I thought my female had a bad tail and that was just a little chunk but looking at your girl is just heartbreaking :-(

I hope she recovers soon


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## BettaBoy84 (Jul 25, 2010)

Thanks for your support Welsh, ive been doing all I can, so hopefully next week, she can start feeling and seeing some results!

The daily water changes, blood worms, and Aquarium salt seem to be raising her spirit anyways!


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## BettaBoy84 (Jul 25, 2010)

Oldfishlady said:


> I use oak leaves instead of Indian almond leaf-they do the same thing, IAL-you need less of them to get the same amount of tannins than the oak leave and the oak leaves break down faster too-in my experience



Hey All, 

I wanted to let everyone know that MAUI has been slowly recover, and I am starting to see some FIN recovery. I will post pics in the next few days when I can see some serious progress.

I have been using Aquarium salt, changing 100% of the water daily and pre mixing everything in dechlorinated fresh water with oak Leaves.

My question is, how many oak leaves do I use? I am using Bur Oak Leaves and pre mix 2-3 in hot water with the rest and then mix colder water to end up with 84'F water.

Wondering if the oak leaves can be re-used, if um using enough and if I should let them soak more before adding my girl to the water?

THANKS,

BETTA BOY


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

I use the oak leaves until they stop producing tannins, the number to use is hard to say since the leaf size can vary, so I go by color, I like a dark amber color...so I use anywhere from 2-20....I know not much help....lol.....IMO-not a right or wrong answer, you can't use too many, they will leach more tannins the longer they stay in the water and start to break down.


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## BettaBoy84 (Jul 25, 2010)

LOL, thanks for the help. I think I will just keep ading them until I reach the right tannin.

I should have grabbed more while I was north. 

Also, do you reuse the leaves when you do the daily water changes?


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## BettaBoy84 (Jul 25, 2010)

*MAUI Update*

Hey All,

Its been 5 Days of MAUI in her Hospital Tank. I have been continuing with the daily 100% water changes with fresh water, that has been mixed in with water conditioner, aquarium salt and bur oak leaves.

I Have been feeding her blood worms and keeping a few oak leaves in the tank as well.

I have 3 other Hospital tanks on the go, Repairing slightly damaged fins and improving quality of color and fins in others, before adding all 8 females to a new 70 Gallon Tank.

I will post more soon.

BETTA BOY


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## BettaBoy84 (Jul 25, 2010)

*Replace Hopital Tank Water evey 2 Days?*

Hey All,

I have had 4 of my fish in Hospital Tanks for the last 3 days. I put them in to both brighten color and and repair fins.

The water has turned a light to dark brown perfect for the girls. There has been MAJOR recovery in all fins and all colors.

AMAZING changes in some. Beuasellei and Nuet have been returned to the sorority and look like new girls. Lets hope it stays that way!

Question for you OLD FISH LADY; Is it OK to leave the water unchanged for 2 days or more? I have great tannin color in the 4 gallon jars the girls are in.

Thanks, 

BETTA BOY


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

You need to get you some buckets to keep some water and leaves in so that you have fresh tannin water all the time, I personally love the amber colored water in my tanks.
You can also tear up the leaves and pour hot-not boiling water over them to get the tannins out faster, I use the leaves until nothing comes out of them.
If your QT containers are 4g-then yes, you can make the water changes every couple of days provided you are removing the uneaten food.


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## BettaBoy84 (Jul 25, 2010)

*We Be Tannin Mon*

I love this color too. When I get my tank up and going im gonna start off with a nice dark color, load it with these oak leaves.

Both of my females, Maui and M.J. are recovering fast, looking back at earlier posts. 

Maui has had good recovery in lower fin and looks like the back fin is doing better too.

M.J. had huge damage from territorial disputes but is fixed up now *perfectly*. It has been under *3* days.

BETTA BOY


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

Looking good......

It is amazing how fast these fish will heal up with good care....

Nice looking Bettas too by the way.....


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## BettaBoy84 (Jul 25, 2010)

Stress Lines,

Very intense stress lines on M.J. for some reason...ironic...

But wondering why? She is in a descent sized tank with healthy water, and good temp. Well fed, weird.


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

It doesn't always mean stress, color changes and lines can also mean, happy and content and used as camo a type of communication tool.


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## FloridaBettas239 (Jun 29, 2010)

Oldfishlady said:


> I use oak leaves instead of Indian almond leaf-they do the same thing, IAL-you need less of them to get the same amount of tannins than the oak leave and the oak leaves break down faster too-in my experience


You can use oak but IAL has more and better stuff that it releases into the water. There's a page somewhere on the net im going to try to find it. It goes in to detail about the stuff each leaf puts off..


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## FloridaBettas239 (Jun 29, 2010)

Any way unless the wound's have got infected, Just use fresh water aquarium salt. Its the best thing that and IAL, the IAL will make the fish scales tougher and fin's, This is what a lot of fighter's do they will soak there betta in indian almond leaves to make there scales and fin's tougher, so when they did get bit, it wasn't as bad... There's all kind's of trick's you can learn off the thai way of betta keeping...


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

FloridaBettas239 said:


> You can use oak but IAL has more and better stuff that it releases into the water. There's a page somewhere on the net im going to try to find it. It goes in to detail about the stuff each leaf puts off..


I would love to see the scientific research on that, so please post a link if you have one. The scientific research I found- states that both Indian almond leaf and oak leaf contain the same properties, I wish I had a link but it was written before the internet and so much can change over the years...lol....especially in the area of science and up-dated with new and improved gizmos....laffs so my information could be out-dated, however, I have been using oak leaf tannins for over 20 years at least and in my personal comparison between IAL and OL-the only difference I have found is the color of the water and price, as far as it antimicrobial/fungal effect have been the same IME.


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## FloridaBettas239 (Jun 29, 2010)

Here is a link I found about IAL..




http://www.indianalmondleaves.com/chemistry.php




Yes oak leaves release tannins into the water and it's better than nothing, I even have oak tree's and have used them , But as far as I know the chemmical properties of the tannin's in oak leave's has not been proven as much as IAL. And bettas dont live in oak leave water they live in IAL black water so even thoe oak release's a tannin's into the water it dont work as good as IAL . The oak tannin's is known to release minerals and lower PH, but has not been proven to make the fish scales tougher so there less likely to have any problem's or cut tare's..... and yes oak does make a tannin's, it's not the black water extract of an IAL that bettas live in. 
The link I posted above is not the one where I seen pro's and con's of the IAL vs Oak. I will keep looking.
And im not saying dont use oak, I have even used oak bark. If you cant afford IAL and you have oak around you, then use it because it's better than nothing...


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/Oak_Leaves

Leo Buss did spectrographic analysis on oak leaves and almond leaves and concluded that oak leaf was 99% identical to Indian almond leaf chemically and the fish can't tell the difference. He never published this information and he is a well know Betta breeder with the IBC...or he was at one time anyway....


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## FloridaBettas239 (Jun 29, 2010)

So he went threw all the trouble, all the work and all the money he spent doing the research. But didn't publish one thing? Okay!!! Anyway use what you want.
I am going to use want the betta splendens live in naturally which is IAL.
They have used it since the 1800s and there is nothing that has been proven to be better yet....


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