# curled fins. soft water?



## OMGemily (Feb 28, 2012)

Antione's fins are curled and i know hard water can cause that but if i remember correctly, the last time i got my water checked the hardness was either 150 or 180 and i was told that that was soft... so what else could it be? he still has one straight ray (hes the crowntail in my avatar)... so what could it be? no one seems to know...


----------



## thekoimaiden (Oct 19, 2011)

Is the hardness 150 ppm or 150 dGH? Because neither are really soft water. 150 ppm is medium hard water and 150dGH is basically liquid rock.


----------



## Olympia (Aug 25, 2011)

The petsmart lady told me my hardness is between 200-250. There's no was that'd be dH so I translated it to hardness. dH only goes up to 30 so I'm pretty sure it's in ppm!
http://www.bestfish.com/tips/110598.html
I use this chart to convert to dh. 
So the koimaiden is right, medium hard.. around 10dH I'd say!
My crowntail's ray never curled, and I have harder water than you.. But it might vary from fish to fish?


----------



## OMGemily (Feb 28, 2012)

so maybe a picture will help me get some answers... i even color coordinated so you know what im talking about! 



> *light blue: his dorsal fin is actually really long and narrow, but its almost always bent like this...*
> *purple: just noticed this today. is there supposed to be a bump here? it kinda looks like hes a female with eggs...*
> *orange: this was there when i got him... i think it might have gotten shorter but ill have to compare this with pics i took a while ago to make sure*
> *red: im almost positive this is new... i dont think it went up this high before...*
> *green: his one and only straight ray*


so hopefully this helps to figure out whats up with his fins :/


----------



## Olympia (Aug 25, 2011)

Hmm.. I'd suggest treating for fin rot.. That looks pretty bad, don't think it's cause of hardness at all..
My CT does have ONE bent ray on his dorsal.. I think it's just something that happens to CTs because the rays are so thin!


----------



## OMGemily (Feb 28, 2012)

thekoimaiden said:


> Is the hardness 150 ppm or 150 dGH? Because neither are really soft water. 150 ppm is medium hard water and 150dGH is basically liquid rock.


posted the picture before i realized this thread got replies, im guessing ppm though. it didnt specify but thats what everything else was in (wish i knew where i put the paper) i believe the sheet said something to 300 was normal. but it also said 0-40 for nitrates was ok. or nitrites. which ever is the least lethal to fish



Olympia said:


> The petsmart lady told me my hardness is between 200-250. There's no was that'd be dH so I translated it to hardness. dH only goes up to 30 so I'm pretty sure it's in ppm!
> http://www.bestfish.com/tips/110598.html
> I use this chart to convert to dh.
> So the koimaiden is right, medium hard.. around 10dH I'd say!
> My crowntail's ray never curled, and I have harder water than you.. But it might vary from fish to fish?


thank you  thats helpful haha


----------



## thekoimaiden (Oct 19, 2011)

Ya. He does look like he's got some finrot going. Sometimes healed fins will heal a little bent. About the curling. I have some curling in my guys due to hard-ish water, but I've also heard genetics can play a part in curling. I don't think it's a hard science as to whose fins curl and whose don't. Some luck of the draw and some water parameters.


----------



## OMGemily (Feb 28, 2012)

heres a picture of him about a week ago


----------



## OMGemily (Feb 28, 2012)

thekoimaiden said:


> Ya. He does look like he's got some finrot going. Sometimes healed fins will heal a little bent. About the curling. I have some curling in my guys due to hard-ish water, but I've also heard genetics can play a part in curling. I don't think it's a hard science as to whose fins curl and whose don't. Some luck of the draw and some water parameters.


i just finished treating him for fin rot a couple days ago :/ should i try to get some kind of water softener for him?

*EDIT:* his dorsal fin does still look like that but with a little more curling... its just that its bent in the first picture. its still just as long though


----------



## thekoimaiden (Oct 19, 2011)

Oh okay. With the new picture he does look much better. Bettas can live in hard water, so there is no medical need to soften the water. The fin curling is simply aesthetic. To soften it you can either mix your tap water with RO water (you either buy it or buy an RO unit; becomes extremely expensive after a while) or you can add some tannins to the water. I would try the tannins first. You can get them from IAL (Indian Almond Leaves) or driftwood like Malaysian driftwood.


----------



## OMGemily (Feb 28, 2012)

ill see if petsmart has indian almond leaves next time i go. but that last picture was about 6 days ago. and i should probably point out that when i got him he was a _double_ ray ct :/ is that still ok and just because of the hardness? im not trying to make it seem like theres a problem when there isnt i just want to make sure hes 100% ok


----------



## Olympia (Aug 25, 2011)

I doubt petsmart has IAL.
I have seen blackwater extract at my petsmart.. which should be the same thing. 
So you could try that. It was in a bottle by the water conditioners.


----------



## OMGemily (Feb 28, 2012)

ok. do you think his rays sticking/melting/curling/whatever together is still a result of hard water?


----------



## Olympia (Aug 25, 2011)

No... I think it may have been a side effect of the fin rot.. fins usually grow back crooked :/


----------

