# Half moon Betta torn fins



## Vashivian (Dec 11, 2009)

Hello, this is my first time posting on this forum and unfortunately it is to ask for help.

I have a Half moon Betta was absolutely beautiful thing. recently his fins have been getting very damaged, started off with a rip in one fin then the next day there was five in another and now it is getting to missing larger portions.

When I got him he looked like this

http://s620.photobucket.com/albums/tt284/Vashivian/?action=view&current=SDC10423.jpg

and after a couple weeks he now looks like

http://s620.photobucket.com/albums/tt284/Vashivian/?action=view&current=SDC10456.jpg

http://s620.photobucket.com/albums/tt284/Vashivian/?action=view&current=SDC10454.jpg

I am hoping someone will be able to help me get this guy back to looking amazing.

Background of fish from since I had him.

I first got him and didn't really have anywhere to place him so he got stuck in a 1 gallon spare fish bowl I had and after a few days I got him a 3 gallon bowl and set that up with out a filter at first. I found a filter to fit in the 3 gallon bowl and used sponge's in the filter instead of the carbon medium that came with it. He swam around looking beautiful for a few weeks. He's been and is very active since I got him, seems to actually never run out of energy.

About a week and a half ago he started showing signs of dislike and always seeming to be freaking out in a corner. So thinking he has the same issue another betta i have had i started treating him with salt baths for what I thought might be parasites. The next day still concerned about my 2 betta's I called the local let store manager for some advice who has always been very helpfull in providing great elp with out nessesarily costing money from what he got from me said that it sounded like he might be having ammonia burn so I check the ammonia because the tank i knew wasnt fuly cycled and didnt have a cycles sponge in it and the ammonia came up at .25 ppm so i was ok with that. The next morning i noticed he had a rip in his fin (lower fin under his belly) [at this time the other betta i have after 2 salt baths looked and acted just fine so she isnt a worry] my halfmoon is still freaking out every so often in the same corner so i continue with the salt baths and add a little melafix (about 1ml/3gal) in hopes if it helping and to find him the next day with more rips and now a few days later he is now in the state as the second and third pics are.

After the second day he was getting his rips I decided to go and get a new heater (an adjustable one) so i can get a heater into my curently open spare 10gal tank that was being treated for "blue/green algae" that was solely occupied by a ghost shrimp. The 10gal tank i will get a bit more detail in a bit.he has been in there for 3 days now and still losing parts of his fins. He is now starting to show some red which to me says fin rot but he lost a good amount of fin before showing fin rot signs... I just pray he isnt doing this to himself.

10gal tank that is being treated for blue/green algae

This tank has been for months grown an algae I was not knowledgeable about... not saying i know much about them either. and after it covered almost the whole bottom of the tank with no luck of finding a solution for turned to the petstore for help and got something to deal with the bacteria algae which is called in common terms "blue/green algae" before i started treating the tank it was fully cycled had a betta (odd coloured betta had what seemed like no colour to him at all) 2 oto's and the shrimp.The oto's strated dieing from eating the algae which i thougt would not be a problem for them till i foundout now nasty that stuff is to them and any algae eating critters. it has been bit over a week of treating the bad algae with me manually removing large portions on what i could take out and clean and the medication caled "E.M. erythromycin" which contains 200mg of Erythermycin per packet but to kill this bacteria algae I did 2 doses of 100mg and it has been working out well for removing it and all i need to do as it dies is vac it up an toss it and my plants looks pretty again. But lastnight and tonight I added another packet split between the days so another 100mg as suggested by the local petstore manager. Would keeping my betta in this tank be a problem?

Tank water Stats.

ammonia: 0 ppm
ph: 8
Nitrite: 0
nitrate: 0

temp as i am typing this is 78 but i turned it up incase there might still be ick (slsowly turning it up and waiting half day before i make any more adjustments)

water changes are regular on sunday evenings but i plan to do another water change early for this 10gal tank because of the algae to be cleaned up

thank you in advance for the help and I am sorry for the story book post


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## BettaxFishxCrazy (Sep 5, 2009)

It looks like fin rot but you could also have a tail bitter. Sometimes if they get bored, they'll bite at their tail and he'll look like a dog chasing his tail. I would give him salt bathes to help heal the fins. If that doesn't work, Jungle Fungus Clear or Eliminator are good medications, but I would start the aquarium salt first.


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## dr2b (May 31, 2009)

Does he flare up a lot? He may have split his fins. You say he is very active and obsessed with that one corner. I think he may be seeing his reflection, flaring, and splitting his fins (which can lead to fin rot). Do you have a background on the tank? Some bettas can't have backgrounds because of this.


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## Vashivian (Dec 11, 2009)

The 10 Gal he is in now does have a background that kinda goes with the plants in the tank, but he is usually showing off at the front of the tank every time I look for him. But it might be possible that he liking the one corner and moving side to side fast in it could have caused his fins to but the corner he liked was in the 3 gal tank he used to be in.

Though it is looking like he might be giving the first positive movement with his fins today. I don't see any new damage to then that has appeared to increased in a little over 24 hours. I really hope his beautiful fins take a turn for the better.

I just really hope for this problem to be resolved before I go away on vacation.


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## BakaMandy (Jun 16, 2009)

To be safe, give him a few salt dips (1tbs dissolved in one gallon for about 15 minutes). I'd say treat him in your current tank, but it seems you have live plants in there, and plants don't tolerate salt very well, because I would also recommend keeping him in a separate hospital tank for the time being to watch his condition more carefully. In his hospital tank, treat him with salt bath (1tsp dissolved in 1 gallon) and change the water every other day. With this combination of Salt Dips and Salth Baths you should hopefully be able to treat him without medication.

I'd also recommend taking a look at the ornaments in his tank, he could have potentially torn his fin on a plant or rock or that log decoration thing. Betta fish fins are extremely fragile and can easily tear on any sharp corners, so try and eliminate any potential hazard. 

As for his current tank, I'd also recommend you to maybe do a 100% water change while you're treating him in a hospital tank to refresh his water, hopefully ridding it of anything that could have potentially caused it. If you want to be extra safe, I'd also recommend replacing the plants in case they're infected.

Personally though, it looks like it might be a tear. Salt baths/dips will still help him heal up :3


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## AlexXx (Aug 23, 2009)

i love your tank!


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