# Large Tear in Back Fin!



## FlightyFinn (Jul 8, 2010)

I've had my male betta Rosencrantz since Christmas 2009 and he's been the picture of health and personality, and about 3 weeks ago when I was doing a water change he caught a bit of his tail fin on the edge of his holding container and had a small nick in the middle closer to his body. I kept my eye on it and it didn't seem to affect him much but then later on, when I introduced a fake plant in his tank he got a larger tear in the fin from the end to mid-way up the length of his tail. 

This tear frightened me a little more and I immediately took the plant out and did a water change, adding some aquarium salt and melafix just in case, though it showed no sign of fin rot and I additionally overfed him a bit as my petstore friend had had progress with this method. 

A week passed and the tear didn't seem to grow any larger and the small nick appeared to be healing over and I did another water change as er the melafix instructions after putting some in everyday for that week. During this water change his fin tore more, from the original larger tear all the way to the nick, almost to the base of his tail. As this tear is basically splitting his back fin, I'm quite alarmed. I put more melafix in but is there anything else I can do? Through this all he's been acting like nothing's changed but I'm worried for him now. That last tear just occurred today so the water is obviously quite clean, being just changed.

There's a small piece of that last torn fin still attatched, here's a photo.

http://i888.photobucket.com/albums/ac82/flighty_junebug/Photo69.jpg
http://i888.photobucket.com/albums/ac82/flighty_junebug/Photo72.jpg

Please advise me on if he's going to be okay/suggestions.


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## FlightyFinn (Jul 8, 2010)

Update: The torn piece has come off so now there's just a clean tear in the tail and the edges don't seem to be discolored, but I was wondering if his tail will ever heal back together.


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## Betta Slave (Dec 8, 2009)

Since it's a small tear, his fins should grow back (though they might not grow back as nicely.)


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## FlightyFinn (Jul 8, 2010)

Also, how do you tell if a Betta's eyes are swollen and what could it mean? His eyes are looking a little bulgy and he occasionally acts a little odd recently.


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## RandomFish (Jun 16, 2010)

First off, the aquarium salt was a step in the right direction. :-D It eased stress and probably staved off infection. 

However, melafix is dangerous for bettas and other anabantoids:

http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/b...ners-read-melafix-alert-read-read-danger.html


Fins will grow back on their own provided the water is kept pristine and the betta is healthy. As Betta Slave said, sometimes they won't look as perfect as they used to be, but they'll definitely grow back. If you want to give them help, a bit of Bettafix would be ok. Definitely keep the heater set at the warmer end of comfort for your betta (about 80F) in order to raise his metabolism. 

My halfmoon from Aquabid had a chunk of his fin broken during shipment, a section of it missing almost all the way down to his body. I freaked and I've been keeping him in water heated to 81F with one teaspoon of dissolved Aquarium salt per gallon of water. It's been less than a month now and there is definite re-growth. I've ordered some Indian Almond Leaf because it's said to make their fins and scales stronger, but it's taking forever to get here and his fin's been growing back just fine without it.

Good luck! 

EDIT:



> Also, how do you tell if a Betta's eyes are swollen and what could it mean? His eyes are looking a little bulgy and he occasionally acts a little odd recently.


He might have Popeye:
http://www.petfish.net/articles/Bettas/popeye.php

I think you should upgrade to a larger tank..


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## Gerardo756 (Jun 20, 2010)

If his eyes are bulgding it could be a sign of pop eye and his fin should grow back again. something along the same lines happened my Betta, but it grow back again but it was a bit paler than the rest but you hardly will even notice it. just keep doing what your doing and he should be fine.

P.S. nice looking betta


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## FlightyFinn (Jul 8, 2010)

The eye bulging might be a little bit of paranoia on my part, as there doesn't seem to be any bubble or white film over his eyes as pop eye seems to create, but I'll definately be watching for any further development on that part. I've heard that melafix isn't the greatest and I stopped dosing him with it as soon as I did. Thanks for the advice!


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