# Why are Tango's fins curling?



## vaygirl (Sep 10, 2009)

You guys know he's in a HUGE tank, so space is not an issue. Every now and again, he blows or bites his tail and that seems to grow back fine. But his anal fin and his ventral fins are curling like crazy. At one point one ventral grew into itself in the shape of a C. I put a half dose of betta fix in his tank to help his tail heal and noticed that the ventral uncurled a bit just after and while it's still curling, it's not grown into itself anymore. 

So I guess my question is, what causes curling besides water quality? I test my params every week, do weekly small water changes and vacuuming. His parameters are almost always 0,0,5 or 0,0,10. PH is 7.4 to 7.6.


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## kelly528 (Aug 31, 2009)

... how hard is your water?


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## vaygirl (Sep 10, 2009)

Er... I don't know. I'll have to find out I guess.  I have to go out today anyway. I'll pop into petco for a test for that. I assume I can find one there.


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## vaygirl (Sep 10, 2009)

The only test I could get was a strip :/ 

But it says my water is 'hard' (100). And I spoke to the Petco employees that live in Edison and they said our water is hard. So where do I go from here?


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## ledosholas (Jan 17, 2010)

i had to treat me Alexander for a week with bettafix before his fins uncurled. and now hes doing great. i bought him that way so i'm not sure why they were that way to begin with. goodluck


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## vaygirl (Sep 10, 2009)

That's what they suggested at Petco. They also said that I should let the water sit out for a couple of days before water changes. I wanted to check with you guys first because, well, they're Petco and sometimes they have no idea what they're talking about.


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## kelly528 (Aug 31, 2009)

Okay first of all I have to say bettafix is a huge gimmick. The ONLY active ingredient is Melaluca (Tea-Tree) oil which is an antiseptic and that is about it. Basically Purell for fishies. Any 'uncurling' of finnage is most likely due to the removal of the betta from the cup of ammonia it has been stweing in at the pet store.

Hard water will cause a betta's fins to curl. There are many ways to soften your water, the most economical of which are

a) Run the water through a Brita pitcher before adding it to the tank
b) Bottled water
c) Indian Almond Leaf. The chemicals released by the leaves will bond to minerals in the water, making it softer.

I think you should see good results by filtering your water and using IAL.


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## doggyhog (Apr 30, 2009)

That is great info Kelly!! I too have really hard water and I wanted some ideas to keep my CT and HMs fins in nice condition.


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## kelly528 (Aug 31, 2009)

The next step up is RO water but jeesh-- RO units are so expensive!!!


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## vaygirl (Sep 10, 2009)

The Brita pitcher seems like the best idea for me. I do have a Pur filter on my faucet but I'm really pitiful about filters for the darn thing and it'll be good to have a backup. I'll get some IAL too. Thanks Kelly! You always have good answers.


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## Jupiter (Aug 30, 2009)

Would the blackwater extract they sell at petstores work too? Just curious.


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## PinkDiamond (Apr 21, 2009)

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought you were supposed to be very cautious with/not use filtered or bottled water as fish water...

This was because the parameters of the water could be different between different batches of bottled water, and over time, the efficiency of the Brita or other filter would change as it neared time to be replaced, changing the parameters of the water too... And as we all know, a sudden change in water parameters = one unhappy and unhealthy fishy. 

Just a thought. Of the three options, I'd probably go with the Indian Almond Leaf over changing the kind of water that he's in.


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## kelly528 (Aug 31, 2009)

Glad I could help Vaygirl ^_^




PinkDiamond said:


> Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought you were supposed to be very cautious with/not use filtered or bottled water as fish water...
> 
> This was because the parameters of the water could be different between different batches of bottled water, and over time, the efficiency of the Brita or other filter would change as it neared time to be replaced, changing the parameters of the water too... And as we all know, a sudden change in water parameters = one unhappy and unhealthy fishy.
> 
> Just a thought. Of the three options, I'd probably go with the Indian Almond Leaf over changing the kind of water that he's in.


With IAL you run the risk of the parameters changing whenever you change the water because you are taking out the IAL water and replacing it with tapwater and then the IAL take about a day to soak bakc into it. So as far as I am concerned it is a moot-point. Also bear in mind that Brita Filters last for a good couple of months, you can also test the hardness if you think it filter is working at less efficiency. But I would not consider a change of up to 30ppm even perceptibly significant on a scale of up to 300 and higher.

I'm not sure about BWE...I will have to see if I remember where I saw the chemical in IAL that netralises hardness and see if it's an ingredient in BWE.


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## vaygirl (Sep 10, 2009)

To be honest, I have that problem with my tap water. Last month it's ph was 7.6. This month it's 6. 

I really only do 20% changes weekly on all my tanks because they're cycled so there won't be huge swings for mine. I guess if you're doing 100% you'd have to be more careful.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Where can you get BWE?


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## doggyhog (Apr 30, 2009)

Most pet stores.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Would Petsmart have it?


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## vaygirl (Sep 10, 2009)

I ordered an API kh/gh testing kit (cause strips are awful) and I got it today. According to it, my gh is 125 (soft, or slightly hard depending on what I've read) and my kh is 3, both in my tap and in Tango's tank.

I know we always doubt bettafix but I gotta tell you guys, Tango's fins have uncurled a lot on the bottom and on his ventral since I added it to his tank.


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