# hannibal has shredded his fins!!!



## Falina (Feb 25, 2007)

i noticed today that my betta, hannibal lecter, has got a shredded fin. it def doesnt look like finrot. 

water params: amonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 10mg/l, ph 6.5

so the water quality is not to blame

tank is 10g, and only companions are 7 cories and some snails (dont know what type) so i dont think hes been attatcked. the tank has live plants, not plastic so he hasnt ripped them on plants. 

i have treated with melafix which i think is the best course of action.

anyone ideas how he could have injured himself like that?


----------



## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

What type of filter do you use?


----------



## Falina (Feb 25, 2007)

its an undergravel filter that came with the tank. it has a wee waterfall type thing where the water falls back into the tank after it has been filtered through the gravel.


----------



## Falina (Feb 25, 2007)

i dont think he could have done it on the filter, is that what you were thinking? the suction is undergrvel so his wee fin couldnt have got sucked in.

thanks


----------



## Falina (Feb 25, 2007)

It's been almost a fortnight now and he's getting no better. I used melafix and continued for 7 days like it said on the bottle but there's been no improvement at all and tbh it actually looks a bit worse!

I'm still 100% convinced it's not finrot - it just doesn't look like it, and nobody else has it in the tank either.

What should I do? Should I start another course of melafix and hope it works better this time? Or does anyone have any other ideas?

Thanks.


----------



## willow (Sep 9, 2006)

hi
i don't know anything about these little guys,
however i had a guppy with torn fins,and to be honest
it took more than a week before i noticed an improvement.
more like a month.


----------



## Falina (Feb 25, 2007)

Lainey said:


> hi
> i don't know anything about these little guys,
> however i had a guppy with torn fins,and to be honest
> it took more than a week before i noticed an improvement.
> more like a month.


Thanks.

The lack of improvement is bugging me, more so it's the fact that it's getting worse. I would have thoguht that even if it didn't get any better for a while, it would at least stop getting worse.

I'll keep an eye on him. Like I said I really don't think it's finrot however if it continues to worsen, would it do any harm to treat for finrot anyway? Just in case?


----------



## willow (Sep 9, 2006)

hi
just as a little thing as well....
you probably know already but
don't forget to keep up with your water changes,
as you don't want anything else to creep in.


----------



## Falina (Feb 25, 2007)

Thanks again, but yes I do keep it up! If there's one thing in life I do keep up it's looking after my fishes, certainly more so than I look after things like tidying up :roll: 

I can't help thinking that they look out of their tank at the rest of the house and think "God - I'm glad I'm in here and not out there!"


----------



## tophat665 (Sep 30, 2006)

OK, bettas are sensitive to the active ingredient in Melafix. You can kill a betta with full strength doses, so stop and count yourself lucky. Pop some carbon in your filter and do a 50% water change.

All is not lost, however:

There is a product called Bettafix that is actually Pimafix mixed at 20% strength. This is safe for bettas. Which means that using 1 ml/10 gallons of melafix is also safe for bettas.

That being the case, once you've baselined the water to get rid of the harmful concentration, take out the carbon and continue the melafix regimen with 1 ml in 10 gallons rather than the 5 the bottle recommends. If you want to use Pimafix as well, use the same amount.

See if that helps.


----------



## Falina (Feb 25, 2007)

tophat665 said:


> OK, bettas are sensitive to the active ingredient in Melafix. You can kill a betta with full strength doses, so stop and count yourself lucky. Pop some carbon in your filter and do a 50% water change.
> 
> All is not lost, however:
> 
> ...


I'm very glad you told me aboutt his! I'll do a 50% water change right now, and see if I can get a hold of bettafix.

Thanks a lot!!


----------



## tophat665 (Sep 30, 2006)

Don't waste your money on bettafix!!! It's just melafix diluted to 1 part in 5. You can use melafix at the rate of 1ml per 10 gallons (rathr than 5/10) and get the same effect.


----------



## Falina (Feb 25, 2007)

Thanks for the information tophat. I've changed 50% of the water and I won't dose with melafix for a few days, then I'll go with the dose you suggested. If all else fails would you recommend treating for finrot, just in case?

Thanks again.


----------



## tophat665 (Sep 30, 2006)

If the melafix by itself doesn't start to obviously work in about 5 days, start doing Pimafix as well. They work better together than separately. Now I have never used pimafix on a betta, so I would keep the dose the same as with melafix. On the other hand, I have read some folks saying that you can use a half dose of pimafix (5ml/20 gallon) without a problem.


----------



## Falina (Feb 25, 2007)

Thanks tophat, that's what I'll do.

I've never really known the differences between melafix and primafix, what are they?


----------



## Weasel F. (Oct 31, 2006)

Male bettas when broaded will eat there own tail fin. Some are just fin eatters from the start. I've had them eat there own tail til it's be on any type of regrowth.


----------



## Falina (Feb 25, 2007)

Weasel F. said:


> Male bettas when broaded will eat there own tail fin. Some are just fin eatters from the start. I've had them eat there own tail til it's be on any type of regrowth.


He does seem to be getting better now. Is there anything I can do to stop him being bored, if this is the case? He isn't with the cories anymore, he's in a 7g to himself.


----------



## Weasel F. (Oct 31, 2006)

One of the best ways to stop fin nippers is to place another male close enough for themto see each other and flare. Flaring helps fight boredome and keeps fin nippers from doing it. Also it's good for them. Keeps them health and active. Some people even me beleaves,it makes them live longer. I've done it for yrs. now. I have 50 bettas over 5yrs old and still spawning.


----------



## Falina (Feb 25, 2007)

Weasel F. said:


> One of the best ways to stop fin nippers is to place another male close enough for themto see each other and flare. Flaring helps fight boredome and keeps fin nippers from doing it. Also it's good for them. Keeps them health and active. Some people even me beleaves,it makes them live longer. I've done it for yrs. now. I have 50 bettas over 5yrs old and still spawning.


I don't have any other unfortunately. I could give him a mirror now and again so that he thinks he sees another - that would hopefully have a similar effect?

Thanks.


----------



## Falina (Feb 25, 2007)

Is it possible in fact that he misses the cories he was once housed with? He used to watch the cories a lot, though he never bothered with them, just liked to watch. Perhaps he is not bored because he has nothing to watch?


----------



## Weasel F. (Oct 31, 2006)

That's a 1000 dollor question there, to keep others or not to keep others with him. Most of them just want another to show off to and others just to beable to see others. I've found they show brighter colors and keep the halfmoon finge longer because they're using the tai musales more then if theyjust floaded round and didn't show off for another betta. if you have room for nother 2.5g tank. get another betta and Yu'll see a differnts in his colors with in hour of placing the new betta close to him.


----------

