Holes in Betta fin

[Mary Mary]

Hello!

I have a male betta who has developed holes in his lower fin.

I don't THINK that this is fin rot, as his fins look fine other than these holes.

We've had him for about five months and the holes developed slowly.

I freely admit that I am still learning about how to properly keep a betta.

He is currently in a 1/2 gallon fish bowl that got its first real cleaning just a couple weeks ago when I realized that I needed to change the water out more often. (Like I said, I'm still learning.)

Now as soon as I change his water I refill my 'fish water' jug with fresh filtered water, treat it (aquarium salt and betta water conditioner) and let it sit until the next water change so it will be at the same temp as the bowl water.

He has no plants to tear his fins on.

Could the holes just be damaged spots that didn't heal well because his water was getting dirty? (Which WON'T happen again I assure you!!!)

He looks pretty healthy overall, especially now that his water is fresh and his bowl clean. He fans his fins out and is pretty active.

Will the holes in the fins eventually heal? How long will it take for the fins to repair themselves?

What's the best way to catch him to change his water, or should I invest in a siphon tube and just suck all the gunk out of the bottom of the bowl rather than taking him out and dumping it all? I caught him in a net the other day and it made one of the holes worse...now he's developing a split from the hole to the edge of his fin. In the past I've simply scooped him up in a small glass or jar.

How often and how much should he be fed? The food container says to feed several times a day. The guy at the aquarium store says to feed him just a small amount every other day.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give me!!!

Edited to add: How often should I be changing his water? Partial water change or full water change?

 

[An t-iasg]

I'm sorry to hear about your betta. When my first betta was in a bowl, he was fine for awhile and then he started to get a lot of fin tears.

The half-gallon bowl that he is in is not the best environment for him. You need to do water changes to this size bowl every day, which could end up stressing him more (stress=torn fins). A better choice would be a 2 1/2 gallon tank. The All-Glass brand makes an acrylic minbow tank that's 2.5 gallons. If you get this tank, I can give you my "tips" on it.

An even better choice is what I have, a 5 gallon tank. I have my tank set up with a heater and a sponge filter. The sponge filter's airline is run through a gang valve so the water flow isn't strong. Bettas don't like current, and they do need a heater, which isn't possible in the bowl. They like warm, stable temperatures of 80-82 degrees. Temperature fluctuations also can cause stress, which causes torn fins.

The fins will heal. If it's just a slight hole it will heal in a day or two. For a bigger tear, it could take a few weeks or more. It's hard to tell.

For now, leave him in the bowl to do water changes, and scoop out about half of the water. It's a good idea to age the water first in the jug but you really don't need aquarium salt. How is the water filtered? Is it filtered tap water? Using something like pure RO or distilled water is not good.

What are you feeding - flakes or pellets? In a small bowl with no filtration I would not feed several times a day. Once a day or every other day is fine in a small bowl. Just feed small amounts, though. I would feed no more than three pellets a day.

You might want to invest in an ammonia test kit to monitor the ammonia in the bowl. Aquarium Pharmaceuticals is a good kit. Get the one with two test bottles.

You might want to read this article for additional information, although this cycle will not be likely to happen in a bowl: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/article_view.php?faq=2&fldAuto=21

Do a search also on this website for bettas and you'll find some of my other posts that talk about beginning care for bettas.

Good luck!

 

[Mary Mary]

Thanks for the pointers!

Unfortunately we don't really have room for a regular tank. I could probably handle a bigger bowl though.

Our regular tap water (well water) is so hard that it must be softened. That makes it sort of unpalletable to drink so we have a built in filter system and that's the water I use for his bowl.

He's getting pellet food so I'll tell my sons to feed him no more than three pellets a day.

Unfortunately the holes in his fin are fairly large, at least the one is. But if they'll heal eventually I won't stress about it too much.

How we got this fish is sort of funny. It sounds slightly creepy, but a truck driver came up to us in a restaurant one day and asked if our daughter (age three) would like a fish! (One of the perks of being cute I guess.) I think we accepted the fish partly out of shock. I mean you don't really expect someone to come up and offer you a fish as you're getting ready to leave a restaurant!!! Of course our theory is that the guy is paid by the fish supply companies to drive around the country giving away 'free' fish...I mean, NO fish ends up being FREE!!!

So even though my husband used to have an aquarium (years ago) I went into fish ownership pretty much flying blind. I'm so glad that Daniel survived the learning curve so far!!!