betta lost its fin

[tracey]

can anybody give me abit of advice.my sister-law has just told me that her young betta has been attacked,all of his tail has gone she is unsure on how this has happened.she has quite a few fish in her tank.
gouramis
sharks
scissortail rasbora
penguin and xray tetras
guppies
catfish
she thinks it was the guppies as she got them today and he was fine untill they got added.she has only had him since monday.she has transfered him to a 2 gallon tank.any advice would be grateful thanks

 

[JustOneMore20]

What is the tank size? Does she test her water...if so what are the values (ammnonia, nitrite, nitrate?

Melafix is good to use for torn fins. She should be able to get it at any fish or pet store.

 

[tracey]

her tank size is 38 uk gallons
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrates 10
ph 7.5
she does test her water quite regular and does do water changes weekly.imo i thought it could of been the tetras but as im new to this myself i wasnt a 100% sure.all her fish have been fine up untill today when this happened.will he survive now that she has put him in a seperate tank even though he is swiming so slow which that is to be expected as he now has no fin.tia

 

[JustOneMore20]

Usually people discourage keeping gouramis and bettas together, I guess because they are slightly related. Many times they get into fights. I don't know for sure that it was the guppies...usually if you have a problem between the guppies and the betta, its the guppies who get hurt because the bettas think they look similar to another male betta.

I don't know rasboras, penguin and xray tetras to be nippy. Some tetras are nippy, but I've never heard of those 2 being nippy.

What kind of sharks does she have?

My guess is it was the gourami. All I can tell you to do is look for some Melafix. I wouldn't put the betta back in the tank, since she doesn't know for sure who did the damage. If she can, I'd set him up a 5 or 10g tank just to himself, so he can recover and so he won't get hurt again. If she gets a 10g, she can add some peaceful harlequin rasboras or cardinal tetras.

 

[tracey]

thanks for that info i will tell her to get them meds for him asap ,she has about
11 gouramis
1 red tale shark
1 bala shark
most of the tank mates at the moment are very young so their all small for now.over the past couple of i have done a bit of research my self and i have come about that some tetras dont mix well with bettas,so i will make sure that i dont get them for my tank thanks for your help.

 

[JustOneMore20]

The bala definitely shouldn't stay in that small of a tank. She is overstocked with 11 gouramis. Do you know what kind of gouramis they are? Really it doesn't matter, but she will be really overstocked if they are the bigger type of gouramis.

Send your sister-in-law over to Aquarium Advice....we'll help her out. I definitely think she is overstocked though.

Balas get around 14 inches, so a better home for it would be a 125 US gallon tank (~104UK gallons). They are very active!

She could set up the 2g she has the betta in now for him. He will be happy there and no one will pick on him.

 

[tracey]

sad to say that her baby betta has just died. my six year old niece will be upset as she named him purple cos his fin was a lovely purple. she said that she wont get another one of them cos she doesnt want the same thing to happen. thanks for all your advice justonemore20.

 

[JustOneMore20]

Sorry about her loss!

If she wants another...tell her to setup a smallish tank...like 5 or 10 US gallons for the betta alone. It could be your niece's tank. Bettas can be mixed in community tanks, but sometimes things don't work out. I have my betta with some harlequin rasboras, which are very peaceful schooling fish. Everyone is happy! Gouramis and bettas just don't mix...

 

[guppy12]

guppy guppy guppy!
I had the same problem...

 

[tracey]

i have 6 fancy guppies in the tank with my betta and there is no problem with them.jet my betta he is very shy towards the other tankmates,anytime that anyone swims by him he just happly swims away.from what i've read in these forums you are not suposed to have bettas in a community tank they like being on there own,so far he is doin well but i am thinking of taking him out just incase anything does happen to him.i have 2 other tanks that i could possibly put him in.1 is a 2.5 gal,but im not sure on the other it is bigger than than the first.i havent calculated the size of it yet all i know its 2ft long,my partner just want to leave him in there and get another betta for one of the other tanks.what do you recomend tia