3/5 Bettas have frayed fins?

[xxDriftingAway]

Hello, I'll upload some pictures in my next post as a reply to this.

Some of my 5 bettas are starting to get frayed fins. I have been gone for a week and my tank level dropped 1 gallon. I have them in a 20 gallon with a pleco and a snail. Even my oldest betta (the first one I bought back in August) is starting to have frayed fins.

It is their back fins that have holes (or at least my oldest one looks to have a hole in her back fin) or are frayed. I noticed this first on one of my most recent bettas but her fins are back to normal. Then it jumped to my second oldest (I got her in Feb/March) but her fins are turning white (the back ones) and now the bottom ones are starting to look frayed.

I don't have money to get anything new for my fish until July 1 (that's when I get paid next) and I can't buy anything expensive. I have an old 10 gallon tank that is out of commission and just sitting on my floor but if I were to put it into commission I have no where to put it in my room (only place where my parents will allow me to have my fish until I move out). So I can't even commission a separate incubation tank or whatever it is called... or at least not one that is that big... I doubt I have room for anything bigger than a milk carton (1 gallon).

Should I be worried or not? How should I treat them? All we have around here is Wal-Mart and Petsmart to purchase fish stuff from. So, just keep that in mind.

 

[xxDriftingAway]

Update: I just noticed that the blue fish that originally had the fish issues has a back fin that looks like it was cut with a pair of scissors. It is a straight line which means this fin issue is probably due to her. She was so pretty at Petsmart and I didn't see the issues as they had her in blue water (why they do that idk it is so stupid) and I guess it blended in.

Here are the pictures I promised. I also decided to include a video. This video is simply to show their living conditions. I've been gone over the past week on vacation and had an automatic feeder going feeding algae to my snail and pleco as well as food for my bettas.

I'm sorry but they all uploaded upside down. I was holding my camera right side up so I'm not sure what happened there. 0.o
They were the best pictures I could get. The only bettas that don't have any issues with their fins are the white one and the baby red one (smaller red one).

 

[TbOnE]

Frayed fins is caused by fighting (due to bad water quality or lack of food or any new fish added) rot is a parasite or fungus that eats away the flesh of the fish. Usually (in my case) fins were frayed and white at the ends. I treated my tank with salt and melafix, change your water more frequently

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[xxDriftingAway]

Okay, I'm not seeing any fighting... none at all, in fact. At first Julia (my oldest betta and the one in the first picture) was chasing around one of them and I noticed the white one got stuck to my filter (had to turn off my filter to free her lol thought it was weird and hilarious) but that's the most I've seen since I added the 3 new babies... white one, dark blue one (that you see pictured in the top corner of my tank) and the baby red one.

They aren't going crazy at each other even when they are close together. Though I'm not sure why the one betta is hanging out in the top left corner (worries me but I am a worrier so it could be nothing).

The video isn't adding with y'all built-in video thing (or I don't know how to use it) so I'm uploading the video to YouTube. Once it uploads I'll edit my OP or second post with it.

EDIT/UPDATE: I'm ordering some Melafix as well as Aquarium Salt and simply charging it to my credit card. Amazon is saying something about Sunday deliveries now being available in my area but I don't believe that is true. Is there anything else I should order?
My total order will include more water conditioner and another set of bio-bag cartridges as well.

 

[xxDriftingAway]

As an update. I just did a 95% or as much of a water change as I could. There was like a centimeter of water at the bottom after taking out my gravel. I cleaned the gravel and the water and replaced it. I'm out of BettaSafe water conditioner (ran out putting it into the betta's temp tank) so I'm letting it sit overnight (possibly over 2 nights) while I wait for Prime to come in the mail.

The water also has tons of crap in it after filling it back up; cloudy with some leftover poop and stuff so I put my pleco and snail back in it in hopes that they will help clean the tank with my filter overnight. If the water isn't clear tomorrow I'm going to do a 50% WC and then add prime and let it sit again for a few hours and check back in with it.

I'm going to treat my betta's tomorrow when I get my A Salt and Melafix. Not 100% sure if I will get it tomorrow or Monday as Amazon states that they have Sunday deliveries in my area (something new) but I'm not sure how valid that is. We will see tomorrow if I get my package(s).

Anyway, now all of my fish are showing signs of the frayed fins. I don't think it is fin rot (or at least I hope it isn't fin rot) but I'm not sure. I'm watching the bettas in their temp tank (as it is smaller than 1Gallon and there are 5 of them) and no fighting/nipping has been seen thus far. No chasing of anyone even.
I hope I can clear this up when I get my delivery.

 

[TbOnE]

It's hard to see the condition of your fish in the pictures. If the fish are not fighting, it is most likely due to a combination of poor water quality with stress = disease. This just happened to me with a fish I introduced into my tank, now the whole tank is compromised. I think you have the right idea in my opinion. ..just be sure not to overeat, as this will stress your fish more. In addition, massive water changes rid everything (good and bad) in the tank. This means that you have to cycle your tank to establish a biological filter [prime] before introducing fish into that tank. Do not just throw prime in the tank followed by your fish. Regulate your temperature to match that of your med tank. Finally, that "blue water" is a bath that most retailers use when they receive new fish to treat disease.[para-guard] very good idea to treat your new clean tank with that initially as you don't have to remove carbon from the filter like most other meds.

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[xxDriftingAway]

It's hard to see the condition of your fish in the pictures. If the fish are not fighting, it is most likely due to a combination of poor water quality with stress = disease. This just happened to me with a fish I introduced into my tank, now the whole tank is compromised. I think you have the right idea in my opinion. ..just be sure not to overeat, as this will stress your fish more. In addition, massive water changes rid everything (good and bad) in the tank. This means that you have to cycle your tank to establish a biological filter [prime] before introducing fish into that tank. Do not just throw prime in the tank followed by your fish. Regulate your temperature to match that of your med tank. Finally, that "blue water" is a bath that most retailers use when they receive new fish to treat disease.[para-guard] very good idea to treat your new clean tank with that initially as you don't have to remove carbon from the filter like most other meds.

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As far as the blue water goes, that means they were selling a fish that could possibly have some sort of disease? That's not right. :/ GRR

& Thanks. I figured WCs are always good and I know a 100% WC is bad as I have to re-assimilate my fish and everything but I'm working on it. Hence why I'm not adding my fish for another day or two. I was planning to use the prime before work tomorrow (I work 9 hours) and then add the fish when I got home.
The water is at the same temperature as that in the tank (or will be by tomorrow night). I just want to add the A Salt and Melafix tomorrow before work as well. Since they are in a tiny temp tank I'm just going to add less than 1/4 tbsp.

Right now I'm cycling my filter with my old media because I don't have any other media to add. Once I get my new media in the mail I will be putting the old media in the tank to continue the cycling but replacing the media in my filter with the new media. To help the cycling I added my snail and pleco to my tank.

I'll reply to this with more pictures if I can get any of them in the temp tank. Those pictures did come out bad. Sorry, not sure why they got flipped like that.

 

[xxDriftingAway]

Here are some better pictures. Sorry if some are blurry when you blow them up. I had to take them in a dimly lit setting as the flash on my camera made them impossible to see.




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[TbOnE]

Sounds like a plan. You have to remember that a fish gets handled at least 4 times before you handle it. Think about how stressed it is already before you dump it in your tank. I learned that you must quarantine all new fish for at least 3 days before introducing them into your tank. Skepticalaquarist.com

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[TbOnE]

Looks like some type of fin rot to me. My guess is it came from the new fish

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[TbOnE]

Looks like fin rot to me. My guess is it was introduced by your new fish.

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[Mebbid]

The time away from them (assuming you didn't have anyone to feed) could have caused an increase in aggression because the fish were hungry. Since you came back and started feeding it would go away.

Fin rot is not particularly contagious. And thankfully the treatment is as easy as frequent water changes. Just work to keep the nitrate level below 20ppm and everything should resolve itself.

If it progresses despite the improved water quality then it's time to look at a broad spectrum antibiotic for them.

As for the blue water, bettas are regularly shipped with it. If I'm not mistaken it's Methylene Blue that is added to the water which causes the bluish coloration. The only thing it means is that the betta is a new arrival and they haven't taken the time or had a chance to change out the water.

 

[xxDriftingAway]

The time away from them (assuming you didn't have anyone to feed) could have caused an increase in aggression because the fish were hungry. Since you came back and started feeding it would go away.

Fin rot is not particularly contagious. And thankfully the treatment is as easy as frequent water changes. Just work to keep the nitrate level below 20ppm and everything should resolve itself.

If it progresses despite the improved water quality then it's time to look at a broad spectrum antibiotic for them.

As for the blue water, bettas are regularly shipped with it. If I'm not mistaken it's Methylene Blue that is added to the water which causes the bluish coloration. The only thing it means is that the betta is a new arrival and they haven't taken the time or had a chance to change out the water.

I had a feeder to feed them. So I know that they were fed (started it up a day early to make sure it worked and it did/does). Thanks for the idea but I don't think that's it.

Ah Okay, that sounds better (about the blue water) than what the other person said.
-----------------------------
As an update:
I received my package today (woo hoo for Sunday deliveries!) so I added some Prime to the aquarium and waited a few minutes and added my fish. After that I added 1/4 tbsp. of A Salt and some Melafix. I'm only adding the Melafix for one day (just today) but I will continue with the A Salt for a week and see how it goes.

When I added my fish I have nothing in the aquarium except gravel. I don't have any decorations whatsoever and won't until I see my oldest one's fins healing along with some others.
I think it was one of my decorations. It is a lot rougher than my other two as it used to be my parent's and they never owned guppies or any fish that have longer fins like Betta's. Now that everything is out I'm sure I will see some improvement but if I don't see much I'll know it is aggression between them OR fin rot.

 

[xxDriftingAway]

UPDATE: I wanted to wait to update this. I've been adding the melafix randomly over the past few weeks and 2/5 fish have healed so that makes 2/5 fish with fins that look fine.

The only fish that have frayed fins are these:

1. Jill => Eldest; lighter blue, largest fins
2. Julia => Second Oldest; All Red, larger of my two red bettas.
3. Jenny => One of the youngest; All red, smaller of my two red bettas.

I have uploaded tons of pictures here of what I just recently took. NONE of my bettas have ANY damage to their upper/top fins. It is only the back fins and very FEW have ANY issues to the lower fins. I think Jill & Julia are the only one with damage there. It is ALL their back fins.

Anyway, I'm wanting to know if I should purchase more Melafix or get my pleco? He has no damage to any of his fins, is that weird? Are there diseases that only effect bettas? I'm asking cause he has bigger fins than them at this point (giving him away to someone who has a 100 gallon tank once I move back down to Florida and have a chance to go out and meet them somewhere) so I thought the bigger fins meant the better the chance of injury to those said fins? Am I wrong?

Anyway my questions-

• Should I take my pleco out and put him in a temp tank until the fins heal? I'm asking this one cause he poops A LOT more than I thought he would so I'm thinking the poop and my busy work schedule (no time to clean the water/aquarium as I should) is contributing to their fin issues?
• Should I purchase more Melafix, do you think since it helped some fix their fins but not others it should still work?
• Should I continue adding 1/4 tbsp of Aquarium Salt every now and again?
• How often should I try to change my water in the tank? I have a 20 gallon. With that said, how much of a water change should I do? I'm working every day until next Saturday so I may be able to do one today and one tomorrow (probably will do 50% today and 20% tomorrow and by that I mean 10 gallons today and 5 gallons tomorrow). How does this sound?

I'm posting this from my laptop so in my next post I'll add the pictures.

 

[xxDriftingAway]

Here are first 4 pictures.

EDIT: I have no idea why they came up like that. (on the side) I opened them on my phone, Paint and everything else and while the previews were sideways everything else had them straight up and down.
These will have to do as I don't have time today to take more pictures.

 

[xxDriftingAway]

Here are my last 3 pictures. Sorry again about them being wrong like this but the website is weird when uploading pictures.

 

[xxDriftingAway]

So, after doing this water change(50%), I accidentally poured one of my fish (the white one with red stripes on her fin) down the drain. RIP.

So, now I only have 4 fish. 3/4 of them have fin issues now... which isn't a good percentage.

 

[Brookster123]

No tea tree oil with labrynth organs.. water change time...

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[xxDriftingAway]

Huh?


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[Brookster123]

Huh?


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No tea tree oil (melafix) with labrynth organs (all up in bettas), perform a wc to remove the melafix from the tank.

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