Betta fin damage

[Fin35]

I feel so bad, I had ember tetras and they’ve been nipping my betta fins. I’ve had them for 8 months and they were babies when I got them, so I think the nipping started more recently or at least got worse. For awhile I could tell his fins were damaged and removed driftwood, coconut cave, ext. then I saw them nipping at him! 3-4 would do it often, so it definitely got worse. So I brought the embers back to the pet store to find a new home. I just noticed that one of his fins are also basically to the bone and this is new. I bought Indian almond leaves and Capprita bark to release tannins and the medicinal properties, I put it in two days ago and I haven’t seen any tannins in the water yet. I also have snails so I don’t want to change thing to quickly but I want the betta to heal before it gets infected or worse. I boiled two of the leaves and added that to freshwater but no tannins released. He’s in a 10 gallon tank by himself with snails now. Now that the problem is removed, when should improvements be seen? This is a lesson that I’ll never have another fish with a betta, embers are supposed to NOT be fin nippers and I didn’t see it happen for a long long time but poor guy was being tortured by then.

 

[antgaitan]

I’m not too familiar with the use of catappa leaves, but I’m pretty sure boiling them before adding them to your tank is going to release those beneficial tannins you’re looking for.
Another possibility could be if you’re running carbon in your filter?
Things like this are why I feel like it’s always best to play it safe and not put Betta fish in communities.

 

[Fin35]

I have a sponge filter, should I turn it off?