Betta fish has hole in caudal fin

[Gingimaru]

Hi everyone

Unfortunately it seems as if our male betta has a hole in caudal fin . its about half a cm long (ish). our paramaters are ammo: 0ppm; nitrites: 0ppm; nitrates: 15-20ppm; PH 7.4-7.6 (i say that because the low end PH API test comes out light blue which means it should be 7.6 and when we do the high end PH to make sure it not gone out of the low PH range comes up with nothing i.e. shows no real colour). 35ltr tank with marina S10 filter and a heater with 2 silk firns in the bottom, a house and a vase (ornamental of course) and a silk firn attatched at the top of the tank as a resting point for the betta.

we are currently treating for fin rot and ick.

some spots started appearing on both our betta and neon tetra and as these kept coming and going we could only think it was ick. so we raised the temp to 30c (around 86f) and so far we havent seen anymore but we are keeping it at this temp for a little while longer (its been like this for about a week or so,, so we will keep it at this for at least another week)

we noticed maybe a week ago that the betta's fins were slightly frayed at the ends and over a period of days it got ever so slightly worse (could see a little more white each day). so we removed our carbon and added some interpet anti fungal and finrot medicine.

does anyone know what may have caused this. i have read elsewhere it could have just been ripped on a toy and that if that is the case we need to try make sure he doesnt get an infections through it. however all our toys have never ripped any fins before and all appear to be very smooth. the firns are silk so they do not catch on him at all.

i cant imagine it being fin rot as we are already treating for it and have had 2 doses in the tank so far for it.

 

[TheCrazyFishLady]

I would say due to the disease and heat increase (if it was not gradual), he has been stressed out which has allowed some fin rot to come in. Either that or out of his stressing, he has ripped it himself.

Have you been dosing medications for the ich? You usually want to do smaller doses of any medications with bettas. They tend to not have the best reactions with medicines. Which could have caused further stress on him.

 

[Gingimaru]

it was a gradual change (over 4 days from 26 to 30c) and no, no medication for ick as we read that medications very rarely work against ick and that raising the heat was the best option. only medication is for the fin rot.

 

[calfishguy]

I suggest rasing the temo to 86, making sure your water is very clean, and using erythromicyn for the fin rot. Another thing keep the temp at 86 for at least one week after teh last signs of ich dissapear

 

[Gingimaru]

sorry whats erythromicyn? our water is as clean as we can have it at the mo. its cycled, decent levels of ammo, trites and trates etc.

 

[calfishguy]

Please specify what you paeans are. Erythromycin is a med that heals many things your lfs should have some.

 

[Gingimaru]

My paeans? i am still a little new to this :/

 

[calfishguy]

Sorry stupid iPod again water parameters

 

[Gingimaru]

right ok haha.
ammo: <0.25
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 20-40ppm (doing a water change soon as they are due one)
PH: 7.6 - 7.8

thats from the API master kit

 

[calfishguy]

Conditions are done but get your nitrate down now under 20 and try to keep ammonia to 0. The better the conditions the faster it will heal. How often do you do a water change

 

[Gingimaru]

sorry for taking a while to post been a busy weekend.

We do water changes every week-ish depends on paramaters. if we notice things are off we do a change or if we notice the water getting very low etc

also did a test the other day on de-clhorinated water and we have naturally high nitrates around 10ppm