Betta Fish Help

[scaredfishymom]

Hi there. So, I am a rather new fishy mom. In February I got my Half-Moon Betta Finnegan from Petsmart. He's about 2 inches big and I keep him in a topfin 3.5-gallon tank kit that I got when I bought him. He's been doing rather well, but the other day I noticed that the end of his fins were tearing. I am a rather worrisome person and I did some research and google was telling me it's fin rot. I was told to get a medication called Melafix but a lot of people were saying that it killed their bettas so I did more research on aquarium salt, but I really don't know what is best for my little guy.
I have had to change Finn's diet because while in the craziness of the pandemic I lost his normal food in the midst of moving my stuff out of my dorm room. I'm not sure if that's helpful or not.
If anyone with experience with this could give advice I would gladly appreciate it. I just want the best for my little guy.

 

[Autumnsky]

Making sure that the water in his tank is really clean and free of toxic things like the ammonia, nitrIte and nitrate, is #1.

Are you familiar with the nitrification cycle? There is a really good article - link is in my signature about the cycle and also learning about a whole bunch of other important ways to help your tank stay in top condition.

Do you have a liquid test kit? Or strips? So you can test the water?

If not just doing a bunch of water changing would be great.

Clean water would make the chances of him getting better increase.

Often the Betta is able to be less stressed in excellent water parameters so that his body can focus on healing without medication.

What kind of food are you feeding him?

Making sure he is eating the few pellets or flakes before feeding him more. Also feeding half the food some in the morning and some evening allows waste to be processed in the tank via filter easier, since there is less at each feeding, giving the BB time to process it.

Al

Many stores offer purchase online and pick up in store, making the contact in store minimal in case you can arrange something like that, or order online to mail directly.





https://www.aquariumadvice.com/i-just-learned-about-cycling-but-i-already-have-fish-what-now/




Those are a bunch of changes for you and your Betta.

 

[Deteriminati0nn]

If it is not fin rot it could be the decorations in the tank, are any plastic or rock with rough edges? Since you mentioned tearing it is a possibility to consider.