Betta frayed fins

[Regen311]

I have a betta (male) in my 30 gallon community tank. The ends of his fins looks kind of almost frayed. All the other fish are fine, no signs of ich. The tank has been established for almost 2 years, and recent tests have not shown even a trace of ammonia or nitrites. I have Ich Guard by Jungle Laboratories (I've never had to use it) and also Maracyn (powder) on hand to treat him with, if either or both of them will help. It doesn't erally look like ich though, and as I said, no other fish show signs of it, or signs of any problems. Even the betta seems healthy, swimming around a lot, voracious appetite as usual. The betta doesn't get picked on by the other tank mates, at all. I watch the tank often and the other fish leave him alone. I was concerned at first because he is in a tank with 5 golden barbs, but they never go anywhere near him, they kind of just hang out amongst themselves. The betta is usually just off swimming around by himself, and no one ever seems to bug him. His colors are bright and fine, it's just the frayed edges. So after all that... my main question...

Can I put the betta in a small bowl to treat him for a few days? I don't have a spare heater, and I'd rather not treat all 30 gallons with the maracyn, as no other fish is expensive, and the ich guard turns the water blue. Will he be ok without a heater for a couple days? Will either of these helped?

Thanks, sorry for the long post, just wanted to make sure I got all the information.

I recently did about a 30 pwc and added a few plants. I've read that fin rot could be caused by dirty water. The water is completely clear though right now, and as I said, the nitrates/ammonia are nonexistant. I've only had the betta for about a month. Could stirring up the gravel while doing the PWC and putting the plants in have caused this?


EDIT: I think I figured out what may have been causing the stress (and therefore the tail rot). My thermometer broke about a month ago, and I have been using the sticker thermometer, which actually came with the tank (I got it from a friend). I know they aren't accurate, but I didn't think it would be that far off untill I got a new thermometer. http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsU...cl0/coralifebatteryoperateddigitalthermometer
It's a digital one... but I got it set up and noticed that while I thought my water was on the high side (79-82) it was actually about 10 degrees colder than that (72). I know that's too cold for a betta, I'm surprised it hasnt' caused any other problems. None of my other fish seemed ill, and none have died. I'm going to slowly increase the temperature over the next day or two and see if that helps the betta out. I'm going to know better than to trust those sticker things from now on.... I should have listened to everyone's warnings.

 

[Gillie]

What other fish are in the tank? One of the others could be the cause of the damage, also what kind of decor is in the tank?

 

[courtnee]

I agree it could be other tank mates as well and decor. I have a betta in a 10gl by himself and just on a few plastic plants and small gravel he made a mess of his fins.

I put in a real plant for him to rest in and some large smooth rock gravel on the bottom, since he sits on the bottom a lot like a lot of betta's do. His fins are improving already.

Also they do not do well with current and water movement. I had to take out the air stones out of the 10gl it was just to much and you could see it moved his fins way to much and he had to swim harder. The filter even almost stirs up to much current for him but he manages and stays away from the part of the tank. I have his plant to sleep in on the other side and it works for us. Some do well in a really heavy filtered tank with lots of air bubbles and some do not. I have one of those

Hope his fins improve

 

[Regen311]

I guess it really could be a number of things. The other fish don't seem to bother him at all. They ignore each other. It might be the substrate. I had plastic plants untill a few weeks ago as well. It could have been he felt too crowded. I just got a 55 gallon though, so maybe that will help as well. thanks for your help!

Also, just to add, I ordered a new test kit from bigalsonline. I ordered one of the master chemical kits. I had been using a chemical thing for the ammonia, and the 5 in 1 strips for everything else. We'll see if maybe the use of the strips was giving me innacurate readings and leading to the problem. Again, thanks for all your help.