Paranoid new Betta owner

[PJBear]

Hey,

I've been referring to this site ever since I started seriously thinking about getting my fish. Since I have the fish I finally took the plunge to actually register on the site... plus I could use some serious advice. My ultimate goal is eventually have a full community tank but only just convinced my Fiance to let me get one Betta (He said he hates them but he finally caved.... for the record now that the Betta is here he loves him more than he likes to admit). Anyhow so I got my Betta and I absolutely love him, his name is CW, short for Christopher Walken (Fiances choice), he's really active and seems to have a sweet curious personality. In short I fell in love with him more than I thought I would and since starting out in a 1.5 gallon unfiltered bowl he has been upgraded to planted 5 gallon heated, filtered tank which he seems really happy about . Problem is now I am paranoid about making sure he has the best care. I've had him for about 3 weeks now and I have been diligent about water changes and checking his parameters and everything is always pretty good minus the nitrate is low. Poor guy ended up with Ich about 5 days after I got him so I treated with SuperIch cure and it did the trick but now he has fin rot and a tear in his fin . I have him in his bowl again for QT and have been treating with aquarium salt and bettafix and it seemed like it was improving but now he has a tear. :S Sorry for the rant I know this is supposed to be an Intro but can you tell I'm a little worried. For all interested I am currently a full time education student and I also work in telecommunications. I have a wonderful lab named Baxter and now I hope to have a wonderful fish for a few if not many years to come!

 

[Oohitsae]

How often do you do water changes and how much do you do water changes? Is your tank heated, if so at what temperature?
What fin type is he? I'm going to assume he's a veil tail since they are the most common, correct me if I'm wrong.
Oh and last question: what type of decor do you have? Plastic plants? Rock? Etc.?

Either you aren't changing enough water often enough, he's tail biting, or his fins are getting caught on some type of decoration and are tearing that way.

Also, for bettas you really don't want to use any kind of medication with "fix" at the end. Even if it says bettafix it really isn't good for them. The main ingredient is known for damaging the labyrinth organ. I don't believe that you did that, just that it's a possibility.

Oh, and welcome to the site and the wonderful world of bettas!
I've been addicted to them for years and currently have 12-15 of them.

 

[PJBear]

Thanks for the welcome! Yeah I think I am already getting addicted to Bettas :S I'd love more tanks but need to sort this guy out first. In regards to CW he is a Crowntail betta I am doing 50% water changes each day now that he is in the bowl for QT but in his tank depending on the parameters I was doing 25% changes every other day because I was concerned it was still cycling. He had plastic plants in his tank and I tried to make sure that nothing had sharp edges but I have recently switched to live plants in addition to his two resin ornaments which seem to be okay. The bettafix was recommended by the LFS although I had inquired if there was a better non medicated way to treat him. After treating for Ich I didn't really want him to be stressed by more meds.

 

[PJBear]

Oh also the tank is heated and it sits at about 78-80 degrees farenheit

 

[Oohitsae]

It could definitely have been from the plastic plants..
Try rubbing some panty hose over them in different directions to see if it snags, if it does then it's definitely possible that the decorations could have tore his tail.

It sounds like you are taking really good care of him though so I doubt it's anything you are doing incorrectly. If it isn't the decor then he may just be tail biting. Sometimes they do that for no good reason other than thinking their fins are too heavy. Other times it's because they are stressed by something in their environment like the tank being too big/small for their comfort or seeing too many reflections. Something that's take a lot of experimenting to see what the cause actually is and possibly a few different tanks. Bettas are prone to anxiety just like humans sadly.

 

[PJBear]

Checked the decor and removed anything that could be a problem. Other than the tear his fins look better other than still just a few white tips.... I put him back in his tank cause although he was active he seemed so bored in the bowl. He's been happily exploring all the live plants in his tank now and the plants have actually helped the water parameters to be just perfect (was having a high Ph problem which I guess is common for our water but now it's just right). My only concern now is that I'm going away for a few days and I want to make sure he will be okay while I'm gone. I have someone to watch him and feed him but they aren't comfortable with complex instructions and personally I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with them doing a water change. I plan to do a change right before we leave and then we will be gone for about 4 days... Will he be okay?

 

[PJBear]

Oh also I have watched for tail-biting and I don't see him do that and I've been monitoring him closely. Could it just be fin rot and if so how do I know if its getting better?

 

[Oohitsae]

Oh also I have watched for tail-biting and I don't see him do that and I've been monitoring him closely. Could it just be fin rot and if so how do I know if its getting better?

They won't need to do a water change If you are only going for a few days. Just do a large 50-75% change before you leave and he'll be okay.

You also don't need to feed. Bettas can survive over a month without food so a few days is nothing to worry about. I never feed my fish on vacation and they all do fine. Even my fry if it's only like a 4 days trip.

It could be fin rot, sure. But it could also be that he's liking the new tank arrangement better than the old. Time will tell. If he doesn't start healing with clean warm water then it's likely he's biting. If it does heal then it was fin rot. It's not necessary to treat with actual medication.

 

[PJBear]

That's good to know. I feel a lot better about him now I will just continue to keep an eye on him and make sure his water is good. Thank you so much for all the advice!