betta with fin rot

[domino]

my betta has fin rot. I have a 20 gallon tank with live plants and sand and aquarium dirt substrate. 6 neon tetras 6 amino shrimp 1 nerite snail a heater air stone and filter. I change my water weekly about 30 percent. I vacuum the bottom. I don't know what im doing wrong. I put him in a 1 gallon quarantine tank and im dosing him with aquarium salt. its not working. I thought it stopped but a long piece of fin fell off today. the rest of his fins are choppy looking. I change his water daily in the small tank. he is active and eating swimming all over. I don't know what to do. I have a small heater also in his hospital tank. I am now waiting for anti biotic got come in the mail....what am I doing wrong?

 

[pwypGlofish]

Neon tetras are fin nippers. They most likely nipped your betta's fins, and you can't keep them in the same tank You should use aquarium salt and the antibiotic to heal him, and/or transfer the neon tetras to a different tank because they can't coexist. Next time you'll be able to have more knowledge about fish keeping! Don't give up

 

[domino]

I've moved him to a hospital tank. its a 1 gallon I do daily water changes with the salt. I've added the almond leaves now. I bought the maracin to have on hand in case this docent work. how will I know if its working. I don't see it getting worse. but when should I see improvement

 

[Aiken Drum]

Neon tetras are fin nippers. They most likely nipped your betta's fins, and you can't keep them in the same tank You should use aquarium salt and the antibiotic to heal him, and/or transfer the neon tetras to a different tank because they can't coexist. Next time you'll be able to have more knowledge about fish keeping! Don't give up

Neon tetras and bettas are generally considered to be good tank mates. Its not true that they can't co exist. Many people keep them together just fine.

Every tank and every fish is different obviously, but a blanket statement that they cant live together is just wrong. A large enough tank with a large enough school of neons (which the OP has) this would give you the best chances of mixing these without problem, and i would be more concerned with the betta attacking the neons.

 

[domino]

I never saw the tetras nip at him. the only time they would swim next to him was feeding time. he would chase them a little but he never nipped them he would swim behind them. I kept an eye on them for a while. I was making sure my betta wouldn't attack them. then I noticed his fins. I started treating him with seachem stress guard. his fins healed. then about a week or so later I started noticing his fins looked tattered again. so this time I moved him to a hospital tank and I've been treating him with aquarium salt for 7 days and now Indian almond leaves. water changes Dailey he is eating and swimming just fine. but how long should it take for the fins to heal?

 

[libertybelle]

Agreed that the neons are likely not a problem. OP should keep an eye on them because fish temperaments do vary but I’ve kept betta in large community tanks with schools of neons and glow lights and they barely interacted. No nipping.

Is the quarantine tank you are using cycled? If it isn’t it might be doing more harm than good!

It can take weeks or months for the fins to grow back after you solve the problem.

Pictures of the damaged fins would help us tell if they’re healing or not and water test results whether that could be contributing to a problem.

 

[Autumnsky]

Are you familiar with the nitrification cycle, if not there is a article link in my signature which has that info and additional helpful things to know.

Do you know your water parameters?

The key here is excellent water quality. Less stressed fish because the water quality is excellent, the better.

Make sure you have water in the very safe side of the parameters and keep doing water changes to keep it excellent.

https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/aquarium-salt-for-sick-fish

And I like Epsom salt. Which is magnesium sulfate not really salt.
more info here
https://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f17/using-epsom-salt-in-fish-therapy-374191.html