Ragged betta fins

[Iris94]

I just got a betta fish at a college dorm give away and his fins are ragged. This is my first tank (10g, penguin 100 filter) and at first I thought maybe it was just due to poor store conditions and he would get better on his own. He eats fine (as long as its frozen food, he won't eat pellets) and he seems active and curious about his surrounding. After several days it didn't get better so I thought it might be fin rot and last Sunday I started treating him with Maracyn 2 but he doesn't look any better. He doesn't look worse either, so does it just take longer before I see improvement? And if these meds don't work do you have any others to suggest? Thanks!

Sorry about the image quality, he moves around so much my camera didn't have time to focus.

 

[98kshooter]

Watch him close....dont 'look' like fin rot, but watch him to be sure. A good protein diet will help him regrow. My females take lumps and fin rips every breeding session and they regrow them rapidly. The two I have that had fin rot have both recovered.
It will take a few weeks to see any improvement. He should start improving. From the pic, he don't look bad. He may have just ripped his fins himself or when they are stressed they will chew their own fins...I have seen when of my own boys doing just that when he did not like being in a community tank.

 

[Iris94]

I've been feeing him frozen daphnia, is that enough protein? And he's with some cories and ADFs. He follows them around and doesn't seem stressed. I have silk plants but a plastic "rock" cave so maybe he tore his fins on that?

 

[98kshooter]

I've been feeing him frozen daphnia, is that enough protein? And he's with some cories and ADFs. He follows them around and doesn't seem stressed. I have silk plants but a plastic "rock" cave so maybe he tore his fins on that?

All my bettas love frozen blood worms. Never tried em with the daphnia, but it should be full of protein. And they have pellets for color and fins for bettas, you can find them online or at your LFS. If he had fin rot he'd be a bit more lethargic so maybe he just tore his fins on something. He don't sound like he is fin chewing, but you can watch and see if he does. I am thinking not, as you say, he sounds happy! Just make sure he gets a good diet and maybe if your worried you can buy fin conditioner or something. It will just take time now as he grows the fins back out. Good luck with that Awesome little guy! Sounds like he is in good hands!

 

[Iris94]

All my bettas love frozen blood worms. Never tried em with the daphnia, but it should be full of protein. And they have pellets for color and fins for bettas, you can find them online or at your LFS. If he had fin rot he'd be a bit more lethargic so maybe he just tore his fins on something. He don't sound like he is fin chewing, but you can watch and see if he does. I am thinking not, as you say, he sounds happy! Just make sure he gets a good diet and maybe if your worried you can buy fin conditioner or something. It will just take time now as he grows the fins back out. Good luck with that Awesome little guy! Sounds like he is in good hands!

Thank you, I'd been worrying about him all week and I feel a lot more relaxed now!

 

[98kshooter]

You're most welcome! Just keep an eye on him and he should be just Peachy! If you, want can get him some frozen blood worms for an awesome protein laden treat! Mine turn into little sharks when I feed em those with tweezers...to the point I can lift em out of the water! Since I have so many fish I just take one frozen cube from bowl to bowl, and let the little guys feed. They hang on and sometimes get lifted from the water. But they can only eat about 2 of the worms, if they are of about medium size. And all the other fish u have love them as well.