Excessive flaring and fin tears

by **SiennaBay** Sat 23 Oct 2010 - 22:48

Just wondering if excessive flaring can cause holes to appear in a betta's fins? I have a pink veiltail with extra long fins who is ultra aggressive. He flares endlessly at his reflection in the glass, people passing by, etc. He is really wild. Today I noticed a small hole in his top fin and a couple small holes in his tail. There is nothing in the tank that he could have caught his fins on -- just soft silk plants and several live plants, and one plastic decoration that has no rough edges. It's not finrot. The filter current isn't rough on him either. I wondered if his constant flaring and posturing has something to do with this.

by **silverrabbit** Sat 23 Oct 2010 - 23:00

Excessive flaring can cause splits in finnage, I have the same prob with a FTHM atm. Are you sure it's not finrot though? Because it tends to be more like rips and tears rather than actual holes. Sometimes finrot shows no signs like black or red edging. It's possible some bacteria entered a rip from excessive flaring.

by **SiennaBay** Sat 23 Oct 2010 - 23:11

I thought finrot had black edges. So how can you tell if a fish's torn fins are finrot or not? The holes in my fish's fins just showed up today -- his fins were perfect this morning. I keep a close eye on him. They are like holes cut out of the fin material. Not ragged.

by **silverrabbit** Sat 23 Oct 2010 - 23:18

That's quite a common way of it starting - eventually the holes will rip out to the end, or the hole will just grow out if the fish fights the finrot well.

Mesatalia had a similar issue with her fish Alpha, and i've had it with a couple of fish too

by **SiennaBay** Sat 23 Oct 2010 - 23:21

Will clean water and aquarium salt be good enough to help him heal?

by **silverrabbit** Sat 23 Oct 2010 - 23:35

Yeah should be fine - as I said it could be that he had a rip from the excessive flaring, and bacteria entered there and caused the finrot. Is his filter/tank fully cycled?

TBH I really like meth blue in these situations, it seems to heal them up really fast, but not sure how readily available it is over there

by **Mesatalia** Sat 23 Oct 2010 - 23:53

Yep, my poor little Alpha had the same thing. His started from a tiny little pinhole about a quarter inch from the edge of his tail and works its way out to form a gaping rip. Now he's in an epic battle against more rips and holes. My VT before he died had also gotten two tiny side by side pinholes but a water change stopped it and it filled in. Sadly my son poisoned him before we could see him fully recover.

There's lots of products to stop finrot and also help re-grow the fin tissue. I'm having bad luck with it personally, but VTs tend to be more hardy than RTHMs

by **SiennaBay** Sun 24 Oct 2010 - 0:05

The tank is brand new -- not cycled yet but I'm really good about testing and water changes. I've only had the fish for less than a month. He was from an excellent pet store that did daily water changes for all their bettas. I've been changing 25%-30% of the water in his tank every other day. Changed 75% of the water just 2 days ago so I could move the tank into another room. (too heavy otherwise.) That's what made me think it's not finrot.

by **silverrabbit** Sun 24 Oct 2010 - 0:19

As the tank is uncycled then it's most def finrot - I know you're keeping on top of water changes but there will still be certain levels of ammonia and/or nitrite in the water, even with the regular water changes. These levels can lower the bettas immune system and make him more prone to picking up the bacteria. Do you have a liquid test kit? Strips are inaccurate and LFS's will tell you things are ok when they're not (I hate when they do that).

by **SiennaBay** Sun 24 Oct 2010 - 0:34

I have the API liquid test kit. I'll have to continue to keep a sharp eye on my water parameters. Hopefully my fish will heal quickly. I will probably start doing small water changes daily for a while. Maybe 10%. Anything else I should be doing?

by **silverrabbit** Sun 24 Oct 2010 - 0:47

I'd even stretch to 20%, and if the levels rise then do 50-70% Bettas are usually fine with this as long as you match temp and pH as much as possible. Sounds like you have everything under control so i'm sure he'll be fine in no time. Give him some bloodworms too - the high protein will boost fin growth etc.

Sending healing vibes!

by **SiennaBay** Sun 24 Oct 2010 - 0:59

Thank you! Smile

by **2tall** Sun 24 Oct 2010 - 4:08

Please listen to SR as I blew it with Jewels (MG/VT). I upgraded him from a
temporary betta tank to a 5gl. uncycled tank. I thought it would be okay as
long as I did regular wc's but my ammonia jumped so rapidly and he was gone.

by **SiennaBay** Sun 24 Oct 2010 - 4:51

Will do daily partial water changes for both my new tanks from now on until they're fully cycled. Lotus (pink fish) is quickly becoming my favorite (love his attitude) and wouldn't want to lose him. Such a gorgeous pinky/violet color with a peach head and blue eyes.

by **2tall** Sun 24 Oct 2010 - 4:56

Only people that have or had fish can really understand the attachment we
feel towards them. I know a lot of us heve heard "its only a fish"! Grrrrr!

A pet is a pet no matter the species!

by **SiennaBay** Sun 24 Oct 2010 - 5:12

The interesting thing is, I had a totally different attitude towards fish 'til I first got into bettas just a few months ago. I didn't realize that fish were capable of so much personality and charm. And that each one is so unique. My CT Flame is happy-go-lucky, extremely inquisitive, and very demanding of attention. Lotus is exceptionally elegant and very tough, flaring at everything and even at me! And my new little unnamed double-tail seems a little reserved and unsure of himself yet he'll still swim over to me if I get his attention. Too cute! Had no idea fish could make such good pets.

by **2tall** Sun 24 Oct 2010 - 5:23

They always seem happy to see me even if its just the feeding wiggle!

by **Luimeril** Fri 3 Dec 2010 - 15:02

Cup always overly flares. at ME, no less! he's such a teenager. >.> i have to keep a bit of salt in his tank at all times, because i always find new rips, tears, pin holes. x-x he's so active, and flares at everything. one time, i caught a fuzzy fungus growing on one of the rips! that prompted an immediate water change, and some aquarium salt to be added. i learned after that to keep salt in there all the time, lest he gets rin rot or more fuzzy fungus.

by Sponsored content

Excessive flaring and fin tears

Excessive flaring and fin tears

Re: Excessive flaring and fin tears

Re: Excessive flaring and fin tears

Re: Excessive flaring and fin tears

Re: Excessive flaring and fin tears

Re: Excessive flaring and fin tears

Re: Excessive flaring and fin tears

Re: Excessive flaring and fin tears

Re: Excessive flaring and fin tears

Re: Excessive flaring and fin tears

Re: Excessive flaring and fin tears

Re: Excessive flaring and fin tears

Re: Excessive flaring and fin tears

Re: Excessive flaring and fin tears

Re: Excessive flaring and fin tears

Re: Excessive flaring and fin tears

Re: Excessive flaring and fin tears

Re: Excessive flaring and fin tears

Re: Excessive flaring and fin tears