Karen - Betta talk :)

[Tide In Mind Out]

I would like your advice on this little situation. About a half hour ago I noticed Marie's little tail has split almost right down the middle. It's a clean split, no fin rot or anything. She doesn't have anything sharp in her tank either. Her plants are silk or made of a silicone material, and her tower has no sharp or rough spots on or inside of it.

Is there anything else you know of that could cause a clean split? As for healing, I already use aquarium salt. Would I be overdoing it to add something like Melafix?

SPANKS KAWEN *deflowers forever and ever*

 

[Brooks]

Oh come on. Can't you make a thread for this?

 

[Shpongled]

Anyone else tried the Windows 7 Betta? Thoughts?

 

[Captain Beard]

It had a clean split at the tail end of shutdown, but the Aquarium screensaver salt fixed that.

 

[Tide In Mind Out]

You guys are ruining the chance of deflowering in this thread.

 

[Chromatose]

I want a fishtank

 

[Brooks]

You guys are ruining the chance of deflowering in this thread.

/will not contribute any more to this thread.



/will only watch.

 

[Shpongled]

You guys are ruining the chance of deflowering in this thread.

I have a pretty strong feeling that once Karen sees it, she's gonna get it right back on it's deflowering track

 

[Dead_Lioness]

I would like your advice on this little situation. About a half hour ago I noticed Marie's little tail has split almost right down the middle. It's a clean split, no fin rot or anything. She doesn't have anything sharp in her tank either. Her plants are silk or made of a silicone material, and her tower has no sharp or rough spots on or inside of it.

Is there anything else you know of that could cause a clean split? As for healing, I already use aquarium salt. Would I be overdoing it to add something like Melafix?

SPANKS KAWEN *deflowers forever and ever*

hmmm.... It's hard to tell... Any chance you'll take a picture for me?
and another question: are you still doing the salt?
How often are you changing water?

 

[Tide In Mind Out]

I can take a picture in a little bit. Yes I still do the aquarium salt. I change the water every two weeks but I use a filter, so the water doesn't have a chance to get cloudy or nasty. Not even stinky

 

[Tide In Mind Out]

I've heard they can "over-flare" their tails til they split? She does get violently excited at the sight of food

Lil Marie trying to be a doubletail:

 

[Bacchante]

"Fin splitting: You may see your beta’s fins split here and there or split in the middle to form holes. This is often an indicator that you need to change the water in the bowl. Ammonia and pH may be off of the scale. Try that first and if you have it, add a water conditioner with aloe. Beta fins heal fast so you should see an improvement in a short time. Splits here and there are normal though.

If he is in a tank, it might be water that is not compatible to him or the flow is too fast. He may need to go into a bowl."


Might wanna check your PH, Nitrites, Nitrates and ammonia if you can.
I've had that happen a couple times, but they usually heal on their own.

 

[Tide In Mind Out]

It's weird that it happened so suddenly though. When it's due to water condition, does the splitting happen gradually or just all at once like it did with Marie? I went to Petsmart and got some Melafix, figured that since I was going to change her water this weekend anyway, that I may as well change it now before adding the Melafix. As for water conditioner I used Aquasafe that helps with the slime coating.

Derick bought some test kits for his up and coming aquarium. Maybe if he has any pH test left then I'll give it a try. If not, the strips are fairly cheap.

Thanks!

edit: nevermind, he didn't buy any pH testers

 

[Chromatose]

I want a fishtank

I bought a fishtank

 

[Tide In Mind Out]

two words!

 

[Chromatose]

Iboughta fishtank

 

[fading]

 

[Tide In Mind Out]

I used Derick's nitrite and ammonia test on Albert Fish's water, since I did a full change for Marie. I figure his water would have been in about the same condition as Marie's before I changed it, if not worse because he's larger and poops more

Nitrite tested at 0, ammonia tested at .5 on a scale of 0 to 8. I guess I'll look into getting some ammonia neutralizer!

Edit: nah, I'm not going to get any neutralizer. I'll just monitor those levels, do some partial water changes regularly if they are high, and keep doing the full changes every 2 weeks.

 

[Bacchante]

cool cool...I don't recommend changing out all of the water, though. I only remove 70% max....otherwise I'll mess up the bacteria in the tank, which can create high ammonia levels (since there won't be as many good bacteria in the tank to break down the toxins).
Also..if ye have a filter, only clean the filter media with tank water...tap water will also kill all of the good bacteria that have built up in it.
I bet you know this, though...sounds like it.

You're going to have one spoiled fishey

Melafix is great stuff, btw!

 

[Dead_Lioness]

Hey Cara,
Sorry it took me a while with this, I actually sent an email to this 'aquatic master' guy I know that lives in Oregon and that I met in fish conventions.
I wanted to get his advice before I give you mine, but I think he's out of the country for business because he hasn't replied to me yet.


At any event: if your ammonia tested 0.5 you're fine. You absolutely don't need ammonia neutralizer. Ammonia is something that good bacteria in the water will get rid of in a natural way.
However since the nitrite tested 0 - The Aquarium Nitrogen Cycle is dead.. Nitrites develops from Ammonia, then the good bacteria: Nitrates come after Nitrite.
Killing the little ammonia you have will not be good.

Now a few more questions so I can trouble shoot it better:
* Since you have a filter in the tank: when was the last time you changed or cleaned the media?
* since you change the water once every 2 weeks- how much are you changing?
* How often do you feed your bettas?

I would highly reccomend to get a real aquatic plant and / or a small snail to live with them in their tanks.
You can get those snails for free from most pet stores (the little ones... you know, those cone-shaped are great)

This happened to me before when my half-moon betta split his tail, and nothing ever happened to him. He was fine and never seemed to care about it, and lived for good 2.5 years.
At the same time: since Bettas are pron to fin-rot it's always a good idea to keep a good eye on them.

let me know