So my gorgeous little HM BF, the one who was supposed to go into the breeding tank next week, has blown his tail... :fire: There's nothing in his tank that he could have torn it on, just a couple silk plants. It's possible that he bit it, but my guess is that he was showing off too much for the girls next door, since his tank sits right next to my female tank with all the pretty Yeevia babies in it.

He's in a cycled 3-gallon Eclipse with the filter killed with a water bottle. I typically change out about 40-50% of the water every 5-7 days. I noticed the ragged tail last Saturday, did a 60% water change, and added IAL and salt. I also covered the side of his tank next to the sorority tank, so he couldn't see the females. On Tuesday there was no change, so I did another 60% change and added IAL and melafix (1/4 of the dose recommended on the bottle). There's still no change. He's not any worse, there's no sign on fin rot, but also no signs of regrowth. I figured I'd do another water change in the morning, but I'm not sure what if anything I should add to the water. More salt? More Melafix? Just IAL?

Other than the ragged tail he's healthy, eats well (he's really enjoying the conditioning!), no other signs that anything is wrong. So do I wait until his tail is back to normal to breed him or just progress as planned?

Here's the before picture:


and here's now:



Any advice is welcome...
Thanks,
Stacey

UUGH - tail biting strikes again. How frustrating, isn't it?

I'd wait until his tail issues start to clear up before breeding him, because something is bugging him and you'd hate to have something go horribly wrong with the breeding.

The problem with tail biting is that it's really hard to tell how to fix it until you just start trying things. Most of the successes I've had with fixing tailbiting have been with just moving the tank they're in to another place - like from a high traffic area where he sees a lot of motion to a very peaceful quiet area, or vice versa. Another thing that makes them bite like crazy is temperature fluctuations. A heater fixes that quite well.

My guess in your situation is that it is something to do with the girls next door. I would try leaving the divider in for several days - so he can't see them at all. If it gets worse, take the divider out for a few different 15 minute periods during the day. If it gets better, then you know he needs to be out of sight of those girls.

I'm not sure ifyou have a heater in the tank or not, but if you do - it should be at a steady 78 degrees or so. That seems to be the temp that I've had the most success with.

If all else fails, if you have another tank that's cycled that you could re-cycle his tank quickly with if need be, I'd consider letting him be in his tank for a while witout a filter. All my fish are in uncycled 2.5G tanks and they get 100% water changes. I know it might be a pain over just doing partial changes, but it might be something you might want to just consider - if all else fails.

And as I tell everyone - I honestly wouldn't bother with the melafix. At the point he's at, it might just be making him more agitated and making matters worse. I don't ever use melafix for one reason - if a fish as something that I think could possibly be fixed by melafix, i always just use sparkly clean water and possibly a tad bit of aquarium salt - it will usually get you the same results. At the point where I'm ready to start medicating, they need something much stronger than melafix. AND i have 2 fish that saw the horrors of what melafix can do to tender gills and fins.

Good luck fixing the tail biting. It's a MAJOR pain in the rear.

OH - and if you see that his biting has started to become infected, you will wanna up the water changes by a day less in between, and if it gets really progressively worse you will want to treat it with maracyn.
:)

Hi BettaMomma,

I was hoping you'd see this post - I knew you'd have some good ideas. What I did yesterday was a 100% water change, with salt, a fresh Indian Almond leaf and a tiny bit of melafix. The divider is still up between the sorority tank and his, but I forgot about the girl on the other side of him... the only change today is that he's blown a nice little bubble nest, which he doesn't do very often. Tail looks about the same - no worse but no better.

I hesitate to put a heater in his tank. It's been so *HOT* here for the last month or so that I have a hard time keeping temps any cooler than 82 degrees (and that's with the AC running almost constantly). I think that the filter may be heating up the water as well, but *knock wood* everyone is still alive and healthy, just a bit warm. I can't remove the filter from this tank and put it elsewhere, because it's the Eclipse filter that's in the hood, and I don't have any other tank to put it into...

Hmmm... I could take the filter out of the 2.5 mini-bow that Buttercup (his bride-to-be) is living in and put it in the guppy nursery tank... then I could move her into Mojo's tank and move him into that tank. I have a little 25 watt Neptune heater that was to be used in the breeding tank. I can use that in there as well. That way he will be at the end of the row, and I only have to block his view of Buttercup. Think that will work? Guess I've got some rearranging to do tomorrow.

Thanks for the ideas! It's nice to have a plan...

Stacey

Yep, that all sounds perfect. :)
Let us know how he's coming along.
You will start to see clear growth within the very first day or two when it starts to grow in.

for some odd reason both of my WM bettas bit their tail in the same exact spot and both have a gash missing out of it very strange

It's probably because when they were in their little cups they could only turn around enough to bite in that one spot so that's the only place they bite.
HA.

There is one really common place they bite - near the very end of their tails - and that's just cuz it's the easiest place to get to. Althought I have a fish right now who ripped almost all his dorsal fin off sometime over the past 48 hours.

uugh.

They just need a trim. :lol: :lol: :lol:

:lol: I can start up a betta salon...:P

Why not! :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: Makesure no navy cut! :lol: :lol: :lol:

No mullets either :P they are evil! :starwars:

This little guy sure could use a betta salon!



Sorry! Couldn't resist!!

Good luck with your tail biter. Luckly I haven't had to deal with one of those.

:laugh:
Oh goodness!
Should've had him come over today...I only had one haircut...I was bored out of my mind! :banghead:
Alrighty! I'll give a 50% discount on all betta services! Come one, come all! :whistle:

Alright, so I know you guys are just joshin' about the betta salon, but I'm about ready to hop in the car with MojoJojo and head up to Jols' salon and let her have at him...

Mojo is getting worse instead of better. I took him out of the filtered 3 gallon and put him into the 2.5 mini-bow, and took out the filter. Gave him a 100% waterchange, added salt and IAL, made sure the temp was steady at 78*, and... a little more disintegration every day. Waited 2 days, and did it all again, and... still a little worse. Waited another 2 days, did it all again, added a *tiny* bit of melafix as well, and... still a little worse.

I think perhaps it's fin rot rather than tail biting. Perhaps it started with a blown or bitten tail, but as it's getting continually worse, I think something more is going on. Today I did yet another water change and added Jungle Fungus Clear. The package says to treat with it every 4 days, but I've been doing waterchanges every 2 days... will it hurt if I do the normal water change and then add the proper dose after only 2 days?

I'm fairly frustrated, and open to any suggestions....

Thanks,
Stacey

Tail biting is awful... try moving his tank to somewhere different. My Bo's tail is in strings. I see some regrowth, but it still looks awful.

If you can get your hands on some colloidal, that always helps.