My male betta has a strangely torn tail-fin--is it fin rot?

Question

My male veil-tail betta lives alone in a five-gallon filtered tank with a silk-plant and a mountain ornament that has no really rough edges.
There have never been any other fish with him.
Today I noticed his tail is torn in the lower portion--he was fine yesterday.
While I'm pretty sure this isn't fin-rot, I'm looking for a second opinion and maybe some answers as to why his tail is suddenly ripped.

You get two views of his tail (sorry, little bugger wouldn't hold still.)
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y116/torreykat/Photo_011507_007.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y116/torreykat/Photo_011507_006.jpg

Answer 1

he may have done it to himself, sometimes they do that when stressed out or anything like that.

while it's not fin rot you may want to add some bacterial or fugal meds to his water until it heals to prevent anything from attacking the tail while it's healing. adding something like betta max or a little less than a teaspoon of aquarium salt (1teaspoon would be good for your tank size) should do the trick really. add the salt slowly through the course of a day so it doesn't shock him.

and thank you for giving your betta a proper home instead of a cold little bowl! I'm sure he loves you for it!

Answer 2

It doesn't look that bad to me. If it's finrot, it's probably due to poor water quality. You should be doing partial water changes weekly, or more often if there isn't a filter on the tank. You also need to vacuum the gravel at least once a month to be sure the mulm isn't building up and rotting down there. Also, don't overfeed. More than your betta can eat in a minute or so is too much.

Finrot is easily recovered from if you catch it early and keep the water clean. I don't usually use medications in my tanks, even for ich, because they're hard on the fish and keeping the tank clean is usually enough to fix things.

Also, when I say "keep the water clean," I mean the water, not the tank. Don't tear down your tank and wash everything because you'll kill the bacteria that are processing your betta's wastes, which will make things unstable in your tank and stress your fish. Even when you rinse your filter media, swish it around in tank water, not tap water, since chlorine will kill the bacteria.

Keep an eye on your fish until he's better. Although dirty water is the most probable cause, infections like finrot can result from other diseases, in which case he'll start showing other symptoms as well.

Answer 3

You may need to check your amonia levels. That's the only other thing I can think of. If you have some Stress Coat, put some of that in your water and it will halp heal his fins. There are other things available at places like Petsmart, but this seems to work for mild damage.

Answer 4

it's not fin rot. i had a betta and its fin looked like that. its fine. he lived to be 4. he got that characteristic when he was 1. it's okay. dont worry about it.

Answer 5

I think it is fin rot. Sorry to tell you

Answer 6

Well your fish is probobly dying.