Quick question on betta fin growth

I've had my female betta for a week now, and she's been getting a wide variety of food to eat, only what she can eat in 2 minutes, fed once a day. Her water has been very clean and treated for chlorine and added half a teaspoon of aquarium salt to the water to kill and fungus or parasites (which also adds a protective slime coat and electrolites to the water). I found out my bowl is 1 & 1/2 gallons only.

So today I noticed at the end of her top fin and tail are these thin white strands trailing behind, there not very long and match the outline of the fins. The fins look no different and are full of color, no splitting or dark areas. Then, on the tail, these strands fell off, and now her tail has some longer areas, like her tail grew. Like I said, I dont think she lost tail, but is mabye growing it back, perhaps at Walmart her tail rotted a bit and is now recovering?

Is this possible?

Any chance of a picture? I think I get what you're talking about, but a picture would be much easier to base an opinion on.

The "string" things are called rays, and my Sweeney (a roundtail) frequently blows out his tail (or he eats it, or gets it burnt on the heater; I can't quite catch it in the middle of happening). First the tail part goes, with a whole bunch of rays (strings) streaming out from the tail. Then the rays are gone too and the tail is smoother and more "level" again, though much shorter and sometimes crooked/jagged. Then the tail and the rays begin to grow again, at the same speed.

This is what he SHOULD look like:


This is what he usually looks like (in the process of recovery)



And this is when I wake up some morning and find an unpleasant surprise waiting for me (this is the best pic I could find of his frayed tail: usually I moan in frustration and declare that I give up, that I should no longer care about his tail being beautiful, so I don't get out the camera to take a pic, lol)



I should add that if her tail has been lost, at Walmart, it'll grow back. Just keep the water clean, continue with the salt, and it'll grow back good as new.

Ditto, good advice. I don't really understand your explination.. but are you sure that it's not parasites (can't remember the specific one I am thinking about...)

It's really puzzling. The water temp is 74 F (I have no heater to damage the fins), I checked the PH last time and it was 6.8, and perfect beta PH is 7.0, so I added 1 drop of PH up, and checked it after and it was exactly 7.0
I added a little aquarium salt, half a teaspoon only. And there are no decorations to damage her fins.

I thought mabye the betta is in shock due to all the things added to the water, but together they all have normal water readings and they are what you use for aquariums. Her appetite is great, and she is pooing normally. She has no swimming issues either.

Here she is getting angry at the book, her body is not curved like it looks in the picture. The top fin you can see the white stuff, I cant tell if thats new growth, or dying fin? Her fins are not split and have color too. And come to think of it, doesnt she look like a female Crowntail betta?



This shows the stuff on the bottom fin and if you look closely trailing the tail.


And this is a normal looking photo.

You know what, she does look like a crowntail (double-rays). Might also be a male, in fact, but honestly I wouldn't really know (I'm still completely lost when I start looking at female Betta pics, lol. Can't tell them apart, lol). But maybe not, the ventrel fins (the long dangly ones nearest the head) are shorter than a male's (that's one thing I've noticed, anyway, lol). But she definitely appears to be a crowntail, and a darn pretty one at that.

You should ask your question at this fish forum, in the Betta section, as I'm sure they'll be able to give a clear answer. Your fish's problem doesn't look familiar to me (only looks like clumps of dangly hair caught on the fins, lol), and since I'm always on the lookout for fish diseases (and how to take care of them should they strike my own fish), I'm interested in the answers.
http://www.fishforums.net/category/5/Bettas/

Thanks I posted on that forum, i'll let you know if I hear anything.

she is a doube ray CT and a nice one too.

Originally Posted by keith p

It's really puzzling. The water temp is 74 F (I have no heater to damage the fins), I checked the PH last time and it was 6.8, and perfect beta PH is 7.0, so I added 1 drop of PH up, and checked it after and it was exactly 7.0
I added a little aquarium salt, half a teaspoon only. And there are no decorations to damage her fins.

I thought mabye the betta is in shock due to all the things added to the water, but together they all have normal water readings and they are what you use for aquariums. Her appetite is great, and she is pooing normally. She has no swimming issues either.

Here she is getting angry at the book, her body is not curved like it looks in the picture. The top fin you can see the white stuff, I cant tell if thats new growth, or dying fin? Her fins are not spli..
t and have color too. And come to think of it, doesnt she look like a female Crowntail betta?



This shows the stuff on the bottom fin and if you look closely trailing the tail.


And this is a normal looking photo.

Click to expand...

Originally Posted by Aussie_Dog

You know what, she does look like a crowntail (double-rays). Might also be a male, in fact, but honestly I wouldn't really know (I'm still completely lost when I start looking at female Betta pics, lol. Can't tell them apart, lol). But maybe not, the ventrel fins (the long dangly ones nearest the head) are shorter than a male's (that's one thing I've noticed, anyway, lol). But she definitely appears to be a crowntail, and a darn pretty one at that.

You should ask your question at this fish forum, in the Betta section, as I'm sure they'll be able to give a clear answer. Your fish's problem doesn't look familiar to me (only looks like clumps of dangly hair caught on the fins, lol), and since I'm always on the lookout for fish diseases (and how to take care of them should they strike my own fish), I'm interested in the answers.
http://www.fishforums.net/category/5/Bettas/

Click to expand...

I am on there and half of em tak out of a rather smely oraface!

Ok so she is a female Green and Red Double Ray Crowntail betta, how rare are those would you say? Like how much should I have normally payed for her?
I got her for $2.

errrm i need too think now...
finnage isnt perfect, colouring down this end is common. but id say shes a pretty good fiind id pay 5-10 pound for her and work on her breeding line
i have a female just ike her.. do excuse the L button not working i have mice on my keyboard

Not an expert on bettas, but that looks like mayber either bacterial or fungal growth (the white flimsy long attachments on the top fin...above the obvious green "rays") You might want to look into getting some maracyn / maracyn II (antibiotics) or some maroxy (antifungal).

But before doing that I'd suggest posting on a forum.... Of course I'm partial to the forum that I used to be mod at But I'll say this for them impartially, they try to keep a very friendly flame-free atmosphere and they have a betta/anabantid forum and a fish health/disease forum. Here's the addy: www.aquaria.info

Very pretty female btw. I have the worst luck w/ female bettas, mine always end up getting egg-bound.

Art

Those horizontal lines mean that she is stressed... Vertical lines mean the opposite. If those forums can't help try googling "betta forum."

I never knew about the egg bound, I only thought that happened with birds and reptiles?

The stress lines are something I didnt know either. She always has those, but I dont understand why if the water quality is good and she has a good diet? The temp isnt 80, more like 72, but right now I cant do anything to raise it. And thats not that cold, between 70-80 is ideal temp for bettas.

Only thing I can think of is no hiding place, i'm waiting for the betta bulbs to get large for her, they grow kind of slow. Once they grow she can hide in them.

I might also add she is extremely aggressive, I heard Crowntail bettas tend to be more aggressive. She'll attack anything that drops in that tank, and she might be seeing her reflection in the glass?

I have aquarium salt to kill parasites, and Aquarisol to heal her if she has them. I cant think of anything else?

Her fins look great now, I just did a water change, in a few days i'll take new pics and you can see her fins are larger.

The females that I had that were egg-bound would get large and swollen with eggs (even if they never laid eyes on a male) and would remain swollen for 1-4/5 months... I would try antibiotics, etc. with them, but was never able to treat it successfully, they eventually died from the condition (bacteria will start to grow/infect the eggs built up inside the female). I think that if I kept female bettas again in the future, I'd have to put them with a male ocassionally to get rid of the eggs, otherwise I don't see a way around the egg binding problem.

About temperment...Have you looked between her pelvic fins? If she truely is a female, there will be a white "dot" that protrudes there, that is the ovipositor. Some females can be very agressive, but it doesn't really run via fin type...just individual temperment.

For plants, I'd suggest some java fern or moss...both are very hardy and grow attached to wood or rocks. The bulbs that you have can take a long time to grow, I've grown some before, but not I usually just get already established plants.

Salt for parasites? I've never heard of it working, other than maybe with ich IF you raise them temp along w/ dosing the salt... A note though, keep careful track of how much salt is in the water. When you do water changes, make sure that you replace w/ clean water that has the same percentage of salt dissolved in it. Also, if just "topping off" the bowl, don't add additional salt, as it does not evaporate with the water.

One more thing about salt... If you ever decide to step up to a larger tank size for her and add other fish, you will need to gradually decrease the amount of salt in her water and go salt-free in the new setup w/ other fish...if new fish (that aren't used to salt) are exposed to higher amounts, they can be "shocked" by the change and die/stress. Also, some fish are very sensitive to salt, so check that out before introducing them to the tank.

HTH,
Art

Yup she is definetly a she, i see the white dot under her where the eggs would come out. She is very aggressive, like I said anything in that tank is quickly attacked and shredded, in a way it's fun seeing her eat because shell chase the food. I have never seen any gill flaring, so that also shows it's a she. I've had males before and you notice it when they flare, it looks like a peacock tail.



I was weary about buying a pre-grown plant because they keep goldfish in with them, and goldfish come with parasites or diseases being they are shipped in high quantities, I didnt want to risk it and I dont have a separate tank to pre-treat the plant.

I do a full water change once a week. I wash out the bowl thorougly to get rid of an salt. When I add new aged water, I then add half a teaspoon of salt, less than what the instructions say to be safe.

She appears to be doing better, her only issue is that being so small i'm finding it very hard figuring out how much food is too much. Just 1 betta pellet makes her stomach start to swell, she is so tiny!

I think 2 pellets seems right, now that I know her eye is her stomach size, that actually helps, thanks!

I got new pics of her, her fins look great, I dont think it was worms but her fins fixing themselves, or she would look have looked worse this week since I did no treatment but the regular water changes.

Before

After (notice not 1 white thread)

I'll keep an eye on her, if it should re-appear I know what meds to get if I need to. Hopefully she is fine and it was just her fins healing.