# Should I meddle with this fin damage ?



## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

I adopted 3 bettas awhile ago, all of whom had suffered from fin rot. The rot was cured before I took them on and the damage is different on each fish. They are all truly beautiful boys. First is a Polka Dot HM, with the most gorgeous colours, apricot, reds 'n oranges. He's such an erratic eater, I call him Mr. Picky. His fins appear to be regrowing, despite his eating habits. He builds extremely elaborate nests periodically and gets really riled up if he gets a glimpse of the other boys.

The second one I call Ruffles, also a HM. Fins extremely fragile looking, some vertical splits in the ventral and maybe the tail, but no missing tissue. I only see the splits if he really flares, which he rarely does. Splits do not go all the way to the body, but it's hard to tell if they're closing up. Deep blue body with ruffled black edges on pale apricot fins. Not much of a nest builder.

The third one, Rags,is the fish I'd like opinions on. Shining green dragon HM, but has the worst fin damage of all. He's not growing any new tissue. He eats well, he blows bubbles, but has yet to build a real nest. His tail looks so messed up, it's just sad.

I'm trying to get clear pictures to post, but so far they're all too blurry. If you picture a flared out half moon tail, imagine that the top and bottom portions have both been scooped away in uneven semicircles, with ragged edges at the body end, and one raggedy bit sticking out in the middle. This remnant bit appears to be close to the full length of the original tail with a very narrow neck at the body end. It flutters and twists around as he swims.

I suspect there's a lot of scar tissue on Rags' tail, which seems unlikely to grow back left as it is now. I've been wondering if a bit of minor surgery might not stimulate regrowth ? I'd take off that little remnant that's just hanging in the middle.

It would mean anesthetizing him, but that's not difficult with clove oil. One simply has to be very careful of the dose, work quickly and get the fish back in clean water asap. I've done a bit of minor surgery on cats and horses, so I think I'd be able to do the job neatly enough, and I have the equipment.

Though he doesn't look very graceful when swimming, Rags does not appear to be suffering, so this would be mainly cosmetic. But he has such beautiful, dense & intense colouration, it would be nice to see him regain some of his former glory.

They each have a 2.5 G tank, and I use a good pinch of sea salt, and fresh almond leaves every couple of weeks, which worked very well for some other Bettas I had with fin damage. Though in their case, the damage was mechanical, not from fin rot, which appears to make a difference to the potential for fins growing back.

I got fruit flies in, hoping Mr. Picky would like them better than he does pellets. He really didn't seem to care much. Ruffles and Rags went crazy for flies so I'll carry on with them a few times a week. Maybe Mr. Picky will come to enjoy them. I was also hoping live food might assist with fin growth, but it's too early to tell if it will have any effect.

If you thought you could do something like what I'm thinking of doing, with reasonable safety, would you try to fix it or leave it be ?


----------



## Mykuhl (Apr 8, 2013)

Hmmm did the green halfmoon's tail suffer some damage? I don't remember it being as bad as you describe it, maybe I am just picturing it wrong. Also, I do want to make sure that you know that he is a double tail, so his tail will have a different shape...Just in case you weren't aware. 

Good luck. Unfortunately I can't help you out with advice about the surgery idea.


----------



## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

I was not aware he had a double tail, perhaps it got lost in the conversation when I came to take them home. If can just get a pic, I'll post it to you can see what's going on. A double tail means that remaining tail tissue is likely part of only half of the tail.

I'm now trying frozen foods, live foods, and might even try some california BW to see if they will take those. Also considering trying to get some filtration in their tanks, to avoid any chance of ammonia if I'm a day late doing water changes. Hoping to find a dietary mix they really go for that might help with regrowth of missing fin tissue.


----------



## Mykuhl (Apr 8, 2013)

If you mean freeze dried CBW...they are really big on those in my experience. The Orange polka dot ignores them the green double tail sometimes eats them and the blue mustard gas(Ruffles) eats them but not with enthusiasm. They seemed to like frozen blood worms best of all.


----------



## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

I should have got a list of what you were feeding. Didn't know you could get freeze dried CBW. I was thinking of live ones though. Oddly enough, shrimp appear to really enjoy ripping black worms apart, so if the fish don't eat them, shrimp will. 

I have fed the fish frozen blood worms and they did not eat much of them, I ended up having to remove most of them after they sank to the bottom.

I tried live bean beetles this morning, and they all ate at least a few of them. They are not very big and keep swimming for quite some time. Maybe if I can provide variety, Mr. Picky will eat enough to keep him going. He's not going to starve at this rate, but neither is he going to flourish if he doesn't start eating more.


----------



## Fishamon (Aug 28, 2014)

The fish fins will grow back as long as the base is untouched.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Fishamon (Aug 28, 2014)

And Betta fins are very fragile either way.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

I still have hope the fins will regrow, but it will clearly take a lot longer than I thought it might. I do know the fins are very fragile.

I"m not going to meddle with Rag's tail though. Having thought it over, I think I'll leave him as is and hope that time will help. I just hope he doesn't decide to bite off the one piece that's hanging out there. Now and then he nips at it, I'd prefer he didn't actually do it any more harm. Not that I get a say of course ! Fish do have their own minds, tiny though they may be .


----------



## Fishamon (Aug 28, 2014)

Give it a little time.


----------

