# Betta with shriveled fins



## Babs

I bought a lovely half-moon betta last week. Placed him into a planted Fluval Spec 3 that I'd been cycling for about a month. 

Yesterday I he wasn't interested in his food and this morning I noticed his fins are shriveled up. Almost like they were folded or you'd rolled them between your fingers.

About to run some tests but since he's only been in there a week I can't imagine the ammonia or nitrates being too high.


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## Fishfur

Test the water right away to see if it's ok. Ammonia might cause this. Check the water and be sure it's ok first, then get back to the forum.


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## Babs

Ammonia was higher than I thought it would be..about 3ppm 

Just changed about 1/3 of the water..hope that helps


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## Y2KGT

When you say the tank has been cycling for about a month, what do you mean?

If the tank was running however you didn't add anything to the tank to cycle the tank then that would explain the very high ammonia reading. That level of ammonia would indicate your tank is just starting to cycle because the next step would be for the ammonia to drop and the Nitrite to shoot up which is still very bad for the Betta.

I would keep doing emergency water changes every day and add some aquarium salt to try and minimize the damage.

Is the Betta the only fish in the tank? If so how much do you feed him because they only require 2 or 3 pellets a day. Any more and you're adding to the waste in the tank.
--
Paul


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## Fishfur

How long has the fish been in this water ? 100% water change right away - chances are the levels have been high for more than a day, sadly. But there are a few things you can do that may help him to survive.

Add a good pinch of good sea salt, or kosher salt, or aquarium salt to his new water, stir it in 'til dissolved. NO table salt, it's got additives he does not need.

Get some Indian Almond leaves or tea bags made with them. Add a couple of the leaves to the tank, or steep the tea bag of them in a gallon of cold water overnight and use it to half fill the tank, new water for the rest. Then use a few cups of the 'tea' with every water change. They have natural antibiotic properties that will help prevent the fish sickening with something else now it's been damaged by ammonia, which will blunt the immune system and make him susceptible to other problems.

The leaves will tint the water brown, that's fine. The fish will find it soothing.

Ammonia burns the gills and skin, then causes internal damage. If he was not exposed to the very high levels for too long he may be able to recover. But you will have to be very vigilant about making sure his water has NO nitrite or ammonia in it at all. So daily big water changes until he recovers. I have to warn you, he may die. I hope not, but ammonia is so very toxic and that's a high level you have there. I wish you luck.

He stopped eating because he feels terrible, and his fins look like they do partly because he feels awful and partly he might be trying to reduce his exposure to the burning ammonia effects - I don't say this to make you feel any worse, just to explain why he stopped eating and also so you'll know that if you see him relax his fins once he's got clean water, with some salt and hopefully some almond leaves, that would be an encouraging sign to see.

To cycle your tank. please read the sticky on the Beginner's forum on cycling. If you were not adding ammonia daily to help develop the BB, [beneficial bacteria] needed to convert ammonia to less toxic compounds, or if you did not seed the filter with aged media from a filter that was cycled, then you did not cycle that tank at all. All you did was let water run through it. It is very unfortunate, but cycling doesn't mean just water running, in this hobby it means the filter has grown colonies of at least two types of bacteria that convert ammonia to nitrite and nitrite to nitrate, which is far less toxic than the first two. For the bacteria to grow they must have an ammonia source to start with.

Btw, plants do use some nitrate to grow, but regular water changes are how nitrate levels are kept under control if there are not enough plants, which most tanks don't have, unless very heavily planted indeed.

I sincerely hope the fish recovers.


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## Babs

It was just running with used gravel, used filter media and some plants. ( just a crypt and an anubias) but maybe that wasn't enough.

The betta is the only guy in the tank, he gets a varying diet but mostly just small, small amounts of the same frozen food I've been giving my cardinal tetras. 

The frustrating thing is, my two sons have bettas but just in simple (ie no filter or heater) little 2gal tanks. They both get all their water changed at once (whenever I get around to it) and they are both doing fine.

I go all out for my own, set up a lovely planted and heated tank for him and he gets sick within a week..What's up with that


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## Fishfur

The problem is you put used media in, which is great, but then nothing to feed it. So the bacteria starved and died, which would have increased the ammonia level in the tank too.

Once you put used media in, there must be some ammonia in the water to feed them and keep them going. You'd have had to put in a snail or a fish or add pure ammonia to keep the bacteria alive. Plants can help with a cycle, but don't produce any ammonia, so can't keep filter bacteria alive.

Your son's fish are ok because they're getting enough regular water changes, which reduces the ammonia and nitrite regularly, and dilutes what is there, so the levels don't get so high. But if they aren't getting changes at least a couple times a week, they are not going to live as long as they are able to live given regular changes. Fish can become somewhat habituated to higher than ideal levels of ammonia, if it's not enough to cause the symptoms you have seen in your fish, but it does damage them and will shorten their life span. It can also make them more susceptible to infections or fungal problems, which are in all tank water, but typically don't cause problems unless the fish has a weak immune system or becomes injured in some way. Then they may not recover.

Betta fish are actually better off being kept in a larger volume of water. 5 gallons would be great. Those little Betta bowls are not good for them, but are very popular and the pet store wants to sell you stuff so they don't necessarily tell you the fish are better off in larger tanks. It's true Bettas can live for some time in a small puddle, during the dry season where they originate, some are stranded in such puddles. That's why they are able to breathe a bit of air if the water has little oxygen in it. But many of the fish that get stranded die. And those little cups they keep them in at the store, well, they're terrible. But they can't keep the fish together because the males do fight, and so the little cups are the solution. But they can't live in a cup for very long unless the water is changed daily.. and not for very long period.

I made the very same mistake about the bacteria when I set up my first tank after thirty plus years. So much had changed during the interim, and the cycle was nothing I'd ever heard of before. But I bought Eco Complete, which said, on the bag, that it would cycle the tank right away. Great, I thought, so I put that in the tank with water and started a filter running, but I did not add any livestock for two weeks. During that time any bacteria that may have been in the Eco Complete died off. So when I added a pair of Danios, in a 30G tank, I was horrified to see nitrite readings on the water tests a few days later. 

I was given some used media rinsings that stopped the spike in less than 36 hours, and my fish, lucky for them, did survive, having been exposed for only a couple of days and not to such high levels. But that was a year ago and both those fish died a few months later. They got dropsy and had to be euthanized as there is no cure. So their exposure sure did shorten their lives. Not that Danios live all that long but still, a hard way to learn some of this stuff.


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## Babs

Thanks for the explanation. Yah, things have changed a lot since I setup my own first tank around 20 years ago.

I just did a 90% water change and added a bit of aquarium salt. Hopefully (along with more careful water checks/changes) he'll recover.


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## Fishfur

See if you can get some almond leaves. They might help a lot. But keep that water changed daily until you are certain that filter is cycled properly. You can reseed it, if you have a source for used media and that will help a great deal. But until the water test shows you zero ammonia, zero nitrite and some level of nitrate, ideally under 30 ppm, keep up the water changes.

Best of luck

* actually I could mail you a few almond leaves, but you wouldn't get them 'til early next week. See if any store in your area has them.


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## TorontoBoy

BB will grow if there is a food source, such as ammonia from fish. Without an ammonia source, existing BB will starve and die. If you left your filter running for a month without fish or alternate source of ammonia, then you killed the BB. You are now starting from scratch.

Do you have another fish tank with used media? If you share this media from an existing cycled tank you could get an instant cycle and clear up the ammonia immediately.

I put extra media into my AC filters for just this purpose. If/when there is an impulse buy of fish I can immediately set up a 10G and have a filter with an immediate cycle.

Maybe someone in Whitby can donate some used filter material to you, for the benefit of your betta?


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## Babs

Thanks TrontoBoy, that's a great idea.

I have a 30gal running with an AC 50 at the moment. (actually planning switching to an ehiem 2213 in the near future)

It doesn't have a large fish population (6 cardinals, 3 panda cories and 1 galaxy danio) but everyone is doing quite well in it.

Do you think it would be enough to simply swap the sponges or even squeeze the contents of the AC sponge into the Spec 3's sponge?


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## Fishfur

I would squeeze out the sponges and any other media from the AC 50 into the fluval filter. Or squeeze them in a bit of tank water and pour that into the fluval. Depending when you last cleaned it, it should solve the problem almost instantly. Within a day or two at most. Keep testing until you are sure and are seeing the right results on the tests.


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## bettaforu

He sounds like he's suffering from clamped fins! I had this happen to 2 of my champion Bettas. The air conditioning in my room was making their water too cold for them, so they clamped tightly shut all of their fins and just layed on the bottom until they needed to eat or breathe.

I moved them to a tank, added a heater to 78-80F and within a few days they were responding well to the heated water....by week end they had unclamped their lovely fins and are now very healthy.

Try putting a heater in the tank if you don't have one and turn it up to 80F if possible...78F if its preset one.

Try him with a tiny bit of bloodworms, if he doesn't want to eat don't force him...Bettas can go without for days. IF you have some spirulina flakes that would help too. I have had to use some Garlic guard on some fish to get
them to eat again.

Hope he makes it.


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## Fishfur

Wouldn't the clamped fins be due to the high ammonia level ? It was 3ppm when she tested it at the start of this, unfortunately. Fish clamp fins when they feel really ill, as I understand it, and it can also be a reaction to the burning from the ammonia.

I sincerely hope this guy makes it now the water's been changed and the filter is being seeded again.


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## bettaforu

Just reread this again...you can fast cycle a tank if you use 50% of the water from one of your other cycled tanks with some of the media from that tank in your filter too.

I fast cycled a 10 gallon in 2 days doing this for my German Rams and they are finicky! No ammonia, no nitrites after 2 days by using this formula...given to me by another long term hobbyist.

Bettas can live in tap water with just conditioner added like Stresscoat (I would recommend this for this Betta) so you can actually put him in a big bowl until you re-bacteriaize your other tank. He will be fine in a bowl for a few days, just clean any poop off the bottom and change the water on the 
3rd day.

I keep a few of my females in 1 ltre bowls and do this for them as I don't have enough tank space for them all. Everyone is fine and all are healthy.


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## TorontoBoy

Take 1/2 of your AC50s biomedia (I know, it's not much), and throw it into your betta tank filter, giving your filter some existing BB. If you have some sponge from the new filter throw this into the AC50's now free space.

The dirty biomedia should provide an instant cycle for your betta tank, while the new sponge will get a huge head start and quickly colonize with existing BB in your 30G tank.


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## Y2KGT

Babs said:


> Thanks TrontoBoy, that's a great idea.
> 
> I have a 30gal running with an AC 50 at the moment. (actually planning switching to an ehiem 2213 in the near future)
> 
> It doesn't have a large fish population (6 cardinals, 3 panda cories and 1 galaxy danio) but everyone is doing quite well in it.
> 
> Do you think it would be enough to simply swap the sponges or even squeeze the contents of the AC sponge into the Spec 3's sponge?


Squeezing the AC sponge in the Spec tank is all you need to do. The next day you can measure the Ammonia again and should find it down to zero.

You should be able to see the difference as well. I find a tank that is cycling is always kind if cloudy however as soon as it finishes the cycle it's crystal clear.
--
Paul


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## Babs

Thanks to everyone for all the great advise!!!

SO, I took the media out of both filters and put them in a bucket with a little water from the 30gal. 

Then, squeezed the AC sponge all over the Spec sponge. I like to add "old school" filter floss to my AC as I find it helps to polish the water, so I added this to the spec filter as well.

Finally, I added the dirty water from the bucket into the filter chamber of the spec. 

A few hours later, the tank is almost clear and the Betta seems to be a bit more active. But his fins are still shriveled. They almost look now like they're burnt. (obviously from the ammonia) Obviously the important thing is that he survives, but does anyone know if they will ever look the same again? (sigh..he was sooo gorgeous)


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## Fishfur

He may recover with time. More important is whether his gills are badly damaged or anything internal. Fins can regrow, but it takes time. 

He might lose the damaged parts. If so, the salt and almond leaf will help them regrow. Might take some months. But first let's hope he is able to survive before worrying over the fins. I know, they are such handsome fish it is sad to see when they are damaged, but give it some time.


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## Babs

Thanks Fishfur. He seems to be doing well this morning...up at the top looking for food and eating 

oh..Can you tell me where I can get almond leaves?


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## Y2KGT

Babs said:


> Thanks Fishfur. He seems to be doing well this morning...up at the top looking for food and eating
> 
> oh..Can you tell me where I can get almond leaves?


You can order them from Angelfins.
http://angelfins.ca/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=5&products_id=843
They can usually mail them to you in an envelope and charge you around $2 for shipping making it very affordable.
--
Paul


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## Fishfur

That's probably less than it would cost for me to mail you just a few leaves, and you'd get more of them from Angel fins. Worth having, they are very useful both for Betta fish and other fish.

Glad to hear the fish is eating. That's a good sign.

You can soak the leaves if you want, but you don't have to. Rinsing is enough, then leave in the tank until the leaf is mostly a skeleton. Then remove and replace with a new one. 

If you ever have shrimp, baby shrimp love to eat the bacterial colonies that grow on the decomposing leaves. That sounds awful I know but you don't see cloudy water or anything like that. Shrimp will just consume whatever grows on the leaves. 

In the Betta tank, you'll mainly notice it colours the water like brewed tea. Tannic acids cause the colour, but there are humic acids also, all are beneficial to many fish, Betta's included. 

Many native waters that fish come from, many of those from South America, are what are known as 'black waters'. That's because they are full of leaf litter, fallen trees and the like, which tints the water a very dark brown shade. It's clear water, just very dark and typically also soft and acidic in pH. Fish who come from places that have such water usually like having driftwood or leaves in their tanks. 

Bettas these days grow up on farms with very different conditions from their wild ancestors, but in native habitat, their water is shallow and has a lot of leaf litter in it, especially during the dry season. So even if they did not grow up with it, they still benefit from Almond leaves properties. If you ever have a fish with an injury, almond leaf is a great addition to the hospital tank to help prevent infection and speed healing, and it should help your Betta not only feel better but also prevent infection while his immune system is compromised.


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