Question
Decaying Fin
Hi Lynda! I need some serious help. My 2-yr old betta's caudal fin is falling off. The fin is decaying from an area on the top of the caudal fin, spreading both down the fin and up toward the body. What can I do?
About 6 months ago, I bought a 5.5 gal tank for my betta, cycled it by fishless method, and moved in my betta. Ammonia was zero, nitrite was zero, and I had just done a large water change to bring the nitrate under 20 ppm. While my betta was in the tank, the nitrite went up again. The top of my betta's caudal fin (usually purple) turned blue and there was a bubble in it about 1/3 of the way down the tail from the body. The bubble looked like a blister, and it eventually popped.
Over the past six months, the caudal fin has been decaying, radiating from the point where the blister was. The decay has happened so slowly that after every treatment it was hard to tell if the fin's condition was changing at all. I've tried putting him back in the bowl, as well as treatments of tetracycline and fungus cure followed to the letter of the instructions. I've tried bottled water and de-chlorinated tap water to the same grave effects.
Again, the decay radiates from a point on the top edge of the caudal fin and moves toward the bottom of the fin. It's attacking the fin vein by vein from the top. The decayed parts turn blue, then black and swollen, then fall off. I've attached a photo.
My fish is otherwise doing well. He happily swims around, comes up to the glass and shows off for anyone who goes up to look at him, and eats normally. The tank water is 76 degrees, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and I change 20% of the water once a week. No other fish in the tank.
What is wrong with my fish? What can I do about it? And if there's nothing I can do to stop it, what do I do when my fish's tail is all gone?
I really appreciate your help!
AnswerHi Sasha,
Poor little man. This is a very bad infection. Give him a treatment with "Kanamycin." Keep his water very clean. I hope this medication will work, but if you see that the little guy is suffering it would be best to take him out of his misery. You will feel it if he is. I wish I could help you more, but he is in very bad shape. Sometimes a fish may recover, and his tail will grow back. The fact that he is eating is a good sign.
He could have had a boil that came to a head, and infected him. Whenever a fish has a lump, bump, bubble, or blister, it is very difficult to know exactly what it is. It could be a tumor. Tumors may be cancerous...most of the time they aren't. It is much like us, and we must never try to squeeze it. Fish live a long time with bumps etc. What happened to your pet can only be infection, and it is a very bad one.
Fish do better in tap water. They get all the minerals they need in tap water. They do not have these minerals in bottled water. When changing his water use hot, and cold till you get the right temperature, and always use a good conditioner such as "Stress Coat"
For now try Kanamycin, and hopefully it should help him.
Keep me posted on how he is doing. However, if this continues, and you have to put him to sleep, here is a site that will tell you how to do it without pain.
http://thegab.org/Articles/Euthanasia.html
I hope the little man pulls through.
Lynda
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