Betta fin loss

Question
I have had my betta Artemis for over a year now. I originally had him in a heated, fully cycled 5 gallons where he had gotten fin rot due to myself changing all the filter media (I was relatively new to fish keeping and forgot the Bacteria lived mostly in the filter!) due to this, I turned the 5 gallon into a quarantine tank with no gravel and began treating with aquarium salt. It worked for a while, however the rot came back. I ended up buying and cycling a 15gal for him which also housed to corydoras. He did not like the company so I cycled the 5 gallon and set it back up to him. As he did quite well and grew back a lot of finage in the 15 gallon, I thought maybe stress might be the issue as he did not like the smaller tank. I have just recently upgraded him to a well planted 10 gallon tank (switching the cycled media into the new tanks filter an adding purigen for possible ammonia spikes) and he was doing great, with a lot of new growth. The issue is that he also flares at himself, and I have changed the light angle to help that but it does not always work depending on the time Of day. I have watched him to make sure that it is not fin nipping, and he defInately loses finage randomly when he gets a little stressed. I really do not know what do to about it. He has not had full finage for over a year and I have tried everything. His water parameters are 0,0,>5 and ph of 7.4, any ideas?

Thanks

Answer
Hi Alexander,
Fin loss in bettas can sometimes depend on their age, genetics and nutrition level and stress of course. Sounds like you are doing the best you can for Artemis.

I would recommend making sure he is getting a varied protein diet. (This link provides lots of good diet info) -
http://nippyfish.net/bettas-101/feeding-bettas/

And make sure there are no decorations or plastic plants that could be snagging his fins. Betta fins are surprisingly fragile.

I hope this helps and good luck!
Susan~