# Sick Betta



## snappy (Mar 7, 2012)

Male Betta just lost his tail this morning. He has been hiding the last week or so but still coming out to eat. I noticed what looked like a small piece of his tail floating yesterday but couldn't tell by looking at him that anything was missing. Today he came out with pretty much his entire tail fin gone. He has a female betta and 3 serpae tetra as tank mates in a 10 gallon tank. Recently added a small sucker mouth plecco from petsmart - about the time I noticed him acting alittle different. I do not see ant spots or film on him so I've been hesitant to add any kind of medication to the tank. Not sure what to do for him or if its too late?


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## chipmunk1210 (Jul 3, 2012)

Ok first off, you need to separate him and the female betta. Bettas in general do not do well with other fish and especially do not do well with members of their own species. Your betta's tail is probably damage from fighting with the female, biting on it himself from stress, or possibly the tetras nipping at his fins. Bettas are agressive solitary fish and do best totally by themselves. If he has been hiding-then something is stressing him badly. I would remove him from the tank and get him his own heated tank of at least 2 gallons as soon as you can. He should heal with some TLC and be back to his full finned glory.


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## snappy (Mar 7, 2012)

Thanks. This betta was alone in my sons room for several months before I added him to the 10 gallon where he has been the last 6 mo. or so. I added the the female a few weeks later with some caution but other than feeding time when he 'flares up' at her they get along fine and both eat well. I have never seen them actually fight or I would separate them. The tetra 'introduced' themselves the first day but keep to themselves near the bottom. They've all been coexisting well for quite awhile now.


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## ZachZaf (Jan 26, 2012)

As far as Beta with others go, Its usually fine with a careful eye and so long as it isnt another beta or aggressive/teritorial species. I have a beta, Richard Longbubble, Who is coming up on 3.5 years who has happily lived in a community tank for about 3 of those years. He does just fine. 

The question is where is the tail going? Do you have any lava rock or similar sharp or jagged decore in the tank? Beta fins (and fins in general) are SUPER soft, think nylon soft. And if you can snag a pair of nylons on any of the decore he can snag a fin. The Pleco will cause no harm but will grow, and grow big if cared for, so plan to upgrade to a 55+ for him at some point... and the tetra should be fine as well. Keep an eye on the female as if anything he will harass her or pick at himself from stress. watch for stripes of deeper color across his body running length wise... 

As far as the healing goes, just keep the water clean (regular changes) and maybe kick a little salt in there (aquarium salt, not table salt) If you dont use any, pick up a carton from the LFS and use about half the dosage they describe for the first change and then build up to the total dose from there. Feed him well, Bettas love a nice full tummy, and keep his water warm (all the fish in there will enjoy that) And he should start to grow back little white rifts of the tail at a time.


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## chipmunk1210 (Jul 3, 2012)

I hate to tell you this but they may appear to "get along" but that is just simply not the case. They may tolerate each other for a time without any true damage but they are under a tremendous amount of stress from being in close proximity to each other. A lot of aggression is body language that is hard to pick up on. So it is normal to think everything is ok and then have some random damage or worst case scenario-death of one of the individuals. I do highly advise you to remove the male asap though. The female may be able to stay with the tetras for a while longer but really you are going to need a bigger school of tetras to keep them from being nippy and picking on other fish. Or another option is to get a bigger tank for your tetras (20 gallon) and then divide the 10 gallon for the bettas. The pleco is most likely a common pleco and they can easily get to 24 inches when full grown and taken care of and will need a huge tank or better yet a pond when it gets grown.


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## snappy (Mar 7, 2012)

Thanks to both of you. There is a cave the male has been held up in the last couple days, and it potentially could have an edge but I go over all my ornaments and file sharp edges before they go in the tank. He had been acting different for a few days before the tail fell off - and the day before a smaller piece fell off. He is usually floating around the top of the tank. I may be wrong but I think he's sick, I just can't see anything physically wrong other than his parts falling off (and of course his reclusiveness). I may be wrong on this too and I know Bettas are supposed to be solitary fish but floating around in a gallon or two of water for a few years doesn't seem like much of a life. Yes, he shows some 'aggression' to the female at feeding time but it dosen't seem to bother her and they never actually engage each other. I have a decent sized angel and a RTS in a 37 gallon w/ 3 Denison barbs and 2 corys. The angel and redtail will chase each other once in a while, but they have coexisted for quite a long time. I just think its a natural response and more of a warning than a stressfull environment - he's letting her know who's in charge. I realize there are some fish that need to be alone, but I think bettas can coexist with non-aggressive fish (I would never put him in w/ the redtail). BTW, the pleco is a rubber lip that should get to about 10" and will eventuall graduate to my larger tank, at this point he's still a little guy.


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## scooterlady (May 10, 2011)

You have to take bettas on an individual basis...some may do fine in a community setting and others you can't put anything in with them...


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## chipmunk1210 (Jul 3, 2012)

Yes each individual betta handles stressors differently and yes there are some that live with community fish with no real problem. The main problem is when a person looks at a solitary fish and worries about boredom with a tank with only that one fish. It really is the owner who doesn't like the "empty" setup. The fish loves it like that. Any aggression with bettas is not ok. It might look like the female is ok with it just because they never truely engage(that you see of course) but trust me on this(bettas are what I specialize in) she is not "ok" with the aggression. Stress takes its toll on fish without showing signs normally until the fish is really ill. It weakens the immune system and allows the fish to get ill when without the stress it probably would not have gotten ill in the first place. Imagine keeping a betta who needs temps of 78F min and a goldfish who needs cooler temps and putting them in the same tank and forcing them to live in the cooler temp water. The goldfish would prosper and do great while the betta would appear to be ok for a long while probably(bettas are resilient) but the stress will eventuallly make it really sick. Most of the time the fish is too sick by the time the problem is noticed to do anything to help the fish recover health and the fish dies. Or the cause is never determined because people don't think about the enviroment in that way and they look for other causes and again same outlook-the fish dies. Now I am not saying your fish are going to die but you do need to think about your fish and the way that they like to live when you see one get ill. I have already given you my recommendation and this is coming from experience with bettas-not some second hand knowledge or stuff I read off of the internet. Another example is when people say that their betta is just fine in that 1 gallon or less bowl with no heater and very minimal water changes. This is false info and just because it seems the betta is fine-it is surviving and very stressed. The result--a betta that doesn't ever reach its full potential or age. Sorry--I will get off my soapbox. LOL These are the fish that I love and I just really hate the way that people get fed the misguided info. Kinda like the idea that you can keep a goldfish in a 1 gallon bowl.


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