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I am new to fish keeping as well as this website. I have just recently recieved a 10G tank with previously owned keepers, all of which came with its fair share of troubles. The tank came with a betta, two Mollys (which I have since then moved to a 15G tub),and 4 corydoras. Not only did the betta look super depressed and mainly stuck towards the bottom, but had virtually no color and hugged the sides of the glass where the plants are.

I removed the Mollys, changed the substrate to an active substrate, added a heater, and added several other plants such as red root floaters and Hornwort.

I now deal with the issue that my betta may be suffering from fin rot. Because of the amount of jagged rock and two large fish that were in there before (which he strangely never fought), I could see why his fins may be jagged but I am not 100% sure. He is very active now, eats well,shown some iridescence, as well as begun to create new bubbles. There is also a small part of his fins at the very bottom that are malformed and look very strange (looks as though part of his fin is attached to another part). Here's the best picture I've taken of him so far enter image description here as you can see near the bottom, his tail does this weird thing where it looks malformed. I'm not sure if this what clamping is but it looks like it.

I would just like to know how to cure his sickly fins. My betta is acting PERFECTLY normal besides the fin rip/rot. Please help Leon![enter image description here]2

here is another picture, although not as clear u can see the jaggedness better enter image description here

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  • is your tank properly cycled and what are the readings of your water test ph-amonia-nitrite,have you added dechlorinator(water treatment).if you have not cycled the tank you need to take a look here fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm
    – trond hansen
    Commented Feb 10, 2019 at 7:56
  • @trondhansen I am actuallly well aware of the nitrogen cycle and know how to properly cycle my tank, but unfortunately, my parents had given me this tank as a surprise so I was not able to have a lot of water that was cycled. I used dechlorinated water since I had three 1 gal that were cycled already and are just housing water fleas as food, but the rest of the water I put in the tank was all dechlorinated. Since there is not a proper cycle in my tank, I do water changes nearly every day to remove any bio film and keep as clean as possible.
    – Emsfishkeeping
    Commented Feb 10, 2019 at 15:04
  • @trondhansen it's the best I can do for them, and whenever I get the chance I add in some water from my water flea habitat (also a bit of a snack for the betta). regardless, I believe the fins are improving but I would still like to know if its fin rot so that I may treat him as best as possible.
    – Emsfishkeeping
    Commented Feb 10, 2019 at 15:07
  • i am glad to hear you know what you are doing,i do not know a lot about bettas but i do not think your fish looks like it have finrot and tears in the fins do heal quite fast in many types of fish but it is very hard to see if your fish have any tears in its fins.
    – trond hansen
    Commented Feb 10, 2019 at 15:19
  • @trondhansen thank you so much for your advice! I am new to the fish keeping community but I have done a lot of research, so to hear that most of what Im doing isn't bad really comforts me, especially since im only 16. Thank you for replying nonetheless. I will keep looking for answers
    – Emsfishkeeping
    Commented Feb 10, 2019 at 16:59

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I have to be honest - I do not see signs of fin rot in your betta. It can be very hard to see this in bettas, as a result of the natural variation in how the edge of the fins are shaped.

I cannot see any tear in the fins. The only area that looks a little strange is on the top fin of your fish, but I do not believe this is a problem.

The fins do not look clamped to me. The back of the dorsal fin might be a result of an previous injury that have healed up a little strangely.

The best way to keep your fish healthy is to provide good water quality,in an established tank you need to do regular water tests once a week.

The readings you need to keep an eye on is pH-ammonia-nitrite and nitrate.

The pH is the least important part, it is in the interest of your water supplier to keep this at about pH 7-7,5 - if it gets lower, the water mains will corrode (shorter life time) and if the pH is higher, material will be deposited in the water mains (less water flow = higher cost to deliver the same amount of water).

Ammonia is very toxic to fish (and other life), so this needs to be as close to zero as you possibly can.

Nitrite is toxic to fish (and other life), so this needs to be as close to zero as you possibly can.

Nitrate is toxic if the concentration gets high, but you keep this down by regular water changes (nitrate is plant food so your plants will remove some of it).

Nitrate in the water is a sign that your filter are functioning properly.

And last, the two main reasons for fish to get ill is poor water quality and overfeeding of your fish. Overfeeding leads to poor water quality.

For more information on how to make sure the water quality will be good in your tank please take a look here BEFORE you buy the fish.

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