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Hello!

I have a question about my betta fish Shota (lol yes he's named after little boy pron xD).

I've had him for nearly 3 weeks now and I've just recently had a problem. About a week ago, I managed to buy some equipment to clean his tank properly (the tank is about 3 gallons... that's the biggest I could afford and that could fit into my room) and did a half tank water change.

I then left for about three days (well, two nights). The morning I left he looked fine and energetic as usual. I told my sister to feed him while I was gone.

When I got back, I found that his caudal fin was been completely shredded. It was just that fin; not his dorsal fin, a**l fin or ventral fins. I found that my sister forgot and hadn't fed him the entire time I was gone, so I was really worried.

His fins have never looked to be that healthy ever since I bought him. Against a light, they're not completely solid; there are bits here and there where they look a bit translucent and I don't know if that's normal (without a back light they look relatively solid). The tips of his fins look white as if they've lost their colour too.

I looked up things for fin rot and parasites that could destroy his fins, but nothing really matched. He has lots of plants in his tank but none of them had been a problem before when he's swam around them (in fact he likes to rest on them a lot).

So I wonder if it has something to do with the tank cleaning since I have a little bit of difficulty since it was my first time doing it. I left him in the tank while I did the change (because I was afraid of taking him out with a net) and I wonder if that was a bad idea (he almost got sucked up by the cleaning tube since he was curious >.<).

I understand that bettas will bite their fins when they undergo stress, and I hope it's just that.

My friend told me that it might be possible that he got stressed out because I didn't cycle his tank. I tried to read about it but I got confused about that process =v=;... I also haven't checked the pH of the water yet since I haven't been able to find a kit to check it.

I do age and condition his water with a stress coat before I clean his tank though.

I'm happy to say that his tail is healing now, and I've just cleaned his tank a second time (this time I carefully took him out of his tank before I changed it. I managed to find a way to scoop him out without a net in the least stressful way I could think of.) and he seems to be fine at the moment (energetically swimming around like usual). And I'm keeping a close eye on him though.

Another thing I was wondering about... I've never seen my betta make a bubble nest yet. I know that if they make one, it's usually a sign of a happy healthy Betta, hence why I'm increasingly worried.

He seems happy and healthy to me. He's energetic enough, he only starts to slow down around night time when he starts taking his fish naps. He's got a hearty appetite and loves to eat. I just recently switched to flakes because he was having trouble eating pellet food with them being bigger than his mouth; I had to cut them into smaller pieces. All the food was specialize for Bettas. The tank is kept at a 78 degrees F, and I only turn the light off when I go to sleep (Dx I can only go to sleep in complete darkness). He has lots of plants and a plastic cave to hide in too.

The only thing I'm wondering about is the filter. I have an under filter for my tank that blows bubbles at the surface and I was wonder if that's could discourage my betta from making a nest. Should I get a different type of filter?

I was also wondering how often I should change the filter for that since there was no instructions for that when I bought it.

Um... I think that's it ^^; if you have anything that could be of help to me, I'll be more than grateful! This is my first time taking care of a fish on my own, so I want to do a good job smile

I find that Bettas don't dirty their water too much so you don't really need a filter other than to have the water moving to have good oxygen levels in your water, since oxygen doesn't dissolve as readily as carbon dioxide.

And when I do a water change I usually have the water sit out for one night and still condition it just in case then add my fish back into the water along with some of his older water.

If your filter sticks out from the gravel with slits in them he might be tearing them there, maybe put some panty hose over it so it doesn't shred his fins.

And like Skittles said, take some plants out.

My betta didn't make nests until three months later, bubbles just means he's mature enough to breed and wants to get his game on. biggrin But it's not necessary, since I have him work off all the aggression with some mirror work.

Maybe turn off your filter for a while to have the water be a little more steady, it'll might calm him down a little less stress.