# Is this fin rot?



## Leahbelle80 (Nov 20, 2019)

Hello, my daughter’s Betta seems completely fine other than yesterday morning we woke up to find he has small holes in his fins and a bit of tearing. I don’t see any brown or black on any of his fins. I took out one of the decorations that I thought might have snagged him. The water parameters are all good. Except I got conflicting numbers on the pH, 6.8 with API test strips and 7.2/7.4 with the Fluval test kit. I did not do anything as he is not in any distress and had no symptoms of either low or high pH levels. He’s still eating and swimming along fine. We only got him last week, but the tank has been cycled, as much as a five gallon can be. I change two gallons of water every second day and have been for over a month. If anyone can tell if this is fin rot or not, or if I should treat with aquarium salt just to be safe, I would be very appreciative. As, this is my first time on here, I will see if I can attach a picture (hopefully). Thank you in advance.


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## Fishman21 (Apr 26, 2010)

Difficult to say without a picture. Your attachment doesn’t open. Fighters sometimes show imperfections in their fin that look like a fin that’s ripped or similar but is nothing problematic. 

Fin rot can show itself as a low level (but persistent) slow decay along the edges. This is usually due to poor water conditions. (Are you using aged water for water changes?) This can also be characterised by whitening / milky appearance along the fin edges. Over time little bits of fin can be seen breaking off resulting in the slow decay. 

Might not be a bad thing to treat with salt. Nowadays treatment options are very limited as they have barred pet shops from selling antibiotics. I have had moderate success with melafix a natural medication. You may want to try it but be patient it’s very slow to take effect. Good luck


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