• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • Bettas 101
    • Acclimation
    • All About Water
      • Nitrogen Cycle
      • Ph & Ammonia
      • Water Changes
    • Betta Fish Anatomy
    • Betta Vases
    • Choosing a Tank
    • Feeding Bettas
      • Food Myths
      • Frozen & Live Betta Food
    • Tankmates for Bettas
      • African Dwarf Frogs & Bettas
      • Apple Snails & Bettas
      • Neon Tetras & Bettas
      • Otocinclus Catfish & Bettas
      • Quarantine New Fish
    • Plakat Betta
    • Rosetail Betta
    • Veil-tail Betta
  • Sick Betta
    • Diseases and Treatment
    • Aging Bettas
    • Bloating and Constipation
    • Cotton Wool Disease
    • Dropsy
    • Fin Rot and Fin Loss
    • First Steps
    • Gill Hyperplasia
    • Ich
    • Popeye
    • Septicemia (Infection)
    • Swim Bladder Disorder
    • Sick Betta Symptom Checker
    • Velvet Disease
    • Wounded Betta
    • Fish Tank Granuloma
  • Behavior
    • Bubble Nests
    • Skittish Bettas
    • Tail Biting
  • Breeding Bettas
  • Equipment
  • Q & A
  • Other fish
  • Contact

Fish Care

Everything You Need to Know About Betta Fish

You are here: Home / Betta splendens / Betta with Clamped Fins

Betta with Clamped Fins

Q: RF wrote,

Hi Christie,
I recently bought a betta fish. It was the healthiest looking one I could
find but one of his fins is clamped. I don’t know why and like to cure it
if I can. On the previous site I could find clamped fins under the
Symptoms/illness & disease but now I can’t see that anywhere. Can you help
me out?

A: Clamped fins signal that something is stressing him. There is no
specific disease that causes clamped fins but it does indicate that
something isn’t right. Poor water quality is the number one cause of
betta illnesses. It’s possible that the water he was in before you bought
him contained toxins from his waste like ammonia. Depending on how long
you have had him these toxins could be building up in his current tank
too. If you bought him quite recently he may have experienced stress
from the acclimation process particularly if there were differences in
temperature or pH from the water he came in to the new water.

Despite what some manufacturers may print on their packages there is no
medicine that treats clamped fins. The best thing you can do is test
your water for toxins and do frequent water changes being careful to
avoid large fluctuations in temperature and pH. You should also be
vigilant for signs of disease. If symptoms of illness do appear then you
can reassess your options for treatment.

For now, clean water is the best thing you can give your betta.

Do let me know how things progress and congratulations on the arrival of
your new betta.


Filed Under: Betta splendens

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. bob says:

    how do i test the water toxins ?

    Reply
    • Christie F. says:

      You can buy test kits that test for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate (the main toxins found in betta tanks). Check out our article on Top 5 Must-have Betta Fish Supplies.

      Reply
  2. Jasmine says:

    Hey I just got my new betta a month ago now and he is still a baby (1 Yr old) and his anal fin is clamped togeather. he is living in a rather large tank with a light and a 3 stage filter how do I cure his Clamped fin?

    Reply
  3. xeno0188 says:

    i have a beta his name is io i got him from petco he was a baby hes so cute now he is full grown now like his sister cha cha she was a baby when i got her at the same time. I clean his bowl once a week and i give him slat to help him but its not working as much as i thought when i do change his water oh i smell a bad odder i don’t know how it keeps coming back i would do is try to boil hot water in the bowl and the gravel even that it still didn’t work. it keeps coming back is there a medication that can kill the bacteria in the gravel and the glass bowl and treat the fish at the same time i have a few older bates die from old age i don’t want to see my young fish die so early in his life. Any help would be helpful.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Search


Recent Posts

  • Cool Betta Fish Tank Ideas
  • How Long Do Betta Fish Live For? – 5 Helpful Tips For a Long and Happy Life
  • 3 Gallon Fish Tank for Betta
  • 10 Gallon Aquarium Stands and Cabinets
  • How Much Do Betta Fish Cost to Buy and Care For?

NippyFish Facebook Page

Visit the NippyFish Facebook Page

Featured Posts

Complete Guide to Betta Fish Diseases and Treatment

This complete guide on Betta fish illnesses and diseases from A-Z will help you pinpoint what is wrong with your Betta and how to treat it.

The 4 Most Common Signs of Illness in Betta Fish

This article focuses on the 4 most common signs of illness in Betta fish.

Betta Fish Tank Setup – A Detailed Guide For Beginners

This article will be providing a detailed beginners guide on how to setup a tank for your Betta fish.

Top 12 Betta Fish Toys

This article has a list of some of our favorite Betta fish toys. Don’t have a bored Betta.

Setup an Aquatic Plant Environment For Your Betta

Having a healthy plant in your tank will help to improve the water quality by filtering out waste and removing some of the CO2 that’s produced by your fish.

Copyright © 2025 All Rights Reserved | NippyFish | Privacy Policy

Nippyfish.net is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.