Q: NR wrote,
Can bettas regrow their fins?
A: Yes, bettas will regrow their fin tissue once it has been lost due to fin rot, physical injury, or tail biting. When the new fin tissue begins to grow it is often clear resembling Saran Wrap and very thin. Over time the regrowth will begin to look more like regular fin tissue becoming thicker and regaining color, though often it will appear a different shade from the original color. The new tissue is extremely fragile and susceptible to damage or loss. It is especially important, if your betta lost the fin tissue initially due to fin rot caused by poor water quality, to fix the water problems and keep the tank clean while the fins are healing. Test your water for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate and increase your water changes while your betta is regrowing his damaged fins. While the tissue grows relatively quickly (similar to the speed of fingernail growth) it is often the case that the new growth takes two steps forward and one step back. If the new tissue is lost or damaged again continue to treat your fish by keeping the tank water clean and toxin free. In severe cases where more than half the fin is lost, it may be helpful to treat the fish with an antibiotic for bacterial fin rot or an antiseptic for physical injury, depending on the cause.
I have a beautiful betta bright blue and i named him blue. one of his little fins on his side is missing a little part of fin not sure if he tore it or if its fin rot. i think he tor it . he,s alwayes rubbing his body against the gravel and swiming threw the plastic plants.. anyway he is so cool. he gets all exicited when he sees me starts swiming all crazy. I had him now like 3 months from walmart. I think he is happy , I have a molly and a guppy fish in wiyh him and they have made friends. Is this cool? any suggestions?
Albert, it sounds like he may have ick. Ick usually presents with tiny white dots on the fish but not always. Wild swimming and purposely bumping against gravel or plants are symptoms. I would suggest a water change and maybe some medicine if you notice the white spots.
Also, as far as other fish go, bettas like to be the prettiest fish in the tank. Make sure any fish aren’t too fancy or a similar color to your betta. He may feel threatened and hurt them. Good luck with your tank!
I bought a Betta from walmart because some genius decided he wanted to put two Bettas in the same bowl to watch them fight. Well I bought the one that DIDN’T win – wanted to let him die in peace I suppose.
Anyway, he’s lost just about all of each of his fins. It’s been three days and he seems much better. I don’t know anything about fish, but I went out that same night after some quick research and got Betta Bowl to condition the water, BettaFix for his injuries, Betta Food & tropical flakes. I mixed a batch of water with the conditioner & Betta Fix. I have been cleaning his bowl out every 24 hours – I read to only change out about 50% of the water, which finally is becoming clearer. Although he appears to be swimming around and appears to recognize me – he won’t eat. I give him one Betta food granual and a small flake and he doesn’t make a move. What can I do? What else can I do to help him heal? I really didn’t think he was going to make it past Monday night & I bought him Monday afternoon. I’ve named him Scaley since that’s all that seems to be left of him. Please help him.
I have a less dominate male that nearly starved himself. I now feed him betta food for fry ( baby betta’s) along with the bloodworms and freshly hatched brine shrimp (really easy to do) . He’s still on the thin side, but he is eating now and becoming more active. I found that he isn’t a dominating male and when intimidated by a more aggressive room mate (even if seperated) he’ll regress. Filter and aeration also aid greatly in his regaining an attitude. Also, he will barely eat the betta bites and non of my betta’s eat the flakes.
come on people dont buy your fish from walmart those people do not care about the fish.bettas need very much care but walmart just puts them in a filthy bowl they dont even feed them i know the others put them in a nasty bowls but they feed them and give them water treatments. walmarts fish are very prone to sickness and problems i know you want to save them as do i but chances are the betta will not have a happy and healthy life however some people havehad good luck but you will be much better off getting them from a breeder or a petsmart i know some of you dont have eather of those around but go the extra mile for your fish your tank will thrive in the long run however if you diagree i would like to hear because i would like nothing better to know that walmart is treating there fish better.
I thought you would like to know that I bought my first Betta 3 years from Walmart, and he is happy and healthy. I al sobought another from Petsmart a year later, and he is not so well. The last year he has lost most of his fins stopped eating from time to time.
I have tried bacteria treatments, frequent water changes to no avail. Jerry is his name. I am considering that maybe it is useless, and I should put him to rest…
Outside of Reno, My red Veil tail…the poor guy was the result of a cruel person putting him in the same bowl as a larger male…Itcha, my solid orange veil tail was also purchased from Wal-mart. I’ve had him since he was roughly 6 months old (a guess based on his size overall when he was bought) and he’s currently pushing 6 years old now, has calmly survived two moves and even in his old age still has all the energy that he had when I bought him.
He might be cold. They don’t eat when they’re cold.
Try putting him somewhere warmer or putting a lamp near his tank
Get Bloodworms. It’s the only food my sick beta will eat. He finally seems to be recouping and growing his tail fin back. I use a turkey baster to suck up a little water then gently suck up a few bloodworms . Then slowly put the baster in the water and squeeze bulb to put the bloodworms in the bottom of tank next to your betta. Hope this works for your fish.
ask people about salt …it cured mine of fin rot and i read that is generally helpful….i only do 1-2 teaspoons per gallon, dissolved in warm water (no granules in fishes water) look it up ….i could believe it helped!
I have a Halfmoon male betta. I’ve had him since Valentines day this year. He’s been living in a 2.5 BettaBow with silk plants. The silk plants however have plastic “stems” that are rough, he got himself caught in it one day and tore his tail all up. I took him out and put him in a small goldfish bowl with some warm water, aquarium salt and Bettafix. That was over a month ago now and his tail hasn’t gotten better. I occasionally will medicate him with some Maricyn2 which is for fin rot and other things. I change his water every other day but the ridge of his tail, or what’s left of it turned black and looked dead. I did some research and heard that cutting the black from his tail would help to in turn regrow his tail to how it should be. I’ve had many bettas (i have 8 right now) and they have all had problems here and there and Bettafix has helped right away, but i’m at a loss for what to do for him now.
ive had my veil tail for almost 2 weeks and noticed the ends of his fins were a whitish color and curling. He is a vibrant red color and has been a very active healthy fish since i brought him home. As ive tried to raise 2 other bettas a few yrs ago and they died within a wk of getting them im just getting the hang of the water changes in a 1gal tank with a small carbon filter. I thought u were supposed to treat fin loss or fin rot with melafix first before using the antibiotic so thats what ive been using but then he started acting very lethargic and tucking his fins to his body and was floating towards the top barely moving so i changed his water without the melafix and now he is back to his old happy active self and fanning his fins again. while in the cup i keep him in while doing water changes i examined him closely noticing his fins are starting to grow back and he didnt seemed to be stressed anymore. He immediately started spreading his fins and leisurely swimming and reacting to mewhen in his tank earlier he was jumpy and lethargic. I’m guessing i just need to do more frequent water changes as i have only a 1 gal tank until i can obtain a 5gal in a couple weeks and just watch him closely ??
My friend’s fish just died.
We put him with a female fish and they fought.
Unfortunately, the female was more dominate.
The male’s fins were badly injured.
We put some medicine in his tank.
He was always trying to breath, he couldnt swim around
much.Not only with his front fins.
He lost his color, you could almost see through him in the light. When we checked on him in the morning, he died.
I guess his fins got infected.
Yeah you should never put bettas together, even the females are aggressive. The only time you can keep bettas together is if you have a 20+ gal tank, that is heavily planted and decorated, then you can keep multiple females together as long as they are all purchased at the same time and introduced at the same time. This is called a betta sorority. But, this is very hard to maintain, and the females can still be aggressive towards each other, and is only recommend to experienced betta keepers. But other than that, under no circumstances should bettas be kept together because they usually kill each other.
I got a betta at Petsmart and I thought maybe he was young and under developed, well doing more research I think maybe he was attacked. I made a video would love to get feedback from anyone who knows enough to tell me what may be wrong and what I can do. Oh he’s supposed to be a halfmoon.
My betta fish Franklin is very active and attentive but ive noticed that he has minor tears on his fins yet my bowl is rounded i currently have no plants (i plan on bamboo) i change his water weekly and his decor of rocks are smooth as silk could it be from the pet store?
I have had my betta for about 2 years now. Over labor day weekend, my sister’s cat got a hold of him. Needless to say his beautiful top fin is missing. Spunky was a little shaking for a couple of days and not eating. Then he seemed to be his normal self. Now, he is hiding at the bottom of the tank and will only come to the top once a day for food. He can barely swim and when he does it is on his side and he seems to have a fractured like body. I am not sure what is going on or what to do…. Can you help?
My 3 year old got into the tank and ripped the tail fin completely off of my betta. He could not swim upright and would float on his side. I thought for sure he was not going to make it! I lowered the water level in his tank to about 3 inches, put a lot of silk plants that he could lay on, and kept the water absolutely pristine. I also would drop his food(pellets and blood worms) right next to his mouth so he would still be able to eat with out struggling to get to his food. It took months, but he is back to his beautiful self. His tail fin is still a bit shorter then his other fins. It took a lot of TLC but that fish definitely surprised me. He still thinks he needs to be hand fed though.
My half moon betta has been attacked by my dwarf frog!!!! He has a scratch on his face near his left gill and a huge chunk out of his back fin!!!!! What should I do to help him!!!!
I just got a dragon veil tail betta, and found out that he injured himself while i carried him home. I think he got stressed because the seller at the shop handled him pretty rough, even dropping him on the floor once. Now he is missing a chunk of his tail. Became a double-tail betta -_- and showing a sign of slight fin rot… I’ve put almond leaves with 5 grams of aquarium salf (the tank is roughly 2 L) in his tank and the tank temp is 23~25. This morning I changed half of the water. He is moving around and eating well, but his fin doesn’t look very good. Can you please help?
I have a Betta, and during the bowl cleaning process, he jumped out of the bowl as I was pouring some of the water out, and went through the paper towel covering the hole to the garbage disposal. I reached in as soon as I could, grabbed his back fin and pulled him out. In the following weeks – he lost all his fins. They are slowly growing back, but I would like to know if anyone knows something I can get to put in the water to speed up the process of his growing his fins back. Any suggestions?
I came in to work this morning to find my betta in BAD shape… I thought he was dead at first and then he moved to get fed with the other tetras that I have in the tank with him. That’s when I noticed he had hardly any gill fin left… so he can swim around with the one, but he just lays at the bottom of the tank until he wants food or air… or wants to fight with the air flow stream. Which I think is a good sign.. 🙂 I was relieved to read that they grow back. I also got all of the fixin’s for the tank to help heal him… aquarium salt, betta fix, an anti fungal… he’s got white/discoloration around where his fin was on his scales, I did a complete water change and changed my biologicals in the filter. Fingers crossed… I have 6 tetras in with him and my only concern would be if they were the ones who attacked and ate his fin… should I be leaving him in there with them while he’s healing or should I set up a separate bowl for him (i hate using the glass bowl but I don’t have another aquarium).
It’s been roughly 4 days since I introduced 3 neon tetras to Bruce my beta. I was a little worried slot worried that Bruce would attack the tetra fish but it looks like the 3 tetra’s got a hold of Bruce some time between lastnight and this evening. My poor Bruce is missing his tail and one of his fins also looks like his scales are missing. I bagged the tetras and left Bruce in the tank hoping he pulls through. Im returning the tetras tomorrow.
My sisters beta Blue has been losing his fins for quite a while. We just recently found out its fin rot when over half of all his fins are already gone.!i was happy to see that they grow back but am worried if we can cure it or not…… It’s been so long. Is anybody else in this situation or even been? Advice would be good. He’s not that active anymore and just sits at the bottom of the tank on his marbles. He is very ugly without his fins. I just now got him some medicine and put the tablet in his tank. Hope it works.
read up about aquarium salt…my fish had bad fin rot and its now growing back….im on this site asking what regrowth looks like but tails coming back.
I was cleaning my betta’s tank (he is light orange and his name is Michael Scot) and as i was taking him out of his regular tank and putting him into a smaller, temporary holder, a small part of his big decorative fin on the bottom broke off (i hope it didnt hurt him) the part that broke isn’t big, probably only 1/2 of a centimeter squared. but anyway i’m relieved that it will grow back, but i figured it would since bettas are fighting fish 🙂
that’s what happened to my fish too,maddy
thank you I hope it works.im really despite to help and have my fish Luna be better and not being able to go through that pain ever again.
I’ve been treating my betta with erythromycin on a 1.5 quarantine tank for more than 6 months now. I change the water every other day to avoid ammonia build up. But his fins has not healed completely. I started using a small amount of melafix but I’ve only seen a very small amount of fin growth.
I don’t see any signs of fungal infection. He’s eating healthy and seem excited whenever I take off the tank cover to feed him.
Any advise on how I can speed up his fin growth or point out what I’m doing wrong is greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
My turtle had eaten it’s back fin will it be regrown
It should regrow as long as it is in clean water, but you should separate your fish and turtle. Turtles eat fish, and can’t be kept with fish unless they are for food.
I brought male and female bitta fish i keep in one bowl but witn in 6hr they fight each other and cuts their fins ans tails now i separate them but my question is fins and tail recover as befor or not?
I brought male and female bitta fish i keep in one bowl but with in 6hr they fight each other and cuts their fins ans tails now i separate them but my question is fins and tail recover as befor or not? Plz answer me i am worrred for them
Yes, their fins should grow back to what they were provided the fish are properly taken care of and the water is kept clean. Watch for any signs of infection/fin rot. You can treat your tank with aquarium salt (dose as recommended on the container and make sure to dissolve it fully in a small cup of tank water before adding to the tank) or if you’re having issues that the salt doesn’t fix you can use a store-bought medication. Bettas should never be housed together so make sure to keep them separate!
I got a betta fish two months ago and now he has a hole in his top fin and hairy algae growing from his tail. He lives in a 2.5 gallon tank and is a crowntail (i think).
That sounds like he has a fungal infection. Buy fungus cure, and make sure his water is clean, but don’t do a 100% water change, because it can stress them out. And be sure you have water conditioner and a filter. When giving him medicine, remove the carbon filter because it will absorb the medicine. Follow the instructions on the medicine box.
My betta lost his tail more than 80% due to bacterial problem. He recovered from the issue almost 4 months back and now doing good. But his tail has not re-grown back and still only have some 20% tail. I feed him live foods like mosqito larva, small worms and pellet food. can anybody advice me how to re-grow his tail back.
Hi I have a beautiful pink betta and one day he got stuck in a small hide he is a super delta tail and now he looks like a crown tail and his fin is cut in half and the top ray is mangled and the one below it is bent and broken and he has damaged scales on the top of his head and I don’t know what to do he was beautiful whith transparent highlights on his fins I’m very worried will he go back to normal or will he look different and ruin his beauty also the color of his fins change in different lighting and I would like to keep it that way I’m very concerned please help me.
Hello all! I have a betta sorority that consists of five female bettas. They’ve always gotten along very well and usually swim together. Anyways, I went out of town and when I got back, my tanks water levels had decreased a fair amount and I couldn’t find one of my girls. I ended up finding her and she had gotten caught in the flow of the filter. I thought she was a goner but when I went to scoop her out, she moved. I felt terrible. Over half of her fin had been torn off and she could barely swim. I assumed that she wouldn’t make it much longer so I put her in a smaller bowl so she wouldn’t have to work so hard to get food. I wanted her to at least be comfortable during her last days. I added some API brand bettafix to see if she’d heal any and hopefully take away any discomfort she may have. It’s been 3 weeks, her fin has grown a centimeter in a beautiful reddish shade and I just added her back to the tank with her sisters and will be keeping an eye on them just in case they decide to gain up on the weak one. I’m very happy with the bettafix I got and am so happy my fish is doing better.
HI there, I have a 10 gallon tank divided with a betta on either side. We have had them for several months, with 2 cory cats on each side, live plants and the cycle in the tank is such that I don’t have to change water but every 2 weeks now. Unfortunately today either the divider wasn’t in properly (pretty sure it was) or my more aggressive betta (Blue – after the rapter because he ate all the shrimp I got to clean the tank, a mustard blue betta) jumped the divider and attacked the other betta (Frost, a platinum betta). I’m assuming I put in too much water and it was just enough to jump the divider. Frost is swimming ok but his fins clearly show a pretty bad attack. I usually keep some aquarium salt (about a teaspoon) in the tank as it helps water levels and the fish seem healthier. I added stress coat+, since I just did a water change today total I added 10ml to 10 gallon as well at 5ml of stress zyme+. Is there anything else I can do to help him and jump start fin regrowth? I feel horrible.
Does betta fish recover its pectoral fin?
I had three female bettas in a 10 gallon tank together. It was fine for the first couple of days. But then one of the fish became more aggressive and started nipping at one of the other fishes fin. I removed the fish that was doing the nipping. The fish that was injured has lost about half of it’s tail. I have bought a smaller tank for the aggressive fish. Is there anything I should do for the injured fish?
My son 5 year old he decides to play with the betta fish and now fishy side way and fishy cant barely cant swim.
I just got a Betta fish two days ago, named him Reggie. I have him in a bowl right now (getting a bigger tank in a few days) but he seems very active and he’s eating fine (I’ve been giving him the Hikari Betta Bio-Gold). The thing is, the scales on his forehead are almost non-existent, he has some discoloration on his body and it looks like his dorsal fin is broken. I’m no expert but that’s what’s worrying me the most. Is there anything that I could give him that could help or should I just wait for him to recover on his own?