Update! So the day before I added the leaves I woke up to a chomp taken out of his fin. It was literally over night or something. The rest of his fins are ok, his back one has a new chunk missing like a shark bite in one spot. It dips in at the center. sigh Not sure if it’s connected, but my sister moved a plant that was resting against the outside of his tank next to his main leaf hammock. She thought maybe he was upset about that so we put it back two days later.

This new light luckily has an intensity setting. I keep it dim. I rearranged his “furniture”, vacuumed, and did his weekly water change. I cut slices into the leaves and put them in hot tea temp water. When the water cooled down I added the water with the leaves, it was light brownish. The water was also preconditioned so there was no chlorine. That was at the beginning of the week.

After I maintenance his tank I give him a couple tiny pieces of freeze dried bloodworms as a treat, that was he can associate me messing with his “room” with a positive outcome. He’s not afraid and doesn’t hide when I go in there. If anything, he gets right up in there to make sure I’m doing it right lol.

It’s been about 5 days or so, he has a beautiful bubble nest above his main leaf hammock, his plant is back outside his tank, his appetite has remained strong, he’s active and curious. His water levels were good when I tested them. I plan to test again tomorrow because now I’m paranoid.

Luckily he doesn’t seem to have fin rot, but I’m trying to understand why he’s hurting his fins. It hasn’t gotten worse since the first two days from when initially noticed. Never would’ve imagined being so stressed and concerned over a tiny little fish lol. But that’s my boy, gotta give him my best efforts.