Betta Fish is sick... don't know what he has

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valentea

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Hello! I've had my betta for around a year now, he's always a very hungry guy and energetic. A week ago I noticed his fins were starting to get folded but I didn't think much of it (out of ignorance). Then, two days ago he was just at the bottom of the tank, didn't come up to eat, had no appetite. I searched up what this could mean and upon several youtube videos, I concluded that he has fin rot. I got him Mardel Maracyn Two. Today he is not swimming just floating and sometimes making an effort to swim (but for the most part laying down). He did come up for food yesterday and ate 3 pallets. I did a water change before adding the medicine, cleaned the tank to the best of my abilities, removed the carbon filters, + no ammonia spikes after water testing. Then I added a package of the Maracyn Two. BUT, this morning I notice my betta has a small little belly. Could it be that he is just bloated? Please help if you can!! I have a 5-gallon tank and he has three tank mates (all neon tetras) and some snails.
 

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Yikes! I'm sorry about your guy, he's not looking in a good way at all I'm afraid. Whether he has fin rot isn't really the problem right now, the lethargy, lack of appetite and struggling to swim isn't caused by the fin rot, not that rapidly, so there's something else going on here, perhaps in addition to fin rot, it's hard to tell from the photos, but possibly in addition.

What are your exact water test results in numbers?

If you can copy paste this template I'll put below, and fill in the answers, it'll help people to give better advice. I know you've already answered some of the questions in your OP, but if it's all together in the template, that can be useful too.

Tank size:
tank age:
pH:
ammonia:
nitrite:
nitrate:
kH:
gH:
tank temp:


Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior):

Volume and Frequency of water changes:

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank:

Tank inhabitants:

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration):

Exposure to chemicals:

Digital photo (include if possible):
 
I can see he has some pale string poop hanging from him.
Its plausible he is constipated. Worst, could be parasites or internal infection causing the start of dropsy, but I think he looks more constipated more than anything.

I would opt to prepare an epsom salt dip bath.

1-3 teaspoon of plain unscented undyed epsom salt per 5 gallons of water.

Remove him from his tank, let him sit in this mixture for up to 15 minutes 2x a day.

Don't feed him for a few days.
 
Actually that's another thing.

He has diamond eye (scales covering his eyes) which means he is likely blind or close to blind.

Its plausible he ate something that wasn't food and now is backed up.
 
I can see he has some pale string poop hanging from him.
Its plausible he is constipated. Worst, could be parasites or internal infection causing the start of dropsy, but I think he looks more constipated more than anything.

I would opt to prepare an epsom salt dip bath.

1-3 teaspoon of plain unscented undyed epsom salt per 5 gallons of water.

Remove him from his tank, let him sit in this mixture for up to 15 minutes 2x a day.

Don't feed him for a few days.
I'll do this! I haven't fed him for two days now... he seems really weak and it's concerning me. I will post the water levels in just a moment
 
Update!! My betta seems to be doing much better. He isn't swimming or floating sideways anymore! He's also moving to different parts of the tank. Although he is still not 100% lively as he was before. As I had stated before, I added Mardel Maracyn two in the tank on the 22nd. The medicine required me to take off any carbon filters and not feed my fish for 6 days... I'm waiting on that. I also have been taking him out into an epson salt bath twice a day as @NCaquatics said. Here are my tank parameters:
Tank size: 5 gallon tank
tank age: 1 year old
pH: 7.6
ammonia: 0 ppm
nitrite: 0 mg/l
nitrate: 50 mg/l
kH: 80 mg/l
gH: 150 mg/l
tank temp: 79 f
 
Update!! My betta seems to be doing much better. He isn't swimming or floating sideways anymore! He's also moving to different parts of the tank. Although he is still not 100% lively as he was before. As I had stated before, I added Mardel Maracyn two in the tank on the 22nd. The medicine required me to take off any carbon filters and not feed my fish for 6 days... I'm waiting on that. I also have been taking him out into an epson salt bath twice a day as @NCaquatics said. Here are my tank parameters:
Tank size: 5 gallon tank
tank age: 1 year old
pH: 7.6
ammonia: 0 ppm
nitrite: 0 mg/l
nitrate: 50 mg/l
kH: 80 mg/l
gH: 150 mg/l
tank temp: 79 f
Almost forgot this:
Volume and Frequency of water changes: once every 2-3 weeks

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank: None right now besides the medicine.

Tank inhabitants: 3 neon tetras + one betta

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration): there's always been two Anubias plants and one that I do not know the name of... it was a gift from my parents. It looks like seaweed strands. It hasn't been doing to well in my tank actually, most of the leaves turn brown and I pick them out with gloves.

Exposure to chemicals: None
 
Your nitrates are pretty high, ideally should be below 20.

In a 5 gallon, thats too much bioload and too few of water changes overtime.

Ideally should be doing 50% water change 1x a week or even 2x a week with a 5gal.

The neons need a 20 gallon minimum, a 5 is too small. Fine for a single betta, but too small for the neons, and that's gonna push your stock levels and increase your nitrates pretty fast.

I would work on cycling a 20g or larger and move the neons to that and get them more buddies as they need groups of 6 or more to feel comfortable and behave naturally. They're a fairly active fish, so they really do thrive in having more space.

Another point is the temperature. Great for a betta, but its too warm for the neons, they like it cooler below 77F

Your other parameters look fine, just gotta get those nitrates below 20, Ideally as close to 0 as possible. And keep them down. The high nitrates will most definitely cause health issues in many fish.

So, do more water changes more often, get those nitrates down, and work on upgrading a tank for your neons and let betta have the 5g for himself comfortably :)
 
Your nitrates are pretty high, ideally should be below 20.

In a 5 gallon, thats too much bioload and too few of water changes overtime.

Ideally should be doing 50% water change 1x a week or even 2x a week with a 5gal.

The neons need a 20 gallon minimum, a 5 is too small. Fine for a single betta, but too small for the neons, and that's gonna push your stock levels and increase your nitrates pretty fast.

I would work on cycling a 20g or larger and move the neons to that and get them more buddies as they need groups of 6 or more to feel comfortable and behave naturally. They're a fairly active fish, so they really do thrive in having more space.

Another point is the temperature. Great for a betta, but its too warm for the neons, they like it cooler below 77F

Your other parameters look fine, just gotta get those nitrates below 20, Ideally as close to 0 as possible. And keep them down. The high nitrates will most definitely cause health issues in many fish.

So, do more water changes more often, get those nitrates down, and work on upgrading a tank for your neons and let betta have the 5g for himself comfortably :)
Thank you so much for the insight!
 

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