Sick Baby Betta... Please Help!

[rswfire]

My baby is so sick. I've had him for about a week but I already love him so much. I need help curing him. I'm at my wits end! I think he may have been sick since I got him. When I first got him, he was a very curious thing, sticking his little nose in between all the little gemstones in his tank, but he seemed to have trouble swimming to the surface. It has gotten progressively worse!

I put him in a small 2.5g tank with a heater and water filter, but he still had trouble... He would always put his nose in the bottom corner of the tank and just stay there. It seemed like he never came up for air. With it having a heater and water filter, I could only lower the water so much. Then I noticed he seemed to be breathing heavily and at the same time he also stopped eating. He hasn't eaten in days!

Finally I put him back in the cup he came in! Today I got a look at him from the back and I saw that his gils are bright red. Since yesterday, I've had him in his little cup with water treated with an antibiotic (API Aquarium Pharmaceuticals - TC Tetracycline). I am taking the water out from a community tank that has danios in it and one female betta -- it's a long story, but none of the fish are sick; it was a precaution to one that was sick though that ended up dying. Anyway, I know that's probably not best giving him water from another tank, but it's the only way to get him the antibiotic in the right quantity.

The last symptom he is showing is that his little fins are constantly moving, even though he's in completely still water inside of a little cup! Here's a picture. It's the best I could do. He's in his cup inside of another tank I've partioned to keep my red betta away from him, and I put a brown hand cloth over the partition so that neither of them can see each other. I had to use a flashlight in order to take this picture. I've tried to make him as comfortable as I can... I am worried sick about him!!!

Water Params:
pH: 5.5 (usually at 7 -- the antibiotic may have lowered it)
Alkalinity: 80
Hardness: 25
Nitrite: 0-0.2
Nitrate: 0-10
Ammonita: 0-0.1

[rswfire]

Almost forgot. Here are his water params:

pH: 5.5
Alkalinity: 80
Hardness: 25
Nitrite: 0-0.2
Nitrate: 0-10
Ammonita: 0-0.1

I guess that antibiotic really lowers my pH. That's not a normal reading.

[Shimizoki]

Please answer as many of these as possible. It will help the professionals quickly diagnose a problem.

Housing
What size is your tank?
What temperature is your tank?
Does your tank have a filter?
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration?
Is your tank heated?
What tank mates does your betta fish live with?

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish?
How often do you feed your betta fish?

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change?
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change?
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change?

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?

Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Hardness:
Alkalinity:

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed?
How has your betta fish's behavior changed?
When did you start noticing the symptoms?
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how?
Does your fish have any history of being ill?
How old is your fish (approximately)?

[rswfire]

Originally Posted by Shimizoki

Please answer as many of these as possible. It will help the professionals quickly diagnose a problem.

Thanks, Shimizoki. I answered all of the relevant questions above in paragraph format. Most of them are not applicable given he is in a little cup with just enough water so that he can move his head up to get some air.

[bettafish15]

How often did you change the water before he got sick?

[Shimizoki]

yea rswfire, I noticed after I posted that you had added the water params at the same time.

[rswfire]

Originally Posted by bettafish15

How often did you change the water before he got sick?

Well, I've only had him for maybe a week. In that time, he went from one tank to another tank to another tank, so three times. Each tank he went into was exactly 78 degrees with clean water (zero nitrites/nitrates) and water conditioned. I kept moving him because I kept putting him in smaller and smaller tanks, because I could tell he was struggling...

Since he got sick, I've changed his water like twice a day...

[rswfire]

Originally Posted by Shimizoki

yea rswfire, I noticed after I posted that you had added the water params at the same time.

I understand -- those are very important, and thanks for caring.

[rswfire]

My baby is doing better today! I was able to take him out of the cup and put him in the 2.5g tank with enough water that he can freely swim at the bottom and still easily reach up just a little ways to get some fresh air. He's still in medicated water for two days, but I think he's going to make a full recovery.

The Tetracycline really seemed to help...

[Shimizoki]

Thats great. I'm both happy for you and your baby.