Sick Betta (Going on 1.5 months) - Lethargy, curved body

[tandrus]

Housing
What size is your tank? 1.5 G
What temperature is your tank? N/A (room temp, ~75*F)
Does your tank have a filter? Yes
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? No
Is your tank heated? No
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? None

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Flakes + blood worms
How often do you feed your betta fish? 1 time a day

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? Recently, every other day
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 50%-100%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Stress coat and Melafix

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters? No I havent

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

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? Fin rot, maybe a bit of a gold shine on him (not sure if it's ick or not)
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? Not active without stimulation. Lays on side at all times. Will swim to the top of the fake plant and lay on the leaf closest to the top. His backside flops to the side immediately after stopping swimming but moves while swimming.
When did you start noticing the symptoms? It started as fin rot over a month ago and I started treating with daily cleanings and salt. I felt like it was under control at that point and I saw regrowth. About 3 weeks ago I noticed the major lethargy and started treating for SBD. I did not feed him for 3 days and I put him in a smaller container where I found waste, so he wasn't constipated. I purchased tetracycline and did a cycle of that, but still no improvement. His body is either curved like an S or C when relaxed at the bottom of the tank. He gets excited for food and darts around when I come near the tank but otherwise he's laying on the bottom of the tank. I came very close to euthanizing him a week ago because I felt like everything I tried failed, but he still has a will to live so I don't want to do that.
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? Yes - talked about it above. Salt, Melafix, Stress Coat, tetracycline
Does your fish have any history of being ill? Fin rot a couple times, but that's it
How old is your fish (approximately)? 2 years

I tried to give a good summary of everything. I feel terrible for him. He's been sick for a while now and I just want to get him healthy :(

When I first purchased him (old tank - .5G bowl):


Now (you can really tell he's lost his fins):

[lvandert]

how long did you have salt in the water? and what kind? Aquarium or epsom?

[tandrus]

It was aquarium salt. I did changes daily for a week with salt.

Another pic of him sitting a "C" position on the bottom:

[lvandert]

ok good, you didn't dose for more than 10 days. Ok my next question does he have any problems floating or staying upright? Does he lean to one side or swim funny?

[tandrus]

He doesn't float at all anymore. When he swims, he doesn't have any noticeable issues. However, as soon as he stops swimming he falls to the bottom and his body leans over to one side.

[lvandert]

alright. That paired with the "s" or "c" curve to his body leads me to believe Swim bladder disease. It's easily treatable with epsom salts. 2tsp per gallon for at least 5 days. If there isn't an improvement by day 5 bump it up to 3tsp per gallon for another 5 days (also make sure you change the water every day). At the end of day 10 if he's still not better end the salt treatment for at least a week or so before continuing it.

[tandrus]

Let me ask you this then - what all entails a proper water change? I was told at the petco to let the water sit out for 24 hrs to adjust to air temp and something about the chlorine releasing. Will adding a drop of stresscoat to the water help as well? I just want to make sure I do the right thing as far as water changes go. I'm a complete novice when it comes to betta care as this guy has been easy on me for the most part the last 2 years. I figured what I was doing was right, but I could be way off base as well.

[lvandert]

with the 1.5, and him being sick, you should be doing a 100% water change every day. I would also drop his water level to only a gallon or so (easier to measure out meds for and easier for him to reach the surface). Letting the water sit out for 24 hours is great if you don't have a heated tank (I would recommend finding a snall adjustable heater, it would help a ton. Or just keeping him in the warmest part of your house-top of fridge is pretty warm), the temp of the water will be the same as the water in the tank. Stress coat is amazing stuff. I would defiantly add that (dosed to repair fins and replace slime coat). it'll help de-chlorinate the water but you should still leave it out so the temp is the same.

Also I would get that melafix out of there asap. That has been knows to cause some damage to the laybranth organ (the one that allows them to breathe air).

[tandrus]

Alright, I'll get some epson salt tomorrow and do everything you said. I'll drop the melafix too. Going down to 1G sounds like it stresses the pump out... is that okay or should I just stop using the pump for the cycle of salt? Thanks for the help!

[lvandert]

Oh you can unplug the pump. With all of the water changes you wont need it.