Lethargic (only symptom)

[fairyring78]

Help? I've had Estabon (red CT betta) for almost two months now. When I first got him, he had ich (wouldn't eat, very lethargic and itchy). Then after doing a lot of research, I treated him with Quick Cure and he seemed fine afterwards (healthy appetite, energetic, bubble nests and no scratching). This was a month ago. Recently he started scratching again, so I checked for signs of ick and velvet and didn't see any so I thought it had to be some kind of internal parasite or bacterial infection. So I treated him with Maracyn Two (on the box it says that it also treat the bacteria that causes columnaris so I thought I had that covered as well). But the meds ended up caking on his side fins for some reason (I did dissolve it before I put it in the tank with Estabon). The treatment lasted for 5 days as directed but Estabon was still lethargic (the itch went away). As soon as I took him off the meds, he perked up and was swimming around like crazy but that only lasted a day, now he's back to being lethargic. He's still making bubble nests and eating like there's no tomorrow. So I don't really know what's wrong with him..
Oh and also, I've been using aquarium salt for the past 3 days, still no changes...

Housing
What size is your tank? 2.5 gallon tank
What temperature is your tank? 74 degrees Fahrenheit
Does your tank have a filter? yes
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? no
Is your tank heated? yes
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? none

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? pellets
How often do you feed your betta fish? 2 pellets in the morning and two at night

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? once a week
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 25%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? water conditioner

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

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

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? After taking him off Maracyn Two he's gained his color back
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? lethargic, bottom of the bowl or floating at the top
When did you start noticing the symptoms? a week ago
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how?
Maracyn Two for 5 days as directed and now I have been using aquarium salt (no changes though)
Does your fish have any history of being ill? ich that was treated a month ago with Quick Cure
How old is your fish (approximately)? maybe 8-9 months

[lvandert]

74 is a bit chilly for a betta. They prefer 78-82 degrees. he may just be cold, sometimes they get lethargic when their cold

[fairyring78]

Do you think that's the only reason? I've had him in 74 deg. water for a while. At one point he was just swimming around being all jolly.. Anyhow, I'll up his tank temperature and see if he gets any better :3

Should I just take him off the aquarium salt then?

[lvandert]

the aq salt wont hurt as long as you don't dose over 10 days. It's worth a shot to give him a bit warmer water and see what happens. If that doesn't do it then there has to be something else going on

[fairyring78]

Update: Estabon is still lethargic after turning up the temp in his tank. Today I noticed he started scratching again.. I don't know what's wrong...

[lvandert]

scratching means external parasites. For that I would do aq salt and stress coat. If you do the aq salt discontinue the epsom salt

[fairyring78]

Thank you for the fast reply. I've been using aq salt for the past few days now but I haven't seen any changes and I'm afraid to put him on more meds because he just got off Maracyn Two..

[KukaaKatchou]

Maracyn 2 is for either positive or negative gram bacteria. Maracyn is for the other I think. The little pamphlet that came with the Maracyn 2 has some information on what else it could be ... poor dude.

[lvandert]

if you can turn the temp up to 84. It'll help get rid of the bacteria. Try stress coat along with the aq salt. It helps a bit

[Aus]

^ Temp increase like that only helps for ich. It can make bacterial infection worse by speeding up the bacteria's life cycle (unlike ich, it doesn't drop off..)

fairyring, be careful of over-medicating your fish.. that in itself can cause him to feel/be unwell. Perhaps a few days of just clean, warm water might help him throw off the results of all the prior medications, including AQ salt.

Sadly, there are now strains of ich that are resistant to ordinary ich cures - I'm currently planning on some research into this.. If he's darting a lot and itching and there's no white spots and he's not responding to ich cures, it might be something else.. flukes?