Is my beta fish dying? Emergency.

[katiemcginnis]

I have a male beta. He's about 1 1/2-2 years old. Ten gallon tank, fully cycled, filtered, temperature at 78-80 degrees. I added some salt in today and already put some antibiotics in there a few days ago. I also did a 25% water change today. I changed it 50% four days ago.

My guy is swimming, etc, but he seems stressed. He's breathing heavily and tends to be lazy. But lazy I mean he'll go to a corner and brace himself in it and just sort of float there. My concern is that sometimes he tilts downwards and I'm interpreting this as a sign of being weak.

He is eating and he is swimming fine, but, I guess it's just a charge in character for him. That and the heavy breathing is concerning to me.

One thing I will note is that for about three months a few of his scales have changed color. He used to be fully red/purple, now he has little silver scales. It's not ick or any sort of fungus, but sometimes it concerns me.

Any advice?

[lelei]

Do you have a smaller tank to treat him in sounds like he is struggling to reach the surface to breathe, so if that is the case, just lower the water level, to make sure he has easy access to the surface, and what kind of antibiotics are you using?

[katiemcginnis]

I'm using Mardel.

He's moving now. But for about thirty minutes, I thought I was losing him right then. He was breathing heavily and sitting at the bottom or on his beta leaf at the top of the tank.

I think I a still losing him. But maybe it's just nature taking its course.

I think putting him in a smaller tank is a bad idea because it isn't cycled and it seems to stress them in general.

I wonder if this is old age. He's not bloated, pineconeing, etc. The other fish (neon tetra, platty) are doing just fine and are having a ball.

[ChardFish]

Two years old is not really old age for a betta. And I dont think moving him to a smaller tank is bad at all. It doesnt matter if it isnt cycled, the water in a hospital tank should never be dirty enough to need that. Also, other fish can stress him out more if he is ill. As for the scales, he might just be marbling, but can you post a picture of him? The breathing/gasping may mean something like ammonia/ nitrate poisoning, or even gill flukes or fungus. Have you tried any aquarium salt? Tannins/IA leaves? And you might look into anti-fungals. I use methylene blue, copper sulphate, and/or neomycin sulphate for any fish problems in my fish room if tannins and salt don't help. Good luck!