Worried about Ernie

[Pascale]

About a few days ago I noticed that Ernie, my VT betta started having clamped fins. He's become somewhat lethargic and he's getting me worried.

Housing
What size is your tank? 5 gallon
What temperature is your tank? 80*
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? 3 neon tetras (I know it's pushing the bioload, but they haven't caused a single problem in the past)

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Nutrafin Max Betta Pellets & Nutrafin betta flakes on occasion
How often do you feed your betta fish? twice a day

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? Once or twice, between 25% and 50% depending on what I feel is most needed.
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? between 25% and 50%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? dechlorinator

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

Ammonia:n/a
Nitrite:n/a
Nitrate:n/a
pH:n/a
Hardness:n/a
Alkalinity: n/a

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? Clamped anal and tail fins and what seems to be excess production of slime near his gills and face. Maybe fungus?
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? He's become less active
When did you start noticing the symptoms? About 3-4 days ago
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? Yes, I've started doing daily water changes (50%) and adding the required amount of Aquarium Salt to help treat him.
Does your fish have any history of being ill? This has happened once before but it went away with water changes and salt
How old is your fish (approximately)? Unknown, I've had him since early June.

I'm plan on continuing the daily water changes but I was wondering if there's anything else I should do. If needed, I can provide pictures tonight. My baby has me worried :(

[ChoclateBetta]

Hiding spaces and possibly take out for medication more varied food like flightless fruit flies freeze dried brine shrimp a floating Betta log check the current it might be to strong.

[Perseusmom]

Using AQ salt more then 10 days can be harmful for your Betta. Other than that I dont have any ideas what might be wrong with him. Keep up with the water changes, is your tank cycled ? Are you sure the temp of his water is 80 ? I would double check on the temp and anything below 76 they can become not active.

[Pascale]

ChoclateBetta, he has a large driftwood in his tank that he uses to hide in and under :) Also, the current is very soft/slow, as I made sure to buy something that had an adjustable flow. I'll see if I can find some more varried food, but petstores around here seem to be lacking good fish food for some reason.

Perseusmom, I've only been using the AQ salt for 2 days now, but I'll make sure to stop the treatment this weekend, to give him a break. He'll still have his water changes though :) As for the temp, I have a thermometor on the tank, and it' usually varies between 80 and 82, at the very most, but stays stable 99% of the time. I've made sure to check lately too, because I thought that maybe that was the problem, but it oubviously wasn't :( The tank was cycled a while ago :)

[kfryman]

Check your parameters by taking tank water to the petsore. It will help so much more.

Is the stuff around his face like cotton or is it more opaque?

Posting a picture would alo help.

[Perseusmom]

Sounds like you are doing all the right things for him...does his tummy look bloated ?

[ChoclateBetta]

A one gallon bowl if you put multiple medications it works for me. Also do the tear test to see if any objects in the tanks are causing it the PH might have something to do with it.

[Pascale]

kfryman, I'll see if they'll test it for me :) From what I can tell, it's translucent, not quite opaque but not completely transparent. To be honest, it looks like chunks of extra slime that he's been producing. Same goes for his clamped fins. I'll have some pictures up tonight.

Perseusmom, his belly is fine, no bloating and he's been eating normally.

ChoclateBetta, I rather not treat him with a bunch of meds as I'm not even sure what he has at the moment. He doesn't have anything unnatural in his tank, only aquarium rocks (2), a drift wood and live plants so I doubt they would be the problem. Plus he's been in the same tank, with the same docor for a while now without having any problems in the past.

[Pascale]

You can see the spots on his face in the second picture. They're not nearly as white in person, but it gives you an idea of what I mean.

[Pascale]

Anybody have an idea?