Please help diagnose him

[BettaMum5]

I just got my fish, Sgt. Pepper on Saturday from Petsmart. He's a purple/blueish and red halfmoon. After I got him I noticed that sometimes he had white filmy stuff coming off of his fins, and now his fins seem to be rotting away. His fins have turned a sort of shiny gray, and it looks like it is starting to get to his body as now a small part of it by his fins turned gray as well. I noticed his fins starting to turn a shiny gray around late Monday night, so I don't think it's the mystery disease as I heard that kills the fish pretty quickly. Also the tips of his fins look black. I have been cleaning out his water everyday and adding aquarium salt hoping that will help, but it doesn't seem to be helping that much. Also, he looks like he has a gray colored belly and gray under his face, but I don't know if he is naturally that color.


Housing
What size is your tank? 3 gallon kritter keeper
What temperature is your tank? 75 degress
Does your tank have a filter? no
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 and bloodworms
How often do you feed your betta fish? once a day, 4 pellets or a bloodworm

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? twice a week unless sick
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 1 50% and 1 100%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? aquarium salt only when sick

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? fin colored changed
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? no real behavior change, he still eats and moves around, he does stay in his yellow submarine more now though, but that's probably because he has gotten used to his surroundings and has calmed down
When did you start noticing the symptoms? white filmy stuff coming off the tail when I got him on Saturday, fins turning a shiny gray late Monday night
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? yes, daily water changes with aquarium salt
Does your fish have any history of being ill? no, I just got him
How old is your fish (approximately)? I just got him on Saturday

Here are pictures of when I first got him and how he looked before all of this, and 3 pictures of how he looks now, not really good quality but it's the best I can do.

[Karebear13]

By the look of it seems to me that it is fin rot but Im not 100% sure. I hope someone else will come along and diagnose. How much aquarium salt are you treating him with and be sure to dissolve the salt before adding it into the water otherwise it can burn him

[BettaMum5]

I am treating him with 3 tsp's, 1 tsp per gallon. I wait about an hour before adding him in. Does fin rot move that fast? And should I keep treating him with aquarium salt or treat him with something different? Is it possible he can be allergic to the aquarium salt and that's why the disease is progressing so fast? Or maybe I don't wait long enough to put him back in and the aquarium salt did burn him? Or possibly that I didn't clean the tank good enough after the previous fish died?

[Karebear13]

Sometimes there are cases where the fin rot advances which requires more intense meds than aquarium salt. I wouldn't go treating him too fast with those though because we aren't sure if its fin rot. I don't think its the aquarium salt an hour is fine did you make sure the salt was dissolved all the way?

Do you know what was wrong with your last fish and what did you use to disinfect?

[BettaMum5]

Yes, I'm pretty sure the salt was dissolved. I think my last fish died from inflamed gills as she was gasping and lost interest in food and died a couple of days after she got sick. I cleaned and scrubbed the tank and everything in it with boiling water and aquarium salt as I didn't know anything else that was safe to clean it with. Today, the fin looks less gray but the tips are more black and his body closest to the fin looks more white, but it's only a little part of it, and it kind of looks cottony but I can't really tell. He is still eating and swimming around which I find as a good sign but he seems to have a little trouble swimming around.

[Sakura8]

Judging from the necrosis on the fins, looks like some bacterial infection. Fin rot, columnaris, could be either one. Very handsome boy. Although the necrosis is similar to the dreaded mystery disease, it's moving too slow. Could be a related strain of bacteria though.

Conservative method would be to continue to treat with AQ salts at a dose of 2-3 tsps per gallon and Indian Almond lead or other source of tannins for 14 days. Lower the heat to 76 F in case it is columnaris.

Aggressive treatment would be API Triple Sulfa (if you have an allergy to sulfa medications, DO NOT use this medication) or Seachem Kanaplex for 10 days.

Feed him good high protein foods to help him build up his immune system.

[BettaMum5]

Where can I get the Indian Almond or tannins? And he doesn't seem to like bloodworms so what other high protein foods can I get for him? And which method, conservative or aggressive, do you recommend the most?

[twolovers101]

That actually looks a lot like our mystery disease...
You may want to check this thread out http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=90086

EDIT: ignore that, Sakura8 knows more about this than I do lol, I didn't see her post (didn't read well enough xD)

[Canuck Fins]

Bloodworms are like chocolate cake. They're a once a week treat. Get a good quality pellet with meat as its first ingredients (fish meal, shrimp meal, etc, not wheat). It's not unusual for a fish to not eat for a week or so while settling in, esp if he is sick at all. Feed 2-3 pellets twice a day, removing uneaten food. Then try fasting once day a week.

Conservative or agressive is your call.

[Sakura8]

Bettamum, Indian Almond leaves usually have to be ordered online (Ebay, Amy Ketapang is the best) but if you have any oak trees around, you can use naturally dried oak leaves instead. Just rinse them off first and crumble them into the tank.

Some fin rot can move really fast, yes. It depends on how aggressive the bacteria is that is causing it.

The conservative method is good because you aren't overexposing your fish to medications, which can be just as harmful as not medicating. Too much medication and the bacteria develops a resistance to many of the commonly available meds. The downside is you lose your chance to wipe out any infection before it gets worse, plus meds can get expensive. It's really up to you. There's no right or wrong decision here. :)