Betta has clamped fins and isn't moving!

[Leopardfire]

My betta Comet has been struggling with severe fin rot. It recently got super aggressive and he lost most of his tail. Four days ago I moved him into bottled water with 2tsp of salt per gallon to help with his fin rot.

The first 3 days he was doing great and showing sights of regrowth. This morning, however, he looked bloated so I didn't feed him. (He normally eats 4 omega 1 pellets in the morning and 3 at night.) When I got home from school, he was collapsed on the floor of his cage with his fins clamped. He was barely moving even when I walked up to him. His fins have lost their regrowth and he looks terrible.

Yesterday I had some heater problems so he went from 70 degrees to 80 back down to 72 and then up to 80 again in a single day. I've fixed the problems now, but do you think that had anything to do with his condition?

What do you think is wrong with him? What can I do to help him? I really don't want him to die!

[sainthogan]

The heater could have something to do with it. Did you remember to treat the bottled water with water conditioner? Most bottled water still contains the same contaminants as tap water, including chlorine. How big of a qt did you put him in and how often are you changing his water?

[Leopardfire]

I treated the water with stress coat which is supposed to purify water too. I adjusted him when I first put him in, so I think he's probably used the water parameters by now. The only thing I can think of that might have caused this was the heater problems. What should I do to treat him? Should I get him antibiotics or what?

[sainthogan]

hmm... I'm not sure if you'd use antibiotics for that. Try to get Private Message Sakura8 or oldfishlady, hopefully one of them is online and can help you quickly. In the meantime, try to keep him as comfortable as possible, severe temperature changes can certainly stress them out. But hopefully a day or 2 at his regular temperature and he'll be back to normal.

[Leopardfire]

Today he was still doing badly, but he was a little more responsive than yesterday. He swam around when I passed his cage and he ate 4 pellets this evening. Hopefully he has a chance at recovering! Tomorrow I will do a water change if he's doing well since he hasn't had one in 2 days.