I think my fish is dying (lethargic, not coming up to eat)

[flickaroo]

He was sick a little while ago, with what I figured was finrot, and so not too long ago I gave him a treatment of Aquarium Salt and Maracyn Two, and he seemed to get better. That was about two weeks ago. Now he's been laying at the bottom of his tank, not doing much, and this morning he wouldn't come up for food and barely reacted when I took him out to put in a smaller container (in case he needs help getting to the surface and to clean his tank).

I don't know what to do.

What size is your tank? 1 gal
What temperature is your tank? about 79 degrees F
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? Mix of Hikari Betta Bio-Gold, New Life Spectrum, and occasional dried brine shrimp
How often do you feed your betta fish? about 2 pellets every day, sometimes a bit more if he seems particularly hungry

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? The past month it's been about every other day, with a few day longer patches in between, due to his aforementioned sickness.
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 100%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? BettaSafe for tapwater, and because of the aforementioned sickness, a bit of Aquarium Salt and for five days about a week ago he had small doses of Maracyn Two


Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed?
His tale has clear patches and he's had those for several weeks, which I attributed to finrot. He was pale, and the past two days got paler.

How has your betta fish's behavior changed?
He's very lethargic. Lying at the bottom of his tank on his side, or placidly sitting on one of his big leaves. He's not coming up for food, not reacting to much anything besides looking around. I'm not sure if his breathing is labored or not.

When did you start noticing the symptoms?
For about two days, but this morning was the first time he's stopped eating.

Have you started treating your fish? If so, how?
Besides the aforementioned finrot treatment, I only put in a bit of Aquarium Salt yesterday.

Does your fish have any history of being ill?
Besides the latest one, no. And even then his behavior was fine and he was still happily eating.

How old is your fish (approximately)?
2.5 years ish, maybe older.

[LizzyP]

Could be internal bacteria infection. Do you have Epsom salt? Start out with 2 tsp per gallon. Acclimate him slowly, don't just dump the salt in. See if that helps him any.

[flickaroo]

I have Aquarium Salt, will that help? 2 tsp sounds like a lot?

Also, now in his cup (which he's in until his tank is ready), he's sleeping vertically... not necessarily a new thing for him, but he doesn't usually do it unless he's in a corner.

[flickaroo]

He's gotten no better, and now he's breathing heavily, and he still won't eat ,even when the food is right near him.

Please please tell me something I can do. I don't know what's wrong, but at this rate I'm sure he'll die.

Should I put some medication in his tank? On hand I have Bettafix, QuICK Cure, Maracyn II and Aquarium Salt

[lelei]

No, please don't use the Bettafix, try the epsom salt first, there may be an internal issue, if he is floating sideways..that is SBD and needs an Epsom salt treatment, as suggested, try 1-2 tsp dissolved, and add to the tank, change water daily and replace with new salt for 7-10 days..(Epsom isn't as harsh as AQ salt) and best for internal illnesses.

[flickaroo]

He has dropsy now.

What should I do? I can't get epsom salts until this afternoon, and some sites told me to use Aquarium salts anyway, which i've been using (but don't want to use too much of since i heard it causes kidney failure too). Another site said Fungus Eliminator which I still can't get until this afternoon.

[Wendyjo]

Don't us Aquarium Salt if the fish is bloated as he will retain even more fluid and become even more bloated.

If you can't get any products until this afternoon then right now there's nothing you can do other than be sure he's in clean water. Is he pineconing? I would try the Fungus Eliminator- Epsom Salt is not going to fight dropsy.

[flickaroo]

He died while I was at class.

Before I left I put him in clean, low, warm water (without Aq salt). I can only hope he was comfortable.

For the future... i should buy some Fungus Eliminator? I used to have epsom salts on hand, but left them at home this semester and forgot to take them back.

[sainthogan]

:(

[Wendyjo]

It's always good to have meds on hand for an emergency. I have a cabinet with antibiotics/fungus meds (both gram negative and gram positive), internal and external parasite meds, salt, medicated foods, air pumps and airstones for extra oxygenation, spare heaters and nano filters, and a bunch of other junk I can't even think of right now.