Sluggish, fading fish

[bettagrandma]

Housing
What size is your tank? 5 gallons--probably has about 4 gallons of water in there though.
What temperature is your tank? 78 according to in-tank thermometer
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? none

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Tetramin tropical granules
How often do you feed your betta fish? daily

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? every other week
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 50%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Used to use Startright, switched to aquasafe plus

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?

Ammonia: don't know
Nitrite:0
Nitrate:20
pH:25
Hardness:120
Alkalinity: 7.2

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? About 3 weeks ago, noticed white patch on head, near gill. Behavior normal at that time. about a week ago, started hanging out mainly at bottom of tank, but still eating. Last two days--stopped eating. Lays on side breathing hard. Clamped fins. White patch is different and has either spread or she's fading for another reason. White patch doens't seem fuzzy.
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? See above
When did you start noticing the symptoms? About 3 weeks ago saw spot, a week ago she started swimming less,
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? Did a round of bettafix after first noticed white spot. White spot got smaller.
Does your fish have any history of being ill? no
How old is your fish (approximately)?at least a year old (have had her for a year)

When the original white spot showed up, I did google and decided that it really didn't look fuzzy. I've had fish with ich in the past and knew it wasn't that. No visible parasites. The tank does not have a light fixture attached, so it's hard to notice physical changes from day to day, but as recently as when the spot first showed up, she was still acting normally. She did not originally have a heater--I put one in about 2 weeks ago (one of the very small ones that is not glass) then she spent all her time butted up against it. I figured it wasn't getting it warm enough, so I put a glass heater in about 3-4 days ago. It has only been since then that she's really been sluggish, stopped eating, and had clamped fins. All water parameters are from earlier this evening--I did about a 75% water changed a little while ago.
Thanks in advance for any advice. I have petco/petsmart nearby and can go for medicines in the morning.

[callistra]

He's got more than that going on.. he's got terrible fin rot too. That must have been progressing quite a while.. the cause is infection from lack of water changes. His condition is severe. He may not make it at this point.

A fully cycled tank of this tank needs a 50% change weekly with siphon - not taking water off the top. However cycling takes up to two months to complete and during this time much more frequent changes and careful monitoring are needed.

I also suggest getting a normal conditioner without added bacteria supply. Regular Tetra Aquasafe is fine, Prime and STress Coat are also good.

I would treat him outside the main tank in qt.. get a 2-3 gallon critter keeper, filled half full and floated in the main tank for warmth. In this I would do 100% water changes every other day using same temp water (use thermometer under running tap to check). I would call around and try to find an LFS that sells Kanaplex, but if you can't find it get Triple Sulfa from Petsmart. Hopefully it will be enough. Treat for 2 full weeks.

[bettagrandma]

It was sold as a she--its fins have always been that length:/ I do use a siphon, and she's been in that tank for a year now. Does that change your advice any?

[callistra]

No, it doesn't. Sorry.

[veggiegirl]

Is his belly swollen? look at him from above...... are his scales sticking out at all?

[bettagrandma]

Scales are not sticking out at all. It is a SHE, she has always had short fins. I have actually been watching the fins for sign of rot and have seen none. I can't get a decent picture with this camera, though. Went in and got a few more, though and will post.

[bettagrandma]

I will look for the medicines first thing in the morning. I had been watching her fins since i knew that was a sign of illness, but until the past two days, she wasn't even clamped.

[callistra]

She still has fin rot but we can see it's female now. Better looking than the last photo, thankfully. I guess part of it was camera issues.

[veggiegirl]

no scales sticking out is defiantly a good thing, I would tend to think she has some sort of internal bacterial infection, so a good broad spectrum medication treatment that if possible targets both gram negative and gram positive bacteria would be a good place to start.

[bettagrandma]

If I start with the Triplesafe tomorrow, would it be best to stick with that or if I can get the Kanaplex ordered should I switch to that?
Does fin rot account for all of her symptoms?
Thank you very much for your information, by the way. I've never kept bettas before, only big hulking goldfish.