He's not getting any better! :(

[ChelseaLlyn]

Basil's Fin rot is getting worse, and I don't know what to do next. When I first noticed it, i cleaned his tank really well, and started doing 50% water changes, then 100% and rinsing out the tank on alternate days, with aquarium salt. I did that for ten days, but it was still getting worse, so I started using Jungle Fungus Eliminator and Tetracycline. I'm on the third round of that now, and it actually seems to have accelerated the fin rot.

He's acting funny, now, too. He just sits by the thermometer in his tank. He sat so long this morning that I thought he had died! And it looks like he's having a hard time swimming! I don't understand it.

Housing
What size is your tank? 3g
What temperature is your tank? 75
Does your tank have a filter?no
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration?no
Is your tank heated?no
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? none

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Aqueon Betta Food pellets
How often do you feed your betta fish? once in the morning and once at night

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? every day
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 25%, and 100% every third day.
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Prime, TCI Tetracycline, Jungle Fungus Eliminator

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water?

Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 10ppm
pH: 7.6
Hardness:
Alkalinity:

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? His fins are all rotted to bits, white belly, and his anal fin is turning pinkish-white
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? He just sits by the thermometer in his tank
When did you start noticing the symptoms? almost 3 weeks ago.
Have you started treating your fish? Tetracycline and Jungle Fungus eliminator
Does your fish have any history of being ill? I've only had him for a few weeks, but the first week he was bloated.
How old is your fish (approximately)? No idea. He's quite small, about 1.5'' body length, so maybe not fully grown?

[Oldfishlady]

Can you post a pic of his fins.....

How long and how much aquarium salt did you use when you treated him and did you also make 100% daily water changes and use any tannins with the salt treatment.....

How is his appetite and are you sure he is not tail biting?

He may be getting toxic with all the treatments-

You may need to start fresh dechlorinated water treatment for a few days and see if that will perk him up and start feeding him small frequent meals to get the nutrition level up and even add in some other foods like frozen or live.

[ChelseaLlyn]

Originally Posted by Oldfishlady

Can you post a pic of his fins.....

How long and how much aquarium salt did you use when you treated him and did you also make 100% daily water changes and use any tannins with the salt treatment.....

How is his appetite and are you sure he is not tail biting?

He may be getting toxic with all the treatments-

You may need to start fresh dechlorinated water treatment for a few days and see if that will perk him up and start feeding him small frequent meals to get the nutrition level up and even add in some other foods like frozen or live.

I used 1tsp/gal for ten days, but no tannins (I can't find any locally, and I wasn't sure if the ones I could find online were safe. any suggestions on where I can get them?) I was doing 30% one day, then 100% the next.

His appetite is good, and I always thought tailbiting took out fairly neat chunks. The tear in his dorsal fin started out as two holes which got bigger. Could that be tailbiting?

I moved him to clean water and he perked right up, so I think you're right about the toxicity. But I still have to deal with the fin rot. Will salt and tannins cure it, or should I do something else?

[Thunderloon]

Add aeration to the water, get the oxidation up.

You can use non-caffeine green tea bags to make treatment but I think with what you have plus aeration you'll beat it.
OFL likes dried oak leaves, you should be able to find one of her posts with instructions.

One way to generate a medical "aerobic" environment is the lifeguard tablets. You can crunch one up and put it into a fresh drinking water bottle to shake up then use a % of the water bottle equal to your tank vs 10gal.

(Generally antibiotics have a harder time against anerobic bacteria so aeration when treating most everything but columnaris is a good idea, the aeration will either suppress anaerobic bacteria or kill them itself.
An aerated tank isn't mandatory for betta but it does improve the health of the water and fight many bacteria that make water more toxic.
Penn Plax 'small world' air powered filter boxes are pretty useful in small tanks, you can use just a block of foam in them instead of the cartridge so they add aeration and can filter physical debris.)