New fish..not good at all

[Bettawolf19]

I went to walmart a few times off and on for the past week or so and I would look at the bettas, a very sad sight mind you. And my eye caught sight of a very small betta male. it was about the size of a quarter. I checked the top of the lid and it said he was a crowntail male..was very hard to believe at first because he has little fins(think female). What really surprised me was that I reconized him from a few weeks back. I picked him up and decided to get him because I had a clear strorage bin that's housing my cory cats until the 10 gal gets finished. However he's in rough shape. In his cup was some nasty black stuff that almost looked like eraser shavings. Anyways I got him home(had to pay almost full price despite arguing with the cashier and manager about his slim chances of survival) and slowly got him used to fresh water again. Right now I have him in a QT cup with Aquarium salt that floats in my sorority tank to see if I can get rid of the fin rot he has. Any other suggestions/ I was able to get him to eat some frozen brine shrimp before I put him on treatment so least he still has an appetite. Appetite=will to live right? At least he is eatting so he wasn't like Blue.

My question is should I put him on Epsom or keep him on Aquarium Salt?

Also he is male right? Seeing he doesn't have the opiposter(sp?) of the females despite having the stress bars?

Housing
What size is your tank? He's in a QT cup right now
What temperature is your tank? 80F
Does your tank have a filter? No He's in his cup
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? No
Is your tank heated? Yep
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? None. Floating in a sorority tank currently though to get the heat

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? I fed him frozen Brine Shrimp last night before I started treatment
How often do you feed your betta fish? I've only fed him once.

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? 100% daily for his QT cup.
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? Water conditioner and 1 tsp/gal of Aqua salt for treatment

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

Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Hardness:
Alkalinity:

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? Hasn't really changed. He still has stress bars. However it seems like he's doing a bit better.
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? He still lays on his side at the bottom of his cup but he swims around more now. However he still seems to be breathing hard least to the point where I can see his gills move. Then again I might just be thinking his breathing hard.
When did you start noticing the symptoms? Since I got him yesturday
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? I have him on Aquarium Salts 1tsp/gal that has natrually dried red oak leaves that's been premixed in a 1 gal jug. To treat him for the finrot. My question is do I need to switch him to Epsom salt instead because of him laying on his side. mind you he's not floating.
Does your fish have any history of being ill? Just got him
How old is your fish (approximately)? I'd say around 5 to 6 months according to his size but right now he has little fins so hard to tell..

Here's a few pics (note: the pictures don't show the black of his fin tips):





He's a pic of when I first got him when i was getting him used to fresh water:

[PewPewPew]

Id say he could be male...Sometimes they get sold to Walmarts as fry, which means theyre SO small and cant even really eat the food walmart tries to give them, which makes them unhealthy :'(

Id say you're doing great for now. It's really up to him now, so long as he can pull through. Treat him with the AQ salt for 7-10 days with those nice water changes and keep him in a dark place in the tank (lights off if you can).

Id say the fact that he'll eat is fantastic. That food will help him, too. Make sure his cup doesnt tip, thats my one thing ;D

I wouldnt switch to epsom. He's probably just unwell and exhausted :(

Keep us posted, I hope he gets better very fast.

[frogipoi]

I would stay on salt. He looks like a male.Usually females are not as colorful as dudes but I could be wrong.

[Bettawolf19]

Well good to know that I'm doing it right then :). Do I still feed him if he's on treatment or wait? Hopefully he'll pull through. If he's the one I'm thinking of then he's one of the males I was gonna get before I got my other one before and he had goregous coloring. Is 80F a good temp then? Also should I put some veggie wrap on top with the top on there to keep the air humid? Right now there's condensation on the top.

[frogipoi]

Okay a lot of questions. Let me give you some tips and hopefully they will help you. He is in a quarter cup? Then make sure you clean often, but not too much to stress him. Not a lot of water gets dirty fast. You should feed him with the salt. I did with mine. 80F is great! With veggie wrap? I dont know. Never heard of that trick! Sound interesting though. How are you putting the salt in? If you do it wrng you can kill the poor fish.

[PewPewPew]

The OP is pre-mixing it in a gallon jug for easy measurement :)

That veggie wrap sounds great! That'd be a good idea. Poke some holes in it, of course. Remember to be gentle and slow when doing a water change, at least for a while.

[frogipoi]

Pewpewpew's info sounds great! Follow her or his steps :D

[Bettawolf19]

No worries when it comes to being clean and the like. No worries. i don't drop the whole salt grains intot he water or anything. i let them fully disolve. When i use the water I shake the jug first then pour into a seperate cup and let it sit int he tank to raise the temperature before I switch the waters. I've done this more then once before. The first time I did it was with Oscar my crowntail that got severe finrot(cured and currently in the healing stage). But I have also treated my halfmoon for swim bladder(successful) and tried to treat Blue who had dropsy, but unfortunatly she didn't make it.

So feedings a go then?

[PewPewPew]

Feeding's a go, so long as he's willing to eat :DDDD

[Bettawolf19]

Yep he eats at least the frozen brine shrimp I've gave him. I'm just worried about him because he tends to lay on his side alot. He doesn't seemed pineconed or anything though so thats always good. He just says at the bottle and lays on his side..