Betta at bottom of tank, breathing hard - Epsom or AQ salt?

[mjoy79]

Housing
What size is your tank? 10g
What temperature is your tank? 82
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? 3-5 ghost shrimp

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? NLS betta pellets & occasional blood worms
How often do you feed your betta fish? since he is giant I feed him about 8 pellets 2X day

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? 1x week
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 30-50%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change?Either regular water conditioner or stress coat

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?
last tested 11/18
Ammonia: 0-.25
Nitrite:
Nitrate: 10
pH:
Hardness:
Alkalinity:

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? his beard area is a little more pale.
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? he is hiding on the bottom of the tank and breathing fast and hard.
When did you start noticing the symptoms? in the last few hours
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? not yet
Does your fish have any history of being ill? no
How old is your fish (approximately)? i would guess about a year.
He is a giant HMPK. What I did different today: I ended up finding my 3 missing ghost shrimps in my 20G as I was cleaning and putting them in his tank to hopefully join the other 2. I also dropped in an algae wafer. Hurley seemed to be interested in the wafer and was hanging around it for awhiile this afternoon as it dissinegrated. Is this not ok to put in a tank with a betta?
He is normally hanging out at the front of the tank when he sees me. Now he's been either at the bottom hiding or at the back hanging straight up by the heater. I just cupped him and have him floating in a QT tank right now with some epsom salt. Should I let him go in that? I figure if its something he ingested (ie the algae wafer) then it might help him pass it? Is there anything else I can do? I dont have any tannins right now :(

[Oldfishlady]

How is he doing today......was he bloated or do you think he just ate too much of the algae wafer...little piggies...lol.....that is one of the biggest challenges with mixed species and Bettas...they eat anything...overeat....lol....unless you want them to eat...lol....then they won't.....the Epsom salt was a good choice if you think he overate.....

[mjoy79]

He seems to be doing better today. Still a bit out of it. But he did eventually eat a few pellets and is just moving about his QT tank. I will probably leave him in it for another day or two. I'm afraid to put him back in his 10G. He did seem a little bloated yesterday. I wondered if he found a shrimp snack. I'm considering moving the shrimps into their own 3G tank, if I can find them!

[Oldfishlady]

Good to hear he is better...... good plan to keep him in QT/Tx for a day or so...ya never know about these guys some eat the shrimp and others don't...they so love to keep us guessing....lol....