[Alynxide]

I've noticed my betta's fins have been have been tearing and just looking poor lately, and I took out the plastic plants for a while and nothing seemed to change. His dorsal fin has been kind of weird looking for a while too. It looks sort of twisted/collapsed. I thought maybe it got hurt when I moved him to his new tank a few months ago. A bit of it came off and it started growing back, but it still looked odd. I believe he may have had fin rot in the past. When I first got him, he had been living in mucky black water for quite some time. That was a little over a year ago. I had him in a small betta bowl until a few months ago when I got him a bigger tank with a filter.

I just noticed some white spots on his dorsal. I saw him sitting in the bottom of his tank and went to make sure he was okay and that's when I saw it. He was also swimming around frantically, which is a bit unusual for him. He wouldn't come to the surface when I took the lid off like he normally does.

EDIT: Now he's just sitting at the bottom of his tank. He won't come up or swim away.

A side note, I've noticed this weird slime building up around/on the heater. I cleaned it off but it came back after a few days. Is this normal? It's pictured below.

Here's a photo of him and some of his tank

Him

His tank
Filter/heater
Tank decorations

Housing
What size is your tank? 2.5 gal
What temperature is your tank? 81~ish
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? Top Fin Color-Enhancing Betta Bits
How often do you feed your betta fish? 3-5 pellets 2 times a day

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? Bi-weekly
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? water conditioner


Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? fins thinning, slight tattering
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? Just since this morning. He was fine when I fed him then.
When did you start noticing the symptoms? The fins a few months ago but the white and frantic swimming just in the last hour.
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? No.
Does your fish have any history of being ill? no
How old is your fish (approximately)? unknown

 

[Bailmint]

Can you shine a flashlight over him? Do you see gold dust or white salt-like pieces?

I haven't seen anything like his dorsal, I think it's bacterial or parasitic. It kind of looks like fin melt as well to me, I'll try to come up with something to treat him with once we see what's under the flashlight.

 

[Alynxide]

Here he is under the flashlight. I got a bottle of bettafix to help his tail and did a 50% water change since posting this.

 

[Bailmint]

Well it doesn't look like external parasites. Check his waste [in his rocks], what color is it?

 

[Alynxide]

It's kind of hard to tell but if its what I'm seeing then it's a brownish color.

 

[Bailmint]

I would treat with 1 tsp/gal of AQ salt for his tail and in case the white dots are parasite [doubt it], 100% daily water changes, and API General Cure. The General Cure should help clear out anything in his stomach, he looks bloated, the changes should help clear out any sort of bacteria eating his tail, and you know what the AQ salt will do .

 

[Alynxide]

Thank you so much! I'll have to run by Petsmart in the morning.

Also when I'm changing his water, should I take out everything and wash it as well? And do you know a good way to clean the rocks? I usually rinse them in a strainer for a while but when I add water debris starts to float around.

 

[Bailmint]

It can't hurt to wash out his plants and his decor as well. I would just run hot water over his gravel and lots should fall out. I run hot water over it, then dump out the water that's been in the rocks and I see debris fall out, although I have made most of my tanks bare bottom because it's easier and healthier. Your filter should suck up debris though.