Help for Betta- His Name is Trooper

Hello! Looking for guidance.

I had my fish at work and with the lighting and probably too many plants I didnt notice the decline in health with my fish, Trooper. I brought the tank home, and wow! It was not in good shape. Half dead plants in the tank, very dirty filters. I quickly got everything clean, but I noticed my fish's fins looked dirty. As I looked closer I suspected fin rot, and there was a large red area on his head as well. Trooper is a pearl, opal color elephant ear betta so the red stands out. I thought maybe he bopped his head when I transported him home.
Regardless I got Bettafix and did a round of it for 7 days. Then cleaned his tank and did a second round since his red area didnt seem improved, alth9 his fins did improve somewhat. Then I read bad things about Bettafix. I cleaned his tank and used aquarium salt and fresh filters again. I read the temp should be 78 to 80 for them to heal so I bought a heater.

Trooper has been himself this entire time. Very hungry, very excited when something approaches his tank, very curious. I'm just worried his fins still look a little dirty and the red area hasn't changed. Ive attached pictures, any thoughts? I would greatly appreciate any help!

Welcome! How big is his tank? Is it filtered? Is it cycled.? What are your water parameters ( ammonia, nitrite, nitrate)? Do a 50-75% water change for 2 weeks and use dissolved aquarium salt at 1 tablespoon for every 5 gallons of weather. Are you aware of the Aquarium nitrogen cycle? https://www.fishforums.net/threads/cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first.421488/

Its 3.5 gallons, and is filtered. I'll have to get test strips, I wasnt aware of the nitrogen cycle. That article is very useful thank you, I will work on getting these results and check back. Thanks!

Triciaa329 said:

Its 3.5 gallons, and is filtered. I'll have to get test strips, I wasnt aware of the nitrogen cycle. That article is very useful thank you, I will work on getting these results and check back. Thanks!

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I did the test and I believe it is 5ppm. According to the article I should add ammonia correct? I'm really nervous to do that. The directions on the box say if it's under 40 ppm then it's an ok environment.

If you have a fish in the tank Do Not add ammonia! that will harm if not kill the fish. You want to get rid of the ammonia. Do at least 50-75 % water changes, Make sure you treat the new water for chlorine before adding to the tank and try to have the same temp.

Yes, you only add ammonia if doing a fishless cycle. You will be doing a fish in cycle so please read on that. The fish will make the ammonia. Each time your test reads ammonia, you will need to do a water change. It will make more sense after you read this. Read the part about cycling with fish in tanK

You also need a test kit to measure ammonia and nitrite.

Also consider getting at least a 5 gallon tank, the extra room will help keep him healthy. When I had Betta I kept them in 5-10 gallon tanks by themselves. Some live plants would also help keep the water quality good and they seem to like moss balls.

Thank you, this is all very helpful!!