Need help with Betta

Hello everyone! I'm new to this forum, and of course I need help! I have a Betta fish named Sushi. I've had him for about 8 months and made many mistakes from beginning. I've treated him for finrot and Popeye in the past when I first got him. The research I had to do was very time consuming and stressful due to not wanting to diagnose wrong. So this time I came here for help! He is now in a 5 gallon tank. There is a filter and a heater. The original filter in his tank failed and I replaced it. His water temp is 80 degrees. He eats twice a day which I admit I may feed him a bit more pebbles then I should usually about 6 twice a day. He's been acting strange since Wednesday last week but it has gotten progressively worse. I thought maybe water just need to be fresh so I changed out 50% of his water like usual on Friday. Usually clean tank once a week sometimes a week and a half. I use seachem prime to condition water. Since Friday he has been at bottom of tank or one too resting in something breathing hard always. Still eats but just not his normal self. Sometimes he'll be head first in gravel sometimes he'll be on his side sometimes just laying there normal but always gulping. I know medicating can make worse so yesterday I did another water change to see if that would help but he's still the same. Also I've realized there is some kind of work in his tank which I've learned is not damaging to him. They look like small little white hairs on side of glass but sometimes you don't see them. There's also 3 moss balls in his tank. I just don't know where to start to help him! I ran out of amonia kit but checked other levels which they've always been consistent water levels GH:60 KH:80 PH:6.5 NO(2) and NO(3):0 I have a new amonia kit coming but won't be here until Thursday. I attached some photos of my unhappy guy. TIA

Do a 75% water change just to be safe before the kit comes.

He looks slightly bloated, fast him for 3 days. After that reduce feeding to 2 pellets once a day.

I was noticing that too, but again I don't have much to go off since he's my first betta. I can only go by comparison of how he looked before. Since I did a water change yesterday should I wait until tomorrow to do it or can I do it today? He does get slightly stressed when I change his water(always has)and I'm so afraid to cause any extra stress too soon.

Kellyc said:

I was noticing that too, but again I don't have much to go off since he's my first betta. I can only go by comparison of how he looked before. Since I did a water change yesterday should I wait until tomorrow to do it or can I do it today? He does get slightly stressed when I change his water(always has)and I'm so afraid to cause any extra stress too soon.

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You can do it today. If it was an obviously stress related disease I would say wait, but this doesn't seem to be that

I highly recommend doing 50% daily water changes until he feels better.

JuiceBox52 said:

You can do it today. If it was an obviously stress related disease I would say wait, but this doesn't seem to be that

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Ok. Perfect thank you so much. I will do it now.

Crispii said:

I highly recommend doing 50% daily water changes until he feels better.

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Ok. Thank you! Will get on it right now along with fasting. I hope this works my poor little guy it's so sad seeing them breathing hard for so long.

Kellyc said:

Ok. Thank you! Will get on it right now along with fasting. I hope this works my poor little guy it's so sad seeing them breathing hard for so long.

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I wish you the best of luck and please do an update.

Same here!

Thank you guys so much and I will definitely give an update