Sick betta?

Hello again everyone,
I've been a repeat poster but I cannot figure out what is wrong with my betta. He lives in a 16 gallon planted tank with two assassin snails and no other fish. All treatments referred to in this post were within the tank, the temperature is 78, when I last checked all water conditions were within range, and i feed him a mixture of aqueon pellets supplemented with freeze dried brine shrimp and blood worms.
To date, initially he had some gray on his face i didn't treat because it didn't look worrying until his fins starting fraying and it spread. I got advice on here that it was an excessive slime coat and i treated it with an intensive salt treatment in the tank for a week following instructions.
A week or so after treatment, it didn't appear to change any of the symptoms and his fins got more frayed so I posted an update on that post and someone recommended treating fungus, bacteria, and parasites on a wide scale so I used aquarium co-ops quarantine trio and followed the instructions of use.
it's been four days since that treatment ended and his fins have no sign of healing, his color is fading, and the gray on his face is still there. He still eats normally but he seems less active than normal and his belly is starting to swell with either dropsy or constipation. He also has had a tiny white spot behind his gills that seems to come and go and it hasn't spread so I don't think it's ich but I could be wrong.
Sorry for the huge post but I'm really at a loss here for what to do

He looks good to me except for the fin and tail rot. Bettas tend to change colors and the head area is quite normal. Did you do daily 70% water changes with the salt treatment? If not, you left out an important step and I would encourage you to try again with the water change. If you did, then it’s time to try some antibiotics. Do you have access to Seachem Kanaplex and API Furan-2? In my opinion, they are the best combo of meds.

Deanasue said:

He looks good to me except for the fin and tail rot. Bettas tend to change colors and the head area is quite normal. Did you do daily 70% water changes with the salt treatment? If not, you left out an important step and I would encourage you to try again with the water change. If you did, then it’s time to try some antibiotics. Do you have access to Seachem Kanaplex and API Furan-2? In my opinion, they are the best combo of meds.

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I did do the 70% water changes with the salt treatment. I have maracyn that I used with the quarantine med trio. Should I try doing a full treatment of it or would you recommend purchasing the meds you recommend instead? Do you use the Seachem kanaplex and API Furan-2 at the same time?

When you say readings are within range, I assume that means 0 nitrite and zero ammonia, right?

hansgruber7 said:

When you say readings are within range, I assume that means 0 nitrite and zero ammonia, right?

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Yes ammonia and nitrite were 0 ppm and nitrate was ~ 5 ppm

How long have you had him?

What is the pH, GH and KH of your tank water?

mrsjoannh13 said:

How long have you had him?

What is the pH, GH and KH of your tank water?

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I've had him for around 9 months now. I've actually never tested my GH and KH (i don't have a kit for it but I just bought one because you asked and it'll be here Tuesday) but I just tested my pH again and it came out at 8.0 so a little higher than usual

Oliver412 said:

I did do the 70% water changes with the salt treatment. I have maracyn that I used with the quarantine med trio. Should I try doing a full treatment of it or would you recommend purchasing the meds you recommend instead? Do you use the Seachem kanaplex and API Furan-2 at the same time?

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I do according to directions.

pH of 8 is high for Bettas try and bring it back to around 7.

Sorry it is hard to tell from the photos, is the rot to his caudal fin only or does it include his pectorals as well?

If its limited to the caudal it may be self inflicted. I have had many bettas an have had three that bit their own tails to lighten their loads. Weird-but I have seen it firsthand.

The fins don't actually look as if they have active fungus on them, correct me if I'm wrong.

You mention swelling, can you get a picture of the fish from above? I've had bettas end up with dropsy when I've treated them for fin rot. I figured it must be if you expose them to high levels of salt for an extended period (which you would accidentally do if you're treating pretty bad fin rot)

Looks as if you've been doing your best to get the little guy back to health. Hopefully he's on the road to recovery

EMERGENCY UPDATE!! I went to go feed him this morning and now he's lying at the bottom of the tank breathing hard and not even trying to swim i don't know what to do
I moved him up to his floating log so he has easy access to air but I'm really scared. He moves when I open the tank and then goes right back to gulping air

I've had 3 betta fish in 3 years and I've lost all of them around 9 months after I got them. I do the weekly water changes, feed a varied diet, test my water, treat diseases as told, and heat and filter my tanks. I feel like I'm doing everything right but my fish always get dropsy and pass away and it breaks me everytime. Any ideas about what I could be doing wrong? This seems to be a trend now no matter how good I make my tank...

If you are buying from the same place every time, it could be poor quality stock, poor quality conditions they were kept in (no fish ever belongs in a cup, for any amount of time), etc...

Oliver412 said:

I've had 3 betta fish in 3 years and I've lost all of them around 9 months after I got them. I do the weekly water changes, feed a varied diet, test my water, treat diseases as told, and heat and filter my tanks. I feel like I'm doing everything right but my fish always get dropsy and pass away and it breaks me everytime. Any ideas about what I could be doing wrong? This seems to be a trend now no matter how good I make my tank...

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Where are you buying your fish from? If it's a big box like PetSmart you might want to reconsider future purchases and obtain your next betta from a reputable breeder or local fish shop (and even some of those are questionable).