Help with Betta Illness!

[CrazyBettaLady]

Hello fellow fish lovers, my betta Fancy Dan has gotten sick recently and I could use some help determining what it is.
Symptoms:

• Slight loss of color
• Clamped fins
• Slight swelling in belly/anus

Tank Params:

• Size: 2.5G
• Free Ammonia: 0.03 ppm, I think
• GH: 30 mg/L
• KH: slightly less than 40 mg/L
• pH: 6.5 mg/L
• NO2: 0 mg/L
• NO3: 0 mg/L

I haven't fed him yet today in case he's constipated.
Clamped pectoral fin(s):

Swelling:

And the other reason for his color loss is that he's getting old (about 2 yrs).
If more/better pictures are needed, I can try to get them.

 

[AilyNC]

Does his scales look a little lifted?

 

[itiwhetu]

How old is he please?

 

[CrazyBettaLady]

His scales are slightly pineconed, but only where his belly is swollen. The rest of his scales are still flat. I got him and Joan on 12/20/18, so he would technically (assuming all male bettas are sold at one year of age) be around 2.83 years old right now.

I fed him two pellets of food last night but none yesterday morning.

 

[AilyNC]

@Colin_T @PheonixKingZ

 

[vanalisa]

It does look like the scales are lifted a bit

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Looks like he is suffering from fin rot, excess mucus (maybe), and pineconing. If the betta is pineconed, and is bloated, this is most likely dropsy - there is no cure for dropsy...

 

[CrazyBettaLady]

Looks like he is suffering from fin rot, excess mucus (maybe), and pineconing. If the betta is pineconed, and is bloated, this is most likely dropsy - there is no cure for dropsy...

I have cured dropsy before, so it is possible, just hard.
His one fin got torn open on a plant, which is why it's split in two and then the two splits are clamped on the one side. The rest of his body exhibits no swelling, it is only in his belly (hence I'm thinking constipation). I haven't seen him poop in a while, though he still is eating.

If he's constipated, should I give him peas? Or not feed him?
Should I treat him with salt if he has fin rot? Also, my heater is preset so I can't turn it down any, will that be okay?

Lastly, I have live plants and snails in the tank, so I'd need to make sure they don't get hurt by the treatment.

Edit: added top-down picture. No pineconing except for abdomen (also you can see his split fin)

Also, his eyes have been bugged out like that for about a year. I tried treating them with no success.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Like I said, it could be dropsy, not confirming that...

Will he eat? if so, i would try to give him a cut up pea.

I would say, "clean water", for fin rot, but i believe @Colin_T has said that salt also helps..?

 

[CrazyBettaLady]

I changed out 75% of the water. I don't have any peas or aquarium salt but I should be able to get some tomorrow.

 

[Colin_T]

Try doing a 75% water change and gravel cleaning the substrate every day for 2 weeks. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

-------------------
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt) to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

 

[CrazyBettaLady]

Thanks! One last question, would Himalayan Pink Salt work? I'd like to put in some salt before I leave for the day, but I don't have any of my aqaurium salt here. If it won't work, I'll pick up my bag from my parent's later today.

 

[Essjay]

The pink colour is caused by mineral impurities, but I can't find out what. (I know that pink calcite is pink because of manganese impurities but I have no idea if this pink salt has the same)

 

[CrazyBettaLady]

Quote from McGill University,

Pink salt enthusiasts claim that Himalayan salt has a lower sodium chloride composition than sea salt, meaning it has higher amounts of other minerals like sulphate, magnesium, calcium, potassium, bicarbonate, bromide, borate, strontium, and fluoride. - Jun 20, 2017

Would any of that be dangerous to my fish?

 

[itiwhetu]

He looks rather old to me!!