Mysteriously Ill Betta, Thoughts?

[sydneygf]

Hi all, wondering if anyone can help figure out what's wrong with my betta.

I've noticed over the last few days he has become extremely lethargic and 90% of the time, lays fairly listlessly on the bottom of the tank. He will swim a bit and come up to the top of the tank for food, but that's it. I suspect he has fin rot, I originally noticed the ends of his fins perhaps looking a bit... odd? And they are now a little discolored. The thing is, I'm not sure why he would have gotten fit rot, or sick in general. I've been fishkeeping on and off for about 7 years now and I have somehow never dealt with sick fish, and the only ones I lost were at the beginning of starting the hobby and being uneducated, so this is new for me. I'm at college, so this is my only tank currently. Here are the tank stats:

-Tank (7 gallon cube) has been set up with plants, snails, and shrimp (Amano & blue neos) for 1 year, he (the Betta) has been in the tank since June or July with no issues.
- Ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates all at 0 due to low bioload and how heavily planted it is, I fertilize with Flourish 1-2x a week
-Temp kept at 78, pH is 7.6. Not sure what KH or GH are, but I live in Southern Arizona to give you an idea, water is pretty hard.
-I have an AquaClear 20 for filtration
-I do a ~50% water change once every 1-2 weeks now for the last few months, I don't really vacuum the substrate as most of it is covered with plants. Water is treated with Seachem Prime prior to filling tank.
-Diet has been OmegaOne flakes and bloodworms the whole time.

Nothing is new, tank has been stable, and I am stumped. He is currently in a 2.25 gallon hospital tank now, I set it up last night. I got some BettaFix, but I know there is a mixed consensus on whether or not to use it.

Any ideas as to why he could be afflicted? Just one of those things? I'd like to know what caused it, so that if he does recover, it doesn't happen again, and if he doesn't, it doesn't happen to whatever I happen to stock the tank with next.

As far as treatment, should I do the BettaFix? Or just daily water changes in the hospital tank for the next week or so?

Thank you

 

[Autumnsky]

When the fish lay in the bottom of the tank the fins sit on the bottom and seem to be a higher possible chance of getting fin rot.

Options are getting a Betta Leaf suction cup leaf he can lay on, a Betta Log (check inside with your fingers to make sure there do not happen to be any sharp manufacturing areas).

Raise the temp a little to get him more active. When they have really large long fins they get tired swimming around with them. Maybe the flow from the filter could be increased if he needs more exercise, or lowered if he's getting blown around too much.

A friend of mine would keep the filter fairly low most of the time and he would turn up the filter every day for a ~ half hour to give him some exercise. Then feed him a little more after his work out, haha.

My first option for the Betta would be fresh water, get the water changed 100% every day. This can greatly increase the chance for the fish to heal without intervention. But I also personally have had huge success over the years with treating the fish with Epsom Salt (magnesium sulfate) Therapy.

Thread regarding ES
https://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f17/using-epsom-salt-in-fish-therapy-374191.html#post3548383

side note of magnesium in cells you can do more checking regarding it.
https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/magnesium-HealthProfessional/


And a thread about saving a very sick
Betta, if you might be interested, and have spare time to read it. Post #13 starts with the fin rot.

https://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f23/importing-a-thai-betta-the-experience-367697.html