Betta with protruding gill

[ZoophobiaMisfit]

So I just noticed tonight my betta has a protruding gill on the our left/his right side. It's like if someone had bent it and then just never like bent it back. I have a couple pictures but I don't know if you would be able to really tell. He's also acting a little weird. A little sluggish but it is about 5 o'clock in the morning. And he had been asleep before I turned on the light to check on him, so he's usually a little sluggish when I just wake him up. I don't usually start the day till about noon. But I got off of work and decided to check on him. Plus hes leaning a little bit to the side when he settles from swimming around.
I just took all my rocks (substrate) out of the tank Monday when I did my weekly water change. I was trying them out because I obviously like the look of them. But last time I had rocks (substrate) in the tank, he got fin rot. So I took these out Monday because I wasn't liking them anymore and was just constantly concerned about my betta getting fin rot again. They left a bunch of debris. That I couldn't get out all the way because I had done more than a 75 percent wc trying to get it all.
My water parameters.... Ph is the same as always. Just above 7. And my ammonia is testing weird honestly. It's more of an orange color. A normal yellow hue on tippy top but more of a tangerine orange for the main part.
I just want to know if I should be concerned? Is this something that will fix itself or can I do something?

 

[TMaier]

Substrate in a tank is where tons of the beneficial nitrifying bacteria reside. Could you have had an ammonia spike and his gills were hurt?

 

[ZoophobiaMisfit]

Like I said. Ammonia is more of an orange than a yellow. So honestly, I don't know.

 

[TMaier]

When in doubt do water changes. And monitor.

 

[crystalbettas]

you should probably put the gravel back in there. most of the bacteria that he needs to thrive will live there.

how big is your tank, and is it heated and filtered? have you ever used freshwater aquarium salt? if not i highly recommend it. it helps improve gill function and relieves stress on the fish.

 

[ZoophobiaMisfit]

The thing is I've had him for a good 6 months now and most of that time he hasn't had gravel. He had gravel for the first month but he got fin rot so I took it out. I just put in this gravel (different from the first and I honestly don't think it was meant for aquariums) about two weeks ago. He's been fine without gravel this whole time.

It's a five gallon. Heated to about 80 degrees F and I did have a filter but it just quit on me yesterday. Or what I believe was yesterday. I just noticed it was not working yesterday because I went in and did a water change as well as add some salt to it. A little under a teaspoon. Will be doing another water change tomorrow and hopefully picking up another filter.

But after doing the water change the ammonia tested normally, unlike the past three times I did it the past couple of days. It tested zero and ph is normal as well.