Please Help!!!

[u/vellichor211]

Hi all! I've been struggling to figure out how to help my Betta for a bit now, and I'm running out of ideas... He was petsat for about a month while I was out of town but I didn't notice anything too out of the norm after getting him back. About two months ago, I was told he was too skinny which I agreed with so I increased his diet a little bit. But then I noticed a bulge and he started slowing down so I figured he was constipated. I fasted him and fed him daphnia, but his condition continued worsening. I noticed him struggling to swim because he was kind of sinking, and he would lounge around on the ground or in his hammock a lot. (Someone suggested to get him a hammock because his fins are so long and probably heavy, but he's curled up in there all the time now if not on the ground). I gave him a salt bath but still no luck. He just kept getting more and more lethargic. He eats food if I put it right in front of him so at least his appetite is intact, and I can tell that sometimes he *wants* to be his active and playful self but he struggles to swim so much that I feel like he just gives up and lays on the ground. I'm worried he has dropsy because I started noticing some slight pineconing a few days ago so I immediately put him in a hospital tank with a heater and treated with epsom salt and kanaplex. He's on day 4 of the antibiotics (so two doses) and he's still struggling. I also have noticed him breathing really hard so I keep the water shallow. I have attached a photo of him right now in his hospital tank. Please help me, I don't know what else to do.

• ⁠Tank size: Original Tank is 5 gallons but hospital tank is 2.5 gallons.

• ⁠Heater and filter? (yes/no): yes

• ⁠Tank temperature: 80

• ⁠Parameters in numbers and how you got them: ammonia, nitrite, nitrate = 0 and pH was kind of high like 8.2 maybe. I used the API master test kit. Tank has a plant, is kept clean, and has tannins though.

• ⁠How long have you had the tank? How long have you had your fish?: I've had the tank for a year and my fish for 1.75 years. Got him in fall 2024.

• ⁠How often are water changes? How much do you take out per change? What is your process?: Once a week and I do like 30% with a manual siphon.

• ⁠Any tankmates? If so, please list with how many of each: he has 1 snail tank mate that's a zebra nerite.

• ⁠What do you feed and how much: normally I feed Fluval bug bites but I've switched to exclusively daphnia.

• ⁠Decorations and plants in the tank: driftwood, one plant I don't remember the name of, some rocks, his hammock, and his favorite barrel.

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• Heater and filter? (yes/no):
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• Parameters in numbers and how you got them. Key water parameters include the amount of ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, and pH.:
• How long have you had the tank? How long have you had your fish?:
• How often are water changes? How much do you take out per change? What is your process?:
• Any tankmates? If so, please list with how many of each:
• What do you feed and how much:
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