aq salt and coppersafe...toxic?

Question
Hello!  Okay, this is a long one, but I'm not sure what's important and what's not, so I'm giving you the long version.  :#  

I've got a very large blue and white halfmoon male betta, came from Petco. I've had him a couple of months I believe? I can't remember exactly, but it's been at least a little bit. When he came home he was good, but quickly developed Ich. #New bowl, new water, new plants, nothing that should have given him the Ich, I'd assume he came with it from the store.# I purchased Mardel's coppersafe and put it in, the Ich cleared up very quickly, but I did notice that he started having some very slight red streaks on the edges of his fins, very visible in the white edges, not so much in the blue portions. It got a bit worse, I treated it with some Lifeguard, and he stopped eating so I stopped treatment before it was complete. After that, I found this board and realized he needed a filter and a heater and a much bigger tank... So, I went out and purchased a 10 gallon tank, heater, filter, more plants and more hides. The tank set up for 24 hours #as per petstore directions...I should have known better...# and stuck him in. He was thrilled to be in there, swam around, didn't eat for a few days because he was too busy checking out all his new toys and space. When I turned off the filter occasionally, he'd blow bubbles and seemed to be in good spirits. But, the red streaks still remained...So, I put in some coppersafe to hopefully combat whatever it was, and it got better, now only just vague pinkness, and I thought perhaps it was part of his coloring. He continued to be very active, eating extremely well, growing, fins filling out, color getting more vibrant, etc. To all indications he seemed very healthy.

That went on for a bit, until I noticed that there were two spots on him that were lighter than the others, and I became concerned that he might have Ich again. So, after having been here and reading about the salt treatments for Ich, I decided to try that instead of the copper. I'd been doing 50% water changes and had assumed that the lowered copper and salt were safe together. I put in 6tsp's aq salt into 10 gallons of water just to make sure that I wasn't overdoing the salt on him. I just dumped it in like you would a goldfish...which I now know should have been dissolved and then added in gradually. :# I let the tank set up and the salt dissolve for a couple of hours, then put him back in. At first he was fine, swam around, playing like normal, and I left to walk my dogs. I came back about 2-3 hours later from walking and checking email, and it was bad. He was sitting directly in the baffled filter outflow right up at the surface, little mouth as close to or even at the surface sitting on one of his plants, gasping for air. I thought I'd killed him for sure and assumed it was the salt or the salt and coppersafe having created some sort of toxic substance. I fished him out and put him back into his gallon bowl with new, freshly treated tapwater. I put in one of his hides and a plant, and took him downstairs to keep an eye on him while I frantically posted here in the disease section. Over the next couple of hours he seemed to get better, swam around, breathing easier, looking normal and happy, very interested in me and the new room he was in.
So, I dumped out the tank completely, rinsed everything off with tapwater, put it all back in, new water, new dechlorinator, everything seemed good. I let it set up for a few hours, and put him back in. Again, swimming around, very relieved to be out of small tank, happy and feisty, never seemed to get his breathing all the way back to normal, but thought that if I gave him a couple of days he'd be fine.
The next day, he's more lethargic, but fins are still open, he's eating, swimming some but not as much as previously, but enthusiastically flaring at his filter reflection.
Day after, he's more lethargic, more coming to the surface for air, less enthusiasm, but still eating very well. (Nothing stands between Buckly and his food. Nothing. ;# Still the pink fin edges, no change in those for some time.
So, having been waiting for Petsmart *or* Petco to get a water test kit in...so not having one at home, I took a water sample to Petco to be tested. All parameters came out good, except his ammonia was high, 1.5ppm. So, believing this to be the problem, I put in ammonia neutralizer and hoped he'd be better.
He did seem a bit more active after that, but, again, I'm not sure how much of this is actually that he's more active, or that it's a different time of the day, or that he's warmer #tank heater keeps the tank between 75 and 80#, or that it's just that I expect him to be better, so I'm seeing him being better.
A few days go by, I realize that I've totally screwed up the tank cycle with the ammonia neutralizer, so I start getting information about the fish-in cycle. I've been testing the water 1-2 times per day, it's always at 0.25 ppm, won't seem to go any lower, and my tap water is 0ppm.
Today he's more lethargic, eats a bit but not nearly what he normally does, and is resting quite a lot at the bottom of his tank. Color is good, fins look good, no clamping, but he's still breathing a bit harder than seems normal. Not gasping, but not quite right either. And he's staying near the surface, resting in plants and taking in lots of air.
I have him right now in a gallon bowl with some coppersafe so that if it's any sort of parasite I can kill it...
Is this the right option? Should I do something else? I'm afraid to use salt after the last time. Also, could I have damaged him from the salt treatment, and this is just going to be his life now, rather like a fish with asthma? He seems happy, but I want to make sure that he doesn't have something treatable that will get worse if left unmedicated.

I'm sorry for this endless email, but I wasn't sure what was important and what was just secondary...so I thought I should include it all.

- He normally lives in a 10 gallon tank with a filter and heater, 75-80 degrees, in sick fish bowl right now for treatment #so as not to, again, mess up tank cycling...# of 1 gallon with heater,
- and had a dose of coppersafe put in this morning.
- I was changing water too often before, probably 50% 1x/week, have been doing less since I found out I was hindering tank cycling
- I use API water conditioner
- testing water daily #or twice daily if I'm feeling nervous# with tetra Ammonia/nitrate/nitrite testing kit #5ml's aquarium water testing with 2 different types of test solution, wait 5 mins, then check color of water with card included#
normal water parameters per Petco for hardness/ph/etc etc.
- He looked to be fully adult when I purchased him, though he did grow some in the time I've had him.
- I believe I've had him 2 or 3 months? Not certain of the date. #Just finished a degree, started a new job, etc, so time gets away from me and I didn't write down his date of purchase, hence the vagueness of my reply here, so sorry!#
- no loss of color, no clamping fins, still eating and will flare.
- symtoms started about 3-4 days ago, after salt fiasco.

Thank you so much for your help, and again, I'm sorry to bother you with so many questions...but I'm not sure what to do at this point. He's my sweet little guy and it'll be awful if he dies...but it'll be even worse if I think that I could have helped him and didn't.

~ Rachel :)  

Here are photos...none really show his breathing, but you can see him in the quarantine bowl and the tank he normally lives in:
#facebook photo album)
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...1&l=d39346db50

Answer
Rachel,
Thank you for giving me as much information as you did.  I am glad you took him out of the bowl and into an aquarium. His heater must be at 80 degrees at all times. The temperature fluctuations that are going on now are not good. He needs a heater that you set the temperature. All the others do not work. When the water temperature changes constantly, it causes the fish to stress, which leads to sickness. The red streaks you see are caused by ammonia and/or nitrite poisoning. If your ammonia is above zero, its too much. Nitrites and ammonia go hand in hand. It starts with ammonia, and if not taken care of, the ammonia turns to nitrites, which is a harsher chemical. If your ammonia was that high, then the nitrites will also be high. Both need to be zero at all times. The best water testing kit is API. If the salt is not dissolved before putting it into any aquarium, it will cause burns on your fish. The ratio is 1 teaspoon of aquarium salt per 1 gallon of water. If you only put in 6 teaspoons, then the salt content in the water is fine. Just remember, salt does not evaporate, so it has to be removed with water changes. The fastest and easiest way to get rid of Ich is by turning the heater up to between 84-85 degrees and adding salt. It is important that we do not treat the fish with any kind of medication, we have to be positive to what the illness is. When we start adding medications, we are add chemicals that can cause problems with our fish. Your Betta must have a heater, but as for the filter, he does not require one. The Betta has something called the labyrinth organ that allows him to go to the surface of the water to breathe.  When we use filters, they have to be cycled before we add the fish. The cycle process take a minimum of 6 weeks and sometimes longer. When the filter is not cycled, and we put fish in the tank they can become ill. Once the filter has been cycled, you do not want to turn the filter off and on. It is either have the filter running at all times, or remove it completely. Make sure you are testing with a kit that has not expired, and until he is better, you will want to test daily. If the ammonia and/or Nitrites are above zero, do a water change. The amount you change will be determined by how high the two chemicals are, and never change out more than 50% of the water at any single water change. Unfortunately, the photo link did not work for me. When you added the medication, did you remove the carbon in the filter? I would stop all the medications, and leave him be for a few days and see how he is doing.