sick beta fish

Question
1 beta fish. 1 gal water in 1.5 gal. bowl. Fish is panting heavily. Not eating. Not blowing bubbles. Doesn't respond to me any more. Small heater maintains temp between 79-82 degrees. Complete water change every 3.5 days. Use aquarium salt and stresscoat in aged tapwater. No filter. He never would eat pellets, only dried tubeworms. Got sick at XMAs. Didn't eat for about a month; got very skinny. I tried anti-fungals for 2 weeks. Anti-parasite for a week. Then 2 week course of antibiotics. Then he started to perk up. First systems were weird erratic swimming and pushing around marbles. Thought this was parasites. He seemed better and was eating and blowing bubbles a couple weeks ago. Then he stopped eating again. Very thin and weak. Very heavy panting. He can still stay relatively upright. At my wits end...any advice would be appreciated so much! I can't see any signs of fungal infection. I can't see any outside parasites. His fins are thinner than when he was well. He pants so hard...I don't know if I need to get him a bubble-a-tor because he's too weak to get to the top of his bowl? Just before he started to get better, the girl at the fish store said a bubblelator wouldn't help. She sold me a plastic leaf that attached to the side of the bowl. He sat on the plastic holder part until the thing fell apart and I took it out of the bowl. I have always had a little light that I turn on in the morning and off when I go to bed at night. Was wondering if he needs that much light, so I left it off today. No improvement. His name is Yankee Doodle Dandy because he's red/white and blue. He's been a very charming fellow and I'd really like to do something to ease his apparent misery...thank you in advance for your consideration.

Answer
Julie,

First off his home is way too small. He should be in nothing less than 5 gallons. The panting could mean ammonia spike with not enough oxygen in the water. Total water changes that often are not good. Only change out 25% at a time. Never treat a fish with medication unless you are 100% sure what the problem is. The fluctuating in the heat is not good. He needs his water to be 82 degrees at all times. When the temp changes it causes the Betta to go into shock and stress. Stop all medication for now. I would add an air stone to the water as soon as you can. I would stop putting the aquarium salt in his water and there is no need for aged water. It does absolutely no good for the fish. All you need is a good water conditioner. The girl at the fish store gave you very bad advice. Unfortunately they are useless when it comes to fish. I think if you upgrade his home, keep his heat at 82 degrees ALWAYS, add the air stone for now, he should start to look better. Feeding him the dried tube worm is not good. They have to have a variety and freeze dried foods all the time is a big no no. He WILL eat pellets if he knows thats what you are feeding him. The tube worms could be behind the problem. Get him a good premium pellet food. One that works great, but can only find online is Atison's Betta food. They are great. I feed that to all of my Betta's and they are doing great on it. If after the changes he does not get better, or at any time he gets worse, let me know.