Betta Fin Rot

Question
I realize you are most interested in the breeding of fish, but I thought with your expertise in caring for and breeding fish you would be able to answer my question.  I rescued a betta from a wedding where he was a centerpiece.  When I got him home I noticed he had some fraying at the base of his tail.  I did some research on the internet and thought keeping him in clean water and watching closely would be the best answer.  After a week or so his tail continued to get worse.  I bought a betta remedy I was told was equivalent to Melafix and treated him that for about a week.  It did not seem to have any effect and the tail rot spread to all of the fins at the back of his body and has slowly gotten worse.  My next step was to get Maracyn-Two.  I have finished the first 5 day treatment and am on the third day of the second treatment and have not noticed any improvement.  Also, although I was sure to triple check about a dozen times the dosage math, around the third day of the treatment the first time my betta's belly became swollen and he had trouble swimming downward and keeping upright.  I immediately removed him from his tank and put him in clean water and in a couple hours he was better.  This time through on his treatment it is the third day and he is again having trouble swimming.  This time I changed out about one third of the water before each dose hoping to avoid what I assumed was overdosing.  I am not sure why he has the trouble swimming late in the treatment and I am not sure how to proceed with treating his fin rot.  He is kept alone in a 2.5 gallon tank that is filtered and kept at about 76-78 degrees.  If you have any suggestions at all I would love to hear them.

Thank you for your time.  Sorry so much detail I figured better too much than not enough.


Answer
Hello Courtney,
hmm, well when the stomach balloons up like that it usually means that he has dropsy. Or, swim bladder disorder. I am not an expert on fish disease but these are 2 suggestions that i thought it could be. I usually use melafix also and it works fine. Keep useing the same thing and it should clear up. Though there are no garantees, fin rot can be fixed easily but dropsy and swimm bladder disorder are way harder to takie care of. Hope This Helps And i wish you the best of luck!