Sick Betta Crown Fish - more information

Question
Hi Samantha,

As I have been researching, I think the problem may go back further than I first believed.

We got our fish a few months ago, it's our first fish. My husband purchased it at Petco. They gave him a flake food for goldfish. Nemo (my four-year old named him)wouldn't eat it - it didn't look like he was able to get it into his mouth. I went to another petstore and purchased food specifically for Bettas. It said to give him two to three pebbles three times a day, which I continued doing for well over a month. And he ate every bite of it.

Then he stopped eating. His anal gland (for lack of a better word) seems swollen and irritated, but then a few days later, that disappeared. He then lost weight, turned grey and his fins started clumping together. We were constantly chagning his water to try and keep him clean. The he started to look cottony, so we started treatment for that. Then he appeared to have a golden dust over his body, so we started treating him for velvet. My husband purchased acquarium salt, fungal free products, ph balance and the works.  We have been doing this for almost a month now. He looked a lot better a week ago, but still wasn't eating. We tried some brine shrimp, but that didn't work. Now over the past two days, his lips are huge! and he appears to have some type of bump on his head.

After all my research, I am thinking that he was constipated and has swim bladder disorder. So many of the sited warned not to over-medicate, so I am hoping for some reassurance in my thoughts.

I am going to check his water temp when I get home and see if I can increase it. He is in a two gallon bowl, no filtration. We have some rocks in the bottom, but I think my husband is taking them out today to try and eliminate all other possibilities. He also has a silk plant. We would normally change his water once a week, and for the past three to four weeks, we treat the water a couple days before changin him so he's not shocked by the chemicles.

Any help you could provide to save my little fishy would be greatly appreciated. There are going to be tiny broken hearts if something bad happens.

Sincerely,
Shelley

Answer
Hi Shelley,
It sonds almost asif it is some how ammuned to the medicine. He does sound better though. The only thing I can suggest is to get stress medicine such as Bio-Coat because your fish is probably really stressed out after all of that. I hope I helped and I also hope your little buddy hangs in there,
                                                     Sam