male betta - sore mouth

Question
I recently acquired a new betta, he has been having trouble chewing his pellets.  His whole upper head and neck moves and he struggles to eat them.  I try to pick out the smallest ones and he finally manages  to eat  them, but now he wont eat them and I noticed his mouth was swollen with a tiny piece of skin hanging out. Plus nis fins started to get a little ragged and some tiny little reddish-brown spots on the fins.  He is in a one half gallon bowl and I tried a pinch of acquarian salt but still his mouth looks terrible plus not eating.  I then tried Maracyn (it is in powder form so is real hard to figure out how much to use.  I divided the powder into four equal parts out of one packet and used one part in the water.  But noticed he was slightly bothered and ended up breathing hard.  So I did a partial water change and put in a pinch of salt and went to bed.  The next morning he was lying on his side breathing hard.  Later that day I put in more salt equal to l/2 teaspoon and he seemed to perk up a bit but lapses into breathing heavy again.  I even checked the water for hardness, PH and the nitrites  and nitrates and they were normal.  PH 7.5, nitrite 0, and nitrate 20, hardness was 180.  I have hard water here in this particular part of hawaii.  I figured that the salt and what was left of the maracyn would throw off the readings.  Help! don't know what else to do.  Need help of using correct doses in a one half gallon bowl.  Even the liquid kind of medicine is for a large tank and the powders for Maracyn is for a 10 gallon tank.  I believe the water is warm enough - its very hot and dry in Kapolei, very little rain.

My other bettas are doing fine.  Usually I don't have any problems in keeping bettas, but this situation was rather unusual from the start.  I know young bettas sometimes have problems eating.  I even tried live brine shrimp and he treated them like tank mates! He would  try to eat one and then spit it out.  Also tried freeze-dried blood worms because  they are soft, he ignored them too.  Thanks so much and would appreciate an answer ASAP, if possible.  I know you are probably answering a lot of questions for everyone and it takes time.  Thanks for everything.  Mahalo

Answer
Hello,

It sounds to me as if a couple things may be going on.  Cottonmouth, or a mouth parasite, combined alongside Black Spot Disease.

Both are treatable by salt.  Salt will prevent parasites and cure the diseases, if properly administered to your Betta.  A teaspoon of salt per gallon is probably a good idea with this type of fish, just to prevent parasites, regardless...however this may hamper live plant growth.  Should you not have that concern, I'd say to go ahead and begin a salt regime for him.

Other things I can suggest are to feed him small foods for the timebeing, not brine shrimp.  Brine shrimp tend not to have a lot of nutrients.  Let's try something like ground shrimp pellets.  They dissolve quite nicely and the fish can digest and eat them, but be certain not to overfeed.

Salt should help this cure up.  Some Bettas have black spots as coloration, however if he's also ill, it's just best to assume the worst and to treat for both bacterial infection as well as parasitic.  Salt's a great way to do both.

I hope he makes it.  Good luck to you and much luck with your bettas.

Renee