I think my betta has gill disease?!!?!?!!??

Question
Hi, and first off thank you for taking time out of your day to read my question and try to help me and my betta (Ethan) out...We both appreciate it. OK, so I have a 5 gallon tank and in it I have 1 male betta, 3 tetras, and an Octo... (he's the algae eater).  My Betta for the last couple of days has been behaving weird. He hides under this cave-like bridge he usually loves to sleep in. Only now he's been spending all night AND all day in there coming out barely 20 min a day. He was always a very active fish and it's sad to see him so miserable. One of his gills, his left one.. is swollen and appears to have these horizontal lines across it, it's discolored and does not look healthy at all. The other gill appears normal. His breathing is however very rapid on both gills. He seems to open his mouth every now and then as if gasping. He doesn't go to the surface much any more... just stays on the bottom under his cave or hiding under a plant when he does come out. The water is kept warm, because i've heard that they prefer warmer water when they are sick. The temp. is about 82 degrees. I've been treating the tank with Jungle's Life Guard medicine for 3 days, since i noticed the symptoms. He doesn't seem to be responding to the medication. The gill still is inflamed, and if anything maybe a tinnnnnny bit less than yesterday but if theres a difference at all it's hard to tell. There is also Coppersafe in the tank. I always have it in there as a preventative.  He seems really miserable and i want him to get better. I've had him for almost 2 years. And, though I know that's about the length of their life span, I've grown attached and I'm not ready to let him go yet. Please if you can suggest a different medication, or anything I can do to make him more comfortable, happy and able to breathe easier i'd greatly appreciate it and i'm sure my betta Ethan would too. His ammonia level is...barely .5, though I know idealy it should be 0. His Nitrite is 0. And, his Ph is....6.4, I know that's low, so i added a ph buffer which puts it at a neutral 7.0.
He also has an air stone in his tank to increase oxygen, this has always been in his tank, and also this carbon filter is currently not in the tank because of the medication I'm using.(it said on the package to remove the carbon filter, add a half a tablet a day consecutive for 5 days at 24 hr intervals and then on the 6 th day to  do a 25 % water change and add a baterial enzyme product and a dechlorinator all for the entire tank volume. My other fish seem to be in perfect health. I don't know if i've given you all the information you need, or if i've given you too much but, I didn't know what you'd need to know exactly... so here it is.. I hope you can help soon. Thank you!

Answer
Hi Erika,
I hope Ethan is faring. I know waiting for my answer must be distressing and I feel bad I can't get back to everyone sooner when there is a case like this where a fish is really sick.

A picture would really help and you can send it to this address-
nature_girl2u@hotmail.com

He may have developed a bacterial infection that's affecting his gills and many bacterial infections are difficult to treat because there are both gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria. Not every medication treats both and if the infection is internal, it'll be even more difficult. Most aquarists would advise feeding an antibacterial food but I'm not sure if he would accept it. The best option would be to change his water as often as you can. Everyday would be a major plus. Nothing helps fish more than clean water. Excessive waste help feed and breed the bad bacteria and other illness causing pathogens, plus the water changes of course will keep the ammonia down.

A bettas gills can become inflamed due to nitrate poisoning or other pollutants, large water changes of course can fix this but a medication helps also

*I hate to bear more bad news but using a pH buffer can be stressful to fish too. It may raise the pH too quicker or cause drastic ups and downs in the pH level. I wonder what your tap water's pH is. That maybe if the tank just got extra water changes with a higher pH in the tap water it would keep the level alright. Sometimes due to natural acids that occur in long established tanks due to continually decomposing matter can keep the pH level quite low.

The best advice I can give is to change his water as often as you can and try an antibiotic that's stronger than lifeguard. One active ingredient recommended for inflamed gills is "Ampicillin" but this is often in the form of a gel that fish eat. He may not go for it and the tetras may not let him have it either. So all you can do is try your best at treating with a general medication. I've had success before with Jungle Brand's Fungus clear which also treats bacterial and secondary infections. I believe they have a strict antibacterial medication available too.

I really hope Ethan gets better. But please know I can't guarantee these treatments will work.

Best wishes!
Karen~