Betta bloated vs early dropsy

Tank
What is the water volume of the tank? 37 gal
How long has the tank been running? 8 months (but used cycled water from smaller tank and all ornaments to start cycle)
Does it have a filter? Yes
Does it have a heater? Yes
What is the water temperature? 78-80
What is the entire stocking of this tank? (Please list all fish and inverts.)
3 nerite snails
3 flying foxes
3 green cories
12 x-Ray tetra
1 male betta

Maintenance
How often do you change the water? Twice monthly or more as needed
How much of the water do you change? 25%
What do you use to treat your water? Prime, stress guard
Do you vacuum the substrate or just the water? Substrate

*Parameters - Very Important
Did you cycle your tank before adding fish? Yes
What do you use to test the water? API master kit
What are your parameters? We need to know the exact numbers, not just “fine” or “safe”.
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate:5-10
pH:7.6

Feeding
How often do you feed your fish? 5 days per week
How much do you feed your fish? 2 pinches of food did tetra and betta pellets.
What brand of food do you feed your fish? Aqueon pro betta formulA
Tetra color flakes
Aqueon shrimp pellets for Cory
Do you feed frozen? No
Do you feed freeze-dried foods? No, bad experience with bettas

Illness & Symptoms
How long have you had this fish? 6 months
How long ago did you first notice these symptoms? Yesterday
In a few words, can you explain the symptoms? Bloating. Maybe pineconing at lower scales but too minor to know for sure
Have you started any treatment for the illness? Kanaplex started in 0.5 gal hospital tank
Was your fish physically ill or injured upon purchase? No
How has its behavior and appearance changed, if at all? Was mildly lethargic yesterday but seems to be acting normally tixag

Explain your emergency situation in detail.
(Please give a clear explanation of what is going on, include details from the beginning of the illness leading up to now)

Betta Steve started acting strangely yesterday, only staying in one section of tank and not greeting me when I walked over to the tank. I noticed some bloating and maybe some protruding scales on the stomach area. Water parameters were fine as per above and no other fish have been ill. I did a 25% water change and quarantined Steve in my 0.5 gal hospital tank with a heater. Started Kanaplex yesterday. I am fasting him. He has perked up but I can’t tell for sure if bloating has improved? I am not sure if I should continue treating or am I overreacting?

Any insight?

 

Does it look like he is having trouble breathing?

 

No. He is swimming around the quarantine tank just fine. He doesn’t seem air hungry. Yesterday he would rest awkwardly at the bottom of the tank here and there and lean to one side, so I was worried his swim bladder was affected. But today he is swimming well and rests upright.

 

The meds might be an overreaction, i would jist fast a bit longer.

 

I would not feed the Aqueon food. It's a really low quality food not suitable for bettas IMO. Look for a higher protein % food with fish/squid/krill as the first ingredient. In the meantime yes fasting would be good

 

Update: Steve was doing better so I returned him to the tank on Sunday night. However, by Monday afternoon, I noticed he was hanging out in the one spot in the tank again. I restarted the quarantine tank and proceeded with another dose of Kanaplex. Today, there is definite pineconing. I am trying to decide between starting metroplex as well to broaden coverage vs epsom salt bath vs waiting to see if Kanaplex works. Any suggestions??