Healthy betta flashing

Hey all!
Things have been going pretty well with my 3.5g betta tank I've had running for about 2 months. I precycled my filter media prior to getting my betta. Just some info before we get to the issue:
3.5g tank with HOB filter (ceramic rings)
1 male plakat betta and 4 neocardina shrimp
Temp is 80F, ammonia and nitrite 0ppm nitrate is less than 5 ppm. 75% water change weekly, with both tap and tank pH a solid 7.0
My betta Kyo has been doing well since I got him, other than I noticed he was flashing since I initially added him. He did it a few times directly after adding him in, which I chalked it up to the difference in my tank parameters vs the breeders. Since then, he flashes a good bit directly after water changes and while I know that can be normal (I temp match the new water within 2 degrees) I noticed here and there he will occasionally flash off the driftwood. He flashes if I accidentally spook him also. His coloring doesnt seem as vibrant as it was the first 2 weeks I've had him, and he doesnt keep his tail and analfins "fluffed out" like most plakats. He isn't full on clamping them, but it just doesn't seem 100% normal to me although this is the first plakat I've had. Its hard to tell of any gold dust velvet signs because he has metallic/iridescent scales all over that glitter in a flashlight. His appetite and swimming patterns are normal. Its been about 1 1/2 months since I got him. I have tried dosing the tank with paraguard a few times with no change in the flashing. I figured if it was velvet the paraguard would have solved the issue. I also have prazi on hand but I dont see any signs of flukes (unless it could be gill flukes) or ich.
Any ideas? Should I try the prazi? With him not showing any other outward symptoms of disease or parasites I'm scratching my head a bit. Any thoughts are appreciated!
Edit btw: I dont want to get into the discussion on tank size. I feel that my 3.5 is very adequate for one plakat (which are smaller bodied than regular bettas) HOWEVER I am impulsive with MTS soooo I have a UNS 45s (5 gal shallow) pre-ordered. I will be upgrading Kyo to a shallow pond scape in late Feb-early March depending on how fast buceplant gets their tanks back in stock.

 

can you get a picture?
my betta is finally almost healed from velvet and the sachem cupramine is what I am using and it is working great! here is a picture of what the velvet looked like on him... sorry there is a pellet in the picture (he wouldn't stay still)

 

Here's pics with and without the flash. Like I said, doesn't look like velvet to me, he doesnt have that sandy coating. I also feel like if it was early velvet it would have snowballed to a worse stage already. But you can see his green metallic patches that in the flash, have a similar color to velvet. But his red and black coloring are fine. Im wondering it it perhaps is gill flukes. As you can see his fins aren't clamped but also not happily fanned out. However, he does fan his fins out occasionally depending on if he's swimming etc. Im wondering if perhaps he's just anxious fish and flashes when he is stressed. I started a dose of prazi to try and rule out gill flukes next.

 

maybe try some aquarium salt it works for most freshwater diseases...
hard to tell if it is velvet from the picture I wouldn't treat it unless it starts spreading and getting worse.

 

maybe try some aquarium salt it works for most freshwater diseases...
hard to tell if it is velvet from the picture I wouldn't treat it unless it starts spreading and getting worse.

I dont think aquarium salt is safe for shrimp, I tend to stay away from salt as a treatment. I figure if it were velvet the paraguard would have taken care of it. I will try a run of prazi and if that works then I know it was gill flukes. If that doesn't seem to alleviate the issue I will try api general cure. Cupramine contains copper I believe and isn't shrimp or plant safe either.

 

sorry forgot you had shrimp...
here are some of the gill flukes symptoms. what makes you think it is gill flukes?

Gasping For Air At The Waters Surface
The longer your betta has gill flukes the more damage their going to do. When his gills start to fail, you’ll notice your betta swimming to the surface and gasping for air.

However, make sure you notice this sign with other symptoms as it can also be caused by ammonia poisoning.


Damage To The Gills
In more severe cases you may also notice that the gills have become damaged and look like they’re being eaten away. At this stage, you’ll need to act very quickly to make sure your betta makes a full recovery.

Gills Covered In Mucus
Gill flukes often cause your bettas gills to become covered in mucus. This is his bodies way of trying to fight the infection and flush out anything bad from his system.

If you notice his gills are covered in mucus you should make sure that he’s not suffering from columnaris which can also cause this to occur. The main difference is that only the gills will be affected with gill flukes, whereas if your betta is suffering from columnaris other parts of his body may produce mucus as well.

Scraping
One of the biggest signs that your betta has a skin or gill infection is when he’s scraping against things. You may notice him constantly rubbing up against decorations or the substrate in your tank.

When you see this, you’re actually watching your betta trying to scrape off the parasite from his gills. But it’s not just gill flukes that cause this to occur. Any bodily infection such as ich, velvet, and columnaris may cause this to happen.

Ulcers And Wounds
A combination of damage from the gill flukes and your betta scraping is going to cause ulcers and wounds to show on your betta’s body. They should be located close to his gills, however, they could be anywhere on his body if he’s scraped against something for too long.

What’s The Best Way To Diagnose Gill Flukes
Because the symptoms of gill flukes aren’t unique to gill flukes alone you may be finding it hard to diagnose them. The best thing you can do is check to see whether everything is localized to the gills. If they are then it’s a pretty good chance that your betta is suffering from gill flukes.

 

sorry forgot you had shrimp...
here are some of the gill flukes symptoms. what makes you think it is gill flukes?

Gasping For Air At The Waters Surface
The longer your betta has gill flukes the more damage their going to do. When his gills start to fail, you’ll notice your betta swimming to the surface and gasping for air.

However, make sure you notice this sign with other symptoms as it can also be caused by ammonia poisoning.


Damage To The Gills
In more severe cases you may also notice that the gills have become damaged and look like they’re being eaten away. At this stage, you’ll need to act very quickly to make sure your betta makes a full recovery.

Gills Covered In Mucus
Gill flukes often cause your bettas gills to become covered in mucus. This is his bodies way of trying to fight the infection and flush out anything bad from his system.

If you notice his gills are covered in mucus you should make sure that he’s not suffering from columnaris which can also cause this to occur. The main difference is that only the gills will be affected with gill flukes, whereas if your betta is suffering from columnaris other parts of his body may produce mucus as well.

Scraping
One of the biggest signs that your betta has a skin or gill infection is when he’s scraping against things. You may notice him constantly rubbing up against decorations or the substrate in your tank.

When you see this, you’re actually watching your betta trying to scrape off the parasite from his gills. But it’s not just gill flukes that cause this to occur. Any bodily infection such as ich, velvet, and columnaris may cause this to happen.

Ulcers And Wounds
A combination of damage from the gill flukes and your betta scraping is going to cause ulcers and wounds to show on your betta’s body. They should be located close to his gills, however, they could be anywhere on his body if he’s scraped against something for too long.

What’s The Best Way To Diagnose Gill Flukes
Because the symptoms of gill flukes aren’t unique to gill flukes alone you may be finding it hard to diagnose them. The best thing you can do is check to see whether everything is localized to the gills. If they are then it’s a pretty good chance that your betta is suffering from gill flukes.

The fact that I'm seeing no other symptoms but flashing, slight clamping, and slight color loss. Typically with flukes the more serious symtoms like sores or gill fungus are latter symptoms that only appear after the flukes were left untreated for a longer, extended period of time. I haven't had him long enough for it to get that bad, but its a decent possibility he came to me with the very most beginning stages of flukes from the breeder. I have experience with skin flukes, which were very similar symtoms in that the main signs were flashing and fin clamping, but the fish was still eating and swimming fine. However I could literally see the flukes on the body, and since i can't see any on my betta im thinking it's possibily localized in the gills where I can't see them.

 

IMO I would probable put him in another tank and treat with aquarium salt if I where worried.
I think if he is still new he is probably just adjusting and wouldn't worry to much for now.

 

An update on Kyo:
When I've used prazi in the past for flukes I noticed that flukes HATE it, and I see them drop off as quickly as minutes after dosing prazi in the aquarium. Since dosing the prazi about 18 hours ago, Kyo seems much more lively. He's had his fins fanned out much more and it may just be my imagination but his color seems brighter this morning. I haven't seen him flash yet since adding the prazi last night but I haven't been standing over the tank 24/7 either. I will dose prazi again in 4 days just to be sure and update again. If all seems well from here on I can assume it was gill flukes perhaps he was susceptible after the stress from shipping and being introduced to new water and a new tank. I also noticed he was spitting out the new life spectrum micro pellets often and I realized that they are slightly too big for his preference, I have since switched to Hikari micro pellets which are slightly smaller and he has been chomping those up.

 

that is great that he is feeling better