How Can I Be A Better Mother To Shaq Diesel Iii

HI everyone!
So 3 weeks ago I adopted a betta fish that could not be cared for anymore by the original owner. When I got him he came with a vertical plant vase that held maybe 2 gallons. He had severe fin rott and bloating. He would barely move and swam/floated vertically. He also had some Ich and barely ate. All he had was a fake plant that he still seems to love dearly. The original owner said he had him 2 years ago from the store, and he had left him with a friend for the last 7 months. I believe this friend is the reason Shaq was doing so bad. It looked like he had been living in terrible conditions and left to die.
I started with 50% water changes and that same weekend went out and got Shaq a 10 gal tank with a water filter and heater with more places to hide and more fake plants.

As soon as he was in the 10 gal tank he was visibly very happy. His original owner said he had never seen him so active. I treated him with Furan-2 for his fin rott which seems so have worked, but his fins still seem like they should be longer. I fed him garlic for this Ich as I could not go buy more medicine at the time. Amazingly the Ich seems to have finally disappeared after a week.
I still do about 25-50% water changes a week, depending on the color of the water. Whenever I put new water in I use two different conditioners to mix in it before adding and I make sure to use the same temp water.
He began eating again maybe 2-3 days after being in the 10 gallon, and his bloating went away completely (except this one time when I gave him a little too much broccoli). He eats betta pellets and LOVES broccoli. He will not touch tropical fish flakes, which after some research realize he shouldn't be eating that anyway. He won't eat garlic anymore so I may go buy garlic betta food soon to keep the Ich at bay.

He seems to be very comfortable with me. He always greets me when I approach his tank. I tried to make sure he can see my room from every wall of his tank. He will eat from my hand and he actually likes to play. He'll follow my hand around and really loves my bracelets that I always wear. He either bites them or if my hands are submerged he'll swim through my bracelets. He'll even lounge on them like a hammock if I'm very still. He enjoys swimming against the filter like a treadmill. If I put hoops where the strongest current is, then he'll swim through them and try to balance in them against the current. I'm currently trying to teach him to sit on my hand while it's submerged but he's still a bit sceptical on that. If I put my face near the water he'll swim on the surface of the water with top half of his body above water to look at me.
What else can I do to make Shaq happy? And when will his fins be done healing?
The first 3 pics are when I first got him. The last 3 pics are from this past week.

 

Well the photos say you’ve given him a complete turn around, great job, he’s gorgeous. I think you’re doing it right....and the name...hahaha!

 

I think that everything you're doing is great! I'm not sure what else you could even do.
He looks so much healthier now!!

 

View attachment 433523 View attachment 433524 View attachment 433525 View attachment 433527 View attachment 433528 View attachment 433530 HI everyone!
So 3 weeks ago I adopted a betta fish that could not be cared for anymore by the original owner. When I got him he came with a vertical plant vase that held maybe 2 gallons. He had severe fin rott and bloating. He would barely move and swam/floated vertically. He also had some Ich and barely ate. All he had was a fake plant that he still seems to love dearly. The original owner said he had him 2 years ago from the store, and he had left him with a friend for the last 7 months. I believe this friend is the reason Shaq was doing so bad. It looked like he had been living in terrible conditions and left to die.
I started with 50% water changes and that same weekend went out and got Shaq a 10 gal tank with a water filter and heater with more places to hide and more fake plants.

As soon as he was in the 10 gal tank he was visibly very happy. His original owner said he had never seen him so active. I treated him with Furan-2 for his fin rott which seems so have worked, but his fins still seem like they should be longer. I fed him garlic for this Ich as I could not go buy more medicine at the time. Amazingly the Ich seems to have finally disappeared after a week.
I still do about 25-50% water changes a week, depending on the color of the water. Whenever I put new water in I use two different conditioners to mix in it before adding and I make sure to use the same temp water.
He began eating again maybe 2-3 days after being in the 10 gallon, and his bloating went away completely (except this one time when I gave him a little too much broccoli). He eats betta pellets and LOVES broccoli. He will not touch tropical fish flakes, which after some research realize he shouldn't be eating that anyway. He won't eat garlic anymore so I may go buy garlic betta food soon to keep the Ich at bay.

He seems to be very comfortable with me. He always greets me when I approach his tank. I tried to make sure he can see my room from every wall of his tank. He will eat from my hand and he actually likes to play. He'll follow my hand around and really loves my bracelets that I always wear. He either bites them or if my hands are submerged he'll swim through my bracelets. He'll even lounge on them like a hammock if I'm very still. He enjoys swimming against the filter like a treadmill. If I put hoops where the strongest current is, then he'll swim through them and try to balance in them against the current. I'm currently trying to teach him to sit on my hand while it's submerged but he's still a bit sceptical on that. If I put my face near the water he'll swim on the surface of the water with top half of his body above water to look at me.
What else can I do to make Shaq happy? And when will his fins be done healing?
The first 3 pics are when I first got him. The last 3 pics are from this past week.

What a very social betta. You are doing the best job ever. There is nothing you can do to give him a better home because Shaq is already in the best home. Love post like this. Keep up the good work! Keep us updated to I would love to hear more.

 

He looks like a very happy fish.

You asked what else you could do. Try to cycle the tank. There is tons of information on here, and elsewhere about the nitrogen cycle.

Basically, fish poop is nitrogen/ammonia. Ammonia is toxic to fish , that’s why your water changes are important to dilute the ammonia. One type of beneficial bacteria converts ammonia to nitrites which are also toxic to fish when over 1ppm. A second type of beneficial bacteria converts nitrites to nitrates, not toxic under 40ppm. So you do water changes to keep nitrates under 40ppm.

Your tank will eventually cycle as is. To speed it up you can add bottled beneficial bacteria to your filter. Stability, TetraSafeStart and others work but don’t add until at least 24 hours after you use a declorinator.

You should also get an API MASTER TEST KIT, $25 on Amazon. That way you can accurately test ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and PH.

If I was in your situation, I would do a 90% water change, wait 24 hours, add a bottle of TetraSafeStart + to your filter.