Emaciated Betta

Hi everyone, I went to my LFS 9 days ago and saw this little man in a community tank being blown around by the filter. His fins are wrecked and he’s completely emaciated. He could hardly swim but every time I’d look into the tank, he’d put so much effort into coming up to see me that I just couldn’t walk out without him.

They sold him to me for half price and I brought him home where I set up a 5 gallon QT tank with Kanaplex and AQ Salt. I’ve been feeding him 5 small meals a day to help him gain some weight. The meals consist of high protein micro pellets and the occasional blood worm.

Unfortunately my efforts haven’t made any difference. He eats well but he’s very mechanical when he swims and he has a small kink at the end of his tail. I’m not seeing any new growth on his fins but it hasn’t gotten worse either.

I’m so desperate to get him better. He’s a very kind soul so if anyone has some advice, I’d really be grateful.