breathing problem in new betta

[beta3chg]

So i just go a new betta about a week and a half ago, and Fire Flick (that's his name ;D) was doing just fine until about 3 days ago. He started resting on the bottom of his tank all of the time instead of swimming around interestedly and flaring at his reflection in the corners( ) then yesterday he was lying on the bottom all of the time, breathing heavily, only coming up to get air...i couln't get him to eat. Today i noticed that he was coming up to get air very often (every 5 minutes-when my other bettas are resting, they barely come up at all). Whenever he tries to take in air (for his labyrinth organ or swim bladder, i would assume) the air bubble just comes out of the side of his gills, and he sinks. Also, the edge of his gill is a little rough looking and very red (although i'm not sure if that's just his normal coloring-i've only had him for a week and he's a red crowntail with a red/white piebald head). So, tank stats: Fire Flick lives in a 1 gallon tank, heated to 79-80 degrees, unfiltered (i do 100% tank change once a week and add Aquasafe). The chemistry: pH is 7.2, Total Alkalinity 80, Calcium hardness 0 (no chlorine). I changed his tank last 2 days ago, i don't know if that caused this problem...he handled his first tank change very well. He eats 3 betta bites (soaked first) in the morning and 1 freeze dried bloodworm and a few small flakes at night. 1 of his neighbors (my old betta Blues) has been more lethargic than usual, but his other buddy Kingsley is normal. Please help! I'm really worried about my new betta buddy...

[Thistle]

I remember reading somewhere that the higher the water temperature the less oxygen there is in the water.

I keep my bettas water temperature around 75 and if I'm spawning them then I raise it a few degrees.

You could try lowering the water temperature just a wee bit and if you don't have an airstone in there perhaps you could add one?

[amanichen]

This isn't an oxygen problem. Bettas have physiology specifically designed for low-oxygen water. With that in mind, don't mess with the temperature.

It's difficult to say what's going on, but it's possible he's constipated (causing a swim bladder problem) or he is having a swim bladder problem for another reason. Try changing his water, and fasting him for a couple of days.

Also, you say there's no calcium in his water?

[beta3chg]

So he's fine today ;D . I think he was stressed by his water change, then i freaked him out more by trying to help (i put an air pump hose in to give him some oxygen and he flipped out...in hindsight it was a very bad idea ). Also, my insomnia (keeping the lights on in my room until about 1 am every night for a week) probably messed up their resting/swimming time in the dark or something. Anyway, so yeah my water is completely filtered (except for the flouride) using some kind of pottasium solution-i'm not really sure what that is. But it dechlorinates the water and removes bad chemicals, but that includes all of the minerals. So i add aquasafe to stabilize pH and kH, which it is suposed to do (but i was using a pool testing kit-it doesn't have a test for kH only Calcium hardness). So FireFlick is fine now, but my older betta Blues is really the one with the problem. You know how i said that he was more lethargic than usual? he now lies on the bottom, breathing slowly and not moving...i couldn't get him to eat either. I think it might be his age catching up with him...i haven't seen any other signs of illness, and his water and chemistry is the same as Fire Flicks (but i feed him more-8 betta bites in the AM, bloodworm and flakes in the evening, he is huge!). He is about 3 and a half-ish years old, and i recently lost my betta Jazz, who was about the same age as Blues is now...oy. fish. Thanks for the help, sorry i freaked out...i'm pretty new at this, i started in winter of 2004 and didn't know what i was doing until summer of 2005...then i found this site and changed my ways, but my original bettas were not kept very well (beginner's mistake-i did feed them right though ). once again, oy. Thanks anyway.
PS my third betta kingsley is as happy as ever-he flares at everything and jumps up and bites my finger if i get too close.
It is very possible that Fire Flick is constipated, he looks a little bit bloated...thanks again for all the advice (even if i did kinda change the topic halfway through...)