Fungal infection or marbled betta?

[keytotime]

I picked up my first lovely betta Merlin in late august. He was fine up until earlier this week, when I noticed some white patches on his chest that weren't cottony. Despite that, I immediately thought it was a fungal infection and bought him the only stuff that the pet store had for this sort of thing- Bettafix.
I medicated his tank yesterday and thought that he was moving around a bit more. Before the medication he wasn't acting exactly like a sick fish would. He was still eating and moving around a bit, but he was also spending a lot more time ( I think) laying still at the top/bottom of the tank.
I did some more research on Betta sickness and found some pictures of marbled bettas and thought his chest looked kind of similar.
Here's a picture:


[sorry for the quality, he didn't like the camera lens and was moving around.]

I did change his water conditioner a couple weeks ago. I changed it back when I did a 100% water change with the medication.

Thanks for looking at him! I hope he's marbled because that would mean he's healthy, but if he is I'd feel awful for medicating him when it wasn't necessary.

Housing
What size is your tank? 2.5 L
What temperature is your tank? 77
Does your tank have a filter? no
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? no
Is your tank heated? no
What tank mates does your betta fish live with?
none
Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? BettaMin
How often do you feed your betta fish? 3 times a day

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? 2-3 times a week
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 50%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Water conditioner

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? White, non-cottony scales on chest where it was previously saturated blue
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? Less active
When did you start noticing the symptoms? 3 days ago
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? I medicated his tank with Bettafix
Does your fish have any history of being ill? No
How old is your fish (approximately)? 5 months

[callistra]

His belly is pretty round and maybe kinda gray..? but otherwise I don't really see anything wrong with him.. That's not marble. That's just natural coloring I think. Gray belly is a sign on stress but that stress could be almost anything.

Can you fill this out though please: http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=49233 Don't want to miss anything.

Bettafix isn't likely to help anything.

[keytotime]

Housing
What size is your tank? 2.5 L
What temperature is your tank? 77
Does your tank have a filter? no
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? no
Is your tank heated? no
What tank mates does your betta fish live with?
none
Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? BettaMin
How often do you feed your betta fish? 3 times a day

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? 2-3 times a week
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 50%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Water conditioner

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? White, non-cottony scales on chest where it was previously saturated blue
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? Less active
When did you start noticing the symptoms? 3 days ago
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? I medicated his tank with Bettafix
Does your fish have any history of being ill? No
How old is your fish (approximately)? 5 months

The area I'm referring to is close to his gills and near his front fins. I missed that form, sorry for not filling out initially!

[callistra]

Your tank temp will be about 4 degrees colder than the room temp, so your room temp will have to be in the 80s for his tank to be that warm with no heater. Are you using an in tank thermometer to determine this temp? He needs one and likely a heater as well.

Flake food is not good for bettas. It has poor nutritional value and can lead to constipation issues. I would look for a good quality pellet - Omega One Betta Buffet or NEw Life Spectrum Betta. NLS can be found at Petco usually with the rest of the betta foods, but they also have a NLS section so you might check with the other NLS foods too. Omega One can be fed 3-4 or so split up into twice a day feedings, no more than a couple pellets at a time. NLS are much smaller. I feed 6-8 a day split up into two or three feedings. All bettas need one fast day a week.

Do you mean 2.5 gallon? 2.5L would be half a gallon.. Half a gallon is not enough to keep a betta fish in at all. It would require alternative 50% and 100% changes every other day. A 2.5 gallon would require two - one 50% and one 100% change. You can't keep just doing 50% water changes with a small unfiltered tank. When keeping bettas in small unfiltered bowls like this, using Prime as a conditioner can help because it renders ammonia harmless in ways most won't.

I'd say your betta is probably cold and maybe has a water quality problem. Maybe is a little constipated from flakes.. have you seen your betta poop lately? What does it look like?

[keytotime]

Thanks for the food recommendations. I switched to flakes because he has a tiny mouth and I spent a lot of time cutting pellets into tiny edible chunks!
I'm appalled that they don't have the nutritional value needed.
I'll get him a heater and a new tank too.
His last poop was reddish brown and round.

[callistra]

Round means constipated but brown means no infection so that's good.
Warming him up and switching foods should help with this.
Nls are great for small mouths so you might try that