Is this normal, or should I be worried?

[RoxieStClaire]

So my new betta fish, Tudor, came to me with what I can only assume were internal parasites (his poop was white and stringy for the first few days and he would dart and jerk around while he was swimming) and soon became constipated for several days. Yesterday was his last day of treatment for the parasites (which he was showing no more signs of having), so I changed the water in his hospital bowl this morning so he wouldn't get over medicated (he has to stay in this bowl for a bit longer while his 5 gal. tank finishes cycling).

I had a busy day today, so once he was back in, I had to leave. Now I just FINALLY got home after 12 hours, and come back to find him VERY PALE LOOKING (he was pretty healthy looking when I left) and VERY LETHARGIC. I immediately started to change the water in his bowl thinking maybe I had done something wrong when I notice one HUGE poop at the bottom of his bowl. It was about half the size of a PEA! It actually took me a while to figure out what it was, I thought somehow one of his organs had just up and fallen out of him!

So now I'm wondering if it was his water at all, or is it just stress from having such a huge poop.

Housing
What size is your tank? 1/2 gallon (hospital tank)
What temperature is your tank? 76 (didn't want to leave the heater on while I was out and have him boil on me because it overheated)
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? New Life Spectrum
How often do you feed your betta fish? 3-4 pellets a day, although I had him fast today

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? 100% every other day
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 100%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? 1 drop of Seachem's Prime (the water I use already starts out at .25 ppm of ammonia, and quickly sky rockets to dangerous levels), and 1ml Stress Coat+. Since his fins also were starting to look ragged I added <1/4 tsp aq. salt

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters? No I panicked and took him out of there when I thought it might have been his water, and then dumped it out without thinking of testing it

Ammonia: n/a
Nitrite: n/a
Nitrate: n/a
pH:n/a
Hardness:n/a
Alkalinity: n/a

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? He's extremely pale
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? He WAS very lethargic when I first started writing this, but looking at him now he seems to be perking back up a bit and swimming around. He even ate the pellet I gave him pretty quickly
When did you start noticing the symptoms? less than an hour ago
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? Yes, I changed his water (he's still acclimating)
Does your fish have any history of being ill? He's been constipated for the past week, and had internal parasites
How old is your fish (approximately)? I'd say about a year, tops.


I know I'm probably over reacting, but I'd like some peace of mind before I head to bed.

[PaintedOaksOki]

The lethargy may be because of the no heater thing? Sorry... Can't be of much help :/ See what tomorrow brings?

[RoxieStClaire]

That's probably all I can do at this point. :/ I would very much like to get a heater for the 1/2 gallon, but there isn't one small enough to safely heat it. The 7.5 watt one I have in the 5 gallon tank has kept it pretty stable at 80 degrees, so I guess he just has to hold on until it finishes cycling. Still, in the past few days he's still been pretty frisky even at 76, it's just when I got home he didn't even react to anything until I started moving things around to start the water change.

Since I finished this one (nothing added except water conditioner, a 1/2 ml of Stress Coat and a drop of Prime to keep the chemistry as healthy as possible) he's already started to improve (he even flared at me a bit as if to say "But you said I wouldn't HAVE to have another water change today! LIAR!" ). His color's still dull but I wouldn't expect that to change immediately anyway.

I think I'm just panicking unnecessarily because last night I had this horrible dream that I looked at him and he exploded... then come home to this.

[PaintedOaksOki]

Oh wow... Glad I haven't had a dream like that! xD
But I'm pretty sure he won't explode His color will probably come back soon!
I'm sorry I can't be of much help on the regard of the pea thing...

[RoxieStClaire]

It's ok, it's probably just poop. I had a feeling he'd been constipated for the past few days. I'm an overprotective pet parent by nature, so if one little thing is wrong with one of my pets my mind always goes to the worst case scenario.

His color's actually starting to come back a little. I can hardly see the stress stripes anymore, so I think he'll be fine!