Don't know what's wrong with Blizzard..

[dragonscalecrowntail02]

I've had Blizzard for a few weeks now, and when we first got him, he was in a bowl (probably less than a gallon) with a heater, for a week. When then upgraded him to his 2.5 gallon, with a heater and nicely planted. Ever since we upgraded him, he just stays at the bottom, none of his crowntail fins displayed like out other fish, Mauve's. It just seems like he keeps them tucked in to his body. He'll swim around a bit if you come near him, but normally he stays at the bottom. I do frequent water changes on the fish (probably once every week or week and a half) and his water is always warm. I use water conditioner when I do water changes. He is on a diet of betta pellets and freeze dried blood worms with the occasional treat of Daphnia. Just now, we took out his larger silk plant and he seems to be swimming a bit more. I also added my makeup mirror on the back of his tank to see if maybe he just wanted some exercise. I've seen it suggested. Any thoughts? Also, his face seems to have red veins running through it, which I've seen before but wanted to make sure it's normal.

[OrangeAugust]

Do you have a thermometer in his tank? Even if you have a heater it's good to be able to know what the water temp is. If you're using a non-adjustable heater, I think they only heat the water to a certain number of degrees above the room temp. So if it's chilly in your house his water might be still too cold. I had this problem the past few days- my gas company hasn't turned my furnace on yet, so it's been in the lower 60s in my apartment (yeah, brr.) so my one gallon tank isn't quite warm enough. The water was about 74 yesterday, so I had to actually cover the tank with a towel last night, and the water was back up to a toasty 80 degrees this morning. So anyway, sorry to talk your ear off, but you need to check his water temp.
Also you're not changing his water often enough. In a 2.5 gallon you should be doing one 50% and one 75%-100% water change per week. Get a gravel vac if you can so that you can suck the nasty stuff out of the gravel. My 2.5 gallon tank is too difficult to bring to the sink and rinse the gravel, so a gravel vac helps a lot.

I'm not sure about the red veins, though.

[MyRainbowBettaFish]

hmm well a 2.5 filtered shold be cleaned 1 505 and 1 100% a wek

[dragonscalecrowntail02]

I feel like messing with his tank twice a week would stress them out though. I have two fish in their separate 2.5 gallons and one was sick for a long time. I don't want to stress him out or Blizzard. :/ Not saying you're wrong, but I would never want to hurt my boys.

[sainthogan]

There's a good post stickied at the top of this forum abut water changes. http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=115758
I think it's better to clean more often than risk them getting sick from dirty water. Also, do you have a water test kit (I personally don't have one yet, it's on its way) so you can test the water PH and ammonia levels, etc? I've heard from other members that the water test kit is better than the strip kits, and from my little experience with a defective strip kit, I'd have to agree with them. Ammonia poisoning is much more damaging and stressful on your fish than more frequent water changes.

[dragonscalecrowntail02]

Thank you guys for the advice. I will be changing his water twice a week and buying a water test kit. I just live my boys and want what's best for them, you know?