Floating...sideways? o_O

[BettaCavy]

Housing
What size is your tank? 2gal
What temperature is your tank? Been sitting at 80* since Tuesday, but has fluctuated from 78*-82* today
Does your tank have a filter? No
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration?Nope
Is your tank heated? Yep
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? None

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish?pellets, freeze dried brine shrimp
How often do you feed your betta fish?I've been offering food once a day but he hasn't taken any

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? Ideally I'll be doing a 50% change once a week and a 100% change once a week, but I've been doing 100% changes daily since Wednesday
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? seeeeee above
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change?Aquasafe conditioner

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters? N/A

Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Hardness:
Alkalinity:

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? he's become a bit paler again
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? He's floating on his side at the top of the tank
When did you start noticing the symptoms? Earlier today
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how?Not for this, but he is being treated for a case of popeye I caught early on, as well as what looked like external parasites
Does your fish have any history of being ill? seee above
How old is your fish (approximately)? dunno, got him Tuesday but he's a bit big, so he could be older

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I got Fidget on Tuesday, then on Wednesday noticed what appeared to be a case of external parasites. His eyes were also a bit larger than they had been the day before and had some white stuff on them, so I went out and got Maracyn and some aquarium salt and started treating him with that. He was doing much better Wednesday, Thursday, and most of yesterday. When I changed his water yesterday he seemed more stressed than he had been with the previous water changes. That, combined with the fact that a) it snowed last night and b) our house heater broke last night (which dropped his tank temp 4* even with the adjustable heater, with our house temp at ~55 for most of the day), led me to not change his water today and just put in the dose of Maracyn.

I've been out of my room most of the day, just coming up to check on the tank temp, trying to keep it at around 80* despite the drastically fluctuating house temperature, so he could've started doing the sideways floating thing earlier but I just haven't been around to see. Is this him being more sick or just him sleeping or something?

For the record:
-yes, I know 2gal is a bit small, but poor college student + living in a forced triple = smaller tank for Fidget. Trust me, I'd love to get rid of one of my roommates and give him a bigger tank, but it's not going to happen for a bit.

-yes, I know live food might be able to get him to eat (or at least frozen) but I don't have a freezer at school and my roommates might crucify me if I suggested keeping live food in the fridge. Plus, with his other health issues I really don't want to risk internal parasites right now.

Thanks a lot :)

[Oldfishlady]

Your tank size and husbandry are fine.....

I would start doing an Epsom salt 2tsp/gal treatment- with the floating/buoyancy issues- as well as covering the top with plastic veggie wrap to help maintain the heat and humidity over the water...it sounds like the added cold air along with everything else that was going on with him has caused some labyrinth organ problems

Mix a 1gal jug of dechlorinated water and add the Epsom salt 2tsp/gal and some tannins-either naturally dried and fallen from the tree Oak leaf or Indian almond leaf or blackwater extract or decaf green tea to steep for at least an hour before use...the longer it steeps the more tannins will be released the darker the water the better the Betta will like it...shake well before use...... and use this water for the 100% daily water changes for 10 days while in QT-keep this small QT in the heated tank to maintain water temp (attached so it doesn't sink)-cover with the plastic veggie wrap for the heat and humidity.

[BettaCavy]

I have some conditioner with Almond Leaf extract in it, would that work? Or ought I go ahead and use the tea?

Also, is it safe to do epsom salts + maracyn + aquarium salts? Or is this minor enough that I can wait until I'm done treating for popeye (he gets the last dose of maracyn tomorrow) and then add the epsom salts with the next water change (Monday)? I feel like some sort of crazy paranoid parent overmedicating him at this point, and don't want to cause any complications because of how things interact.

[Oldfishlady]

Once you complete the Maracyn-then do the Epsom salt treatment-no aquarium salt needed