Help With Betta Water

[Wildstorm]

Hello there. I am a new owner of a male Betta fish that I purchased on 1/19/11 (yesterday). He is a particularily gorgeous Betta, being blue with an orange colored mix. I instantly fell in love with him when I found him, but now I am fearing for his life....

Before I bought him, I purchased a 2 gallon bowl, black gravel, and I have a small plastic fern for his bowl. Naturally I also purchsed a tap water cleaner and food. I planned on starting him in this bowl, and then I would buy him a betta plant and other things to entertain him once he adjusted to his new habitat.
I used fresh water, it had absolutely nothing in it and was from the Poland Springs company. I cleaned/rinsed all of the gravel and rinsed off the plastic plant before adding it to the bowl. After the water settled and became comfortable, I added Yomi (his name) into his bowl. He seemed ok, and still seems ok, but his crystal clear water has changed....

It has become extemely cloudy, which I figured has to be from bacteria growing on his uneaten food. He just moved in, so naturally I think he is a little nervous to eat anything that comes into his bowl. But I also see little whisps of white material floating around ( it sticks out against the black gravel background) and I am unsure if that is bacteria that is harmful or helpful. I just put him in the bowl about 26 hours ago... He seems fine, but I don't want to lose him, and I am certianly not a fish expert, I am only 17. Can someone please help? I don't know if I should move him. I've had bettas before, but I never saw the white gook before.

[1fish2fish]

He could have parasites. It's common for petstore fish to have them. I would first do a 100% water change to remove all the uneaten food. As he adjusts give him about 30 mins to eat his food, if after that time he doesn't eat it remove the food so it doesn't foul the water.

What kind of food is it? Flake foods tend to foul up water faster than pelleted foods so I would suggest getting pelleted foods if you don't have them.

Do you have a heater? It's vitally important that bettas be kept at tropical temps (76-80*F) or else their immune systems can become compromised and they'll become susceptable to disease.

If you can afford parasitic meds I would suggest getting them. Most fish will not eat the anti-parasitic food so you'll need to get liquid meds. Unfortunately most of them are dosed in 10 gallon doses so it may be hard to figure out the right dose. If you can't get meds get some fresh garlic and chop it up really really fine and mix it up with his food. Garlic is a natural anti-parastic and over time will clean him out... however it'll take much longer than OTC meds.

[Pekemom]

How's he doing today, Wildstorm?

[Wildstorm]

Thank you for the help, I ended up moving him to a clean bowl with 3.5 gallons of new water. I did treat it with an chlorine killer, and he's been in there since about 10 pm last night. He is doing fine, he eats (although he makes sure I am not looking ^^) and is swimming normally. I decided I might get the water in the other bowl checked out mainly because the cloudiness hasn't cleared out yet- which bacteria is said to do within a day.

I do have a heater, and I will put it in the bigger bowl. I didn't think it was strong enough to kill off the bacteria, but I'll try it :)

*And it is flake food, so it gets kind of icky. But I did notice that the white whisps were more spread out in the upper half of the 2 gallon bowl, instead of being found on the old food.

[Airplane]

Bettas usually don't like flake food. Get some pellets instead.

[Wildstorm]

I might switch, the flake food reeks

[fishman12]

All fish food smells bad. Definitely follow 1f2f's advice...

[Wildstorm]

New news on Yomi~
I cleaned out his bowl and added a few ornaments 3 days ago, and I noticed that the water grew cloudy again. So now I have cleaned his bowl out and I have a heater going to see if the conditions will have improved. Thanks for the advice guys :3

But now Yomi is acting weird. He is listless, floats at the top of his tank, won't eat, and only moves if you go up really close. He won't display his fins, but he does not have a loss of color or stress markings. I have no idea what is up, this fish is driving me crazy! Does anyone have any idea what is going on now?

[1fish2fish]

Hmm.. what kind of ornaments did you add? Do you know what temp the tank is?

The only thing I can suggest is keep up with water changes and try to see if he is showing any signs of illnesss (white spots, vevlet/gold patches, stringy poo, bloating).

[Wildstorm]

These three things:
http://www.petco.com/product/109028/...t=OnSiteSearch
http://www.petco.com/product/109029/...t=OnSiteSearch
http://www.petco.com/product/112187/...t=OnSiteSearch

Through a mini diagnosis I found he is listles, has holes in his fins, his fins are becoming clear, he won't eat, and he is becoming darker. Fin rot?

The tank is about 74-78 degrees