Not sure whats up

[MaggieLynn]

So one of my new boys seems really lethargic, he was on the bottom of his tank fins clamped and has what looks like ich just on his tail and much smaller. He is in a 3/4 qt with aq salt and stress coat watching my mom crochet lol! he is alot more active but he had a visitor in his tank (his neighbor decided to stop by >.<) but he isnt really affected by that. Any who Zeke has some weird scaly looking junk edging his gills as well trying to get a good picture.

Housing
What size is your tank? 5 gallon
What temperature is your tank? 74-80
Does your tank have a filter? yes
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? no
Is your tank heated? yes but only during the day by a desk lamp, keeps it 80
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? divided, his side has a cory cat.

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? New life spectrum
How often do you feed your betta fish? once every night maybe 5-6 pellets sometimes he will eat shrimp pellets for the cory cat

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? once a week
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 80%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Stress coat

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

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

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? Clamped fins, weird scaly gills
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? lethargic, although more active now
When did you start noticing the symptoms? the weird tail a couple days ago, everything else earlier today
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? aq salt and stress coat
Does your fish have any history of being ill? not sure got him september 1st
How old is your fish (approximately)? not sure

[MaggieLynn]

Here are pics of his gills

[tokala]

Well, my first recommendation would be to get a heater rather than using your desk lamp to heat the tank. The temperature swings could be throwing off his immune system making him more susceptible to illness. I would also try to break up his feeding into 2 or more smaller meals a day to avoid constipation. I know next to nothing about cory cats, my only thought is did you QT him before adding him to the tank? Sometimes new fish can introduce disease. Its a little hard to tell whether or not he has Ick. I would keep him in his QT tank, 100% daily water changes, get him a heater for stable temps and continue to treat with AQ salt.

[tf1265]

He is quarantined - so that means the cory is no longer in the tank, correct? Cories are scaleless and VERY sensitive to medications and aquarium salt. If you happen to still have the cory in a tank that has medications or salt in it, remove him.

Agreed about the heater - temp fluctuations are not good for fish, and since it cools down at night that's probably when a heater would be needed the most.

Unless the gill thing starts to spread, I would continue to treat the quarantined betta with aquarium salt and very clean water (daily large water changes, or 100% using 2 separate small QT containers to alternate) and hold off on any medications. It's very likely it will go away on its own if it was healthy to start with.

[tf1265]

Just saw that he was a new purchase. New environments are very stressful on fish. The ich was likely a result of being moved. Water conditions can have a huge affect. This will likely go away on it's own if you can de-stress him.

If i were you I would change less water more frequently once he is back to normal. Your tank is filtered therefore has the potential to form bacteria colonies (the good kind). This is called cycling, there are several very informative step-by-step articles posted to the forum. It will make a huge difference to your cory as well.

Another note about cories- they are shoaling fish, which pet stores tend to either not know or not care about. They do SIGNIFICANTLY better in groups of 3 or more. Your tank isn't large enough to add 2 more cories. If the cory is also new, I would take it back to the store as your tank doesn't really suit that fish. Cories are great fish, but there are some specifics that the pet store obviously didn't inform you about. Bettas don't need tank mates, cories do. 2 1/2 gallons (if i'm understanding your set-up correctly - a divided 5 gallon with a cory and betta on one side) is NOT enough space for a cory.

Sorry, I know your question wasn't about the cory, but they are my favorite fish so I thought I'd chime in because it's pretty likely that if you keep your cory the way it is now, it's only a matter of time before you develop serious problems with that one as well.

[MaggieLynn]

The cory isnt new i had him with another cory and another betta, both fish passed, the one cory didnt look good to start and the betta norbert jumped out and i didnt get to him in time, he was doing good, just all of a sudden he seemed sick, I did qt Zeke last night and he perked up and is doing alot better right now, and i am getting a heater i just dont have the money atm but by payday ill have one. Its hard for me to feed all of my fish two times a day because of going to school full time, working part time and working from home, but ill try and see if that helps too, i do fast them all on sundays or if i notice bloat. thanks for all of the advice!