Very sick fish poor conditions.

[furubafan3]

Hello everyone! My name is Tiffany and for about a year my brother has rescued a betta from his fourth grade classroom. His betta Ishmael used to live in a tiny cramped cup where lots of kids would stick their fingers in and shake his container.

We placed him in a larger bowl, added gravel and a small plant. However we didn't know any better and after coming to this site I realize we haven't been taking very good care of him.

Ishmael lives in a bowl containing a little under one gallon of water. His plant is hard plastic, and 100% water changes were done once a week.
Although he was much happier with the new room and making bubble nests before he has gotten very sick.

We believe he has fin rot due to ripping his fins against the hard plastic plant. He currently looks like this.


Pardon for the low quality photo. I don't have a camera and used my cell phone.

My room (and his when I'm away at college) tends to be on the cold side so the temperature fluctuates a lot. Our mother thinks we're over reacting and refuses to get a heater or a larger tank for the poor guy, so I decided to step in and order a heater and a new tank for my brother.

I personally want to know how bad he looks and what we can do to help Ishmael feel comfortable in the mean time while I order a larger tank and cycle it. Does he look very sick? What can we do to help him get better? Thanks. :(

EDIT: I just read the sticky so here are the questions I answered.
Housing
What size is your tank? 0.8 gallon
What temperature is your tank? We don't own a thermometer but it's definatley cold.
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? He has no tank mates

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Betta Min flakes
How often do you feed your betta fish? Once a day

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? 100%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Betta Min conditioner

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?
We haven't tested our water since we don't have a test kit. I will remedy this situation soon.
Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Hardness:
Alkalinity:

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? Although his color has improved since we got him and his fins have healed they started to tear after we added his plant.
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? He used to blow lots of bubbles and swim towards the surface but now he's very still and slow. Ocassionally he swims towards the bottom and twitches but that's infrequent.
When did you start noticing the symptoms? About a week ago
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? We made frequent water changes.
Does your fish have any history of being ill? He was already very sick when we got him. His color was very very pale and his fins were much more tattered.
How old is your fish (approximately)? He's about 3 years old.

[Pataflafla]

Do 2-4 100% changes weekly and try to keep him warmer. 78-80 is the ideal range.

The cleaner water and warmth should help him out a lot so he can fight off the infection himself.

Once he's healthy, if you plan on keeping him in that size tank, a good water change schedule to be on is 1 50% and 1 100% weekly.

[furubafan3]

Originally Posted by Pataflafla

Do 2-4 100% changes weekly and try to keep him warmer. 78-80 is the ideal range.

The cleaner water and warmth should help him out a lot so he can fight off the infection himself.

Once he's healthy, if you plan on keeping him in that size tank, a good water change schedule to be on is 1 50% and 1 100% weekly.

He seems to have perked up after we cleaned up his water and added a heater. He also seems to really like the extra plant we gave him.

[aqua001]

I agree with what Pataflafla said. Definetly warmer water and cleaner too. I don't exactly know what to do with the fin rot but avoid medicines such as Melafix and Pimafix because they will be harmful to Ishmael. Hope your rescued betta gets well soon!

[martinicole]

ok question my betta has started turning pale in the face and looks green what should i do? i changed his water but he still looks sick! im worried about my little guy.

[Olympia]

If you're worried about his fins tearing, take out the hard plastic plant from his home.
When you get your bigger tank, I suggest some live plants, there's a great topic on how to care for some common ones here, a lot don't need any care at all from you. Or just silk betta plants to keep his fins safe.
Also, if you can, switch to betta pellet food- there's better guidelines on how much to feed him with pellets on here.

@martincole - you should probably start a new topic and post some photos, and fill out the same form furubafan did.