Betta Sick Or Old?

Hello! I’m new to this site! But I’m very happy I joined. I have a beautiful red male betta whom I’ve had for almost a year and a half. His name is mushu. I love him but I’m afraid he’s sick or getting old.
I’m in college and when I got him over a year ago I got a bowl for him, which I now know is a no no. But that seemed to be what all college kids did.
He was very very happy for a long time. He made bubble nests he was responsive. He seemed to love me as well. But a couple weeks ago I noticed he was just laying at the bottom of the bowl. I got worried and did a complete water change because I thought it was ammonia poisoning. After that he got a bit better but he’s still not normal. I checked the ammonia and ph levels and everything was normal. I also thought he might have a fungus so I’ve been using fix tabs. And I gave him a methelyne blue dip!!
He’s still not acting right! He seems dull, depressed, and hides in his rock a lot. I even got a new 2.5 gallon tank (I can’t fit anything more than that in my apartment) with a filter. I hope he gets better so I can move him to his new tank does anyone have advice for me? I so want him to get better.

 

Hello, and welcome to fishlore!

I am sorry to hear that you have a sick betta, but could you please copy and paste this template here with your answers?
https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/aquatic-emergency-template.376562/

 

Tank

What is the water volume of the tank? - 3 Liters
How long has the tank been running? - he is in a bowl (I didn't know that was bad when I got him. Once he started showing symptoms I got him a new 2.5 gallon tank but haven't switched him to it yet because I don't want to stress him out because he still isn't acting normal
Does it have a filter? - not the bowl. the new tank I got him does
Does it have a heater? - it does not have a heater
What is the water temperature? - I don't have a thermometer to test it. but it is room temperature. Thermostat is probably around 75 degrees in the house.
What is the entire stocking of this tank? (Please list all fish and inverts.) - he is the only fish (male betta)

Maintenance
How often do you change the water?- once every two weeks for a whole water change and once a week for a 50% change
How much of the water do you change? - most of the time, all or half of it, as stated above
What do you use to treat your water?- tetra conditioner drops
Do you vacuum the substrate or just the water? - I've never heard of vacuuming the water

*Parameters - Very Important
Did you cycle your tank before adding fish?- no
What do you use to test the water? - ammonia and ph strips from walmart from the fish section
What are your parameters? We need to know the exact numbers, not just “fine” or “safe”.

Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:

***The last time I checked, about a week ago, ammonia was safe (there were no numbers on the strip or package) and ph was 7.2/ I don't know if I can test it right now because I have a fungal fizz tab in the water.

Feeding
How often do you feed your fish? every other day, less if I suspect he is bloated.
How much do you feed your fish?- a tiny tiny pinch- the size of his eyeball
What brand of food do you feed your fish?- Tetra flakes and dried worms
Do you feed frozen or freeze-dried foods? -yes freeze dried worms

Illness & Symptoms
How long have you had this fish? - almost a year and a half
How long ago did you first notice these symptoms? about 2 weeks ago
In a few words, can you explain the symptoms? - he lays on the bottom a lot, hides in his rock a lot, swims to the top to get oxygen, not a responsive, scales seem dull, not as vigorous of an appetite as he used to have. I thought I saw fuzziness on him so I'm using an antI fungal, but that could just be the dullness. its hard to get a super good look.
Have you started any treatment for the illness? - I've done two 10 second methylene blue dips 4 days apart. Ive also been treating him with jungle brand fungal fizz tabs.
Was your fish physically ill or injured upon purchase? -no
How has its behavior and appearance changed, if at all? -yes. he seems much more tired and much less lively, and not as much of an appetite but he still does go after food.

Explain your emergency situation in detail. (Please give a clear explanation of what is going on, include details from the beginning of the illness leading up to now)
at the beginning I suspected it was ammonia poisoning so I did a complete water change. He seemed better but still not normal so I brought him to school with me, got him a new 2.5 gallon tank (he's not in it yet) , bought nearly every medicine that walmart had, tested the ph and the ammonia- which were both safe, and then I thought I sw fuzz on him so I treated him with antI fungal fizz tabs. ive also done two methylene blue dips. He just doesn't seem to be getting better.

 

Firstly, you will need a heater, as bettas are tropical fish that need water in the upper 70's to low 80's, so a temperature of 79 is the happy medium for a lot of betta keepers including myself.

I also see that you do not know about the nitrogen cycle, this is very important, or else you will constantly run into ammonia or nitrite spikes due to the lack of nitrifying bacteria living on the media inside of the filter. You can have an uncycled betta tank, but you would need to do a daily 50 percent water change to keep the ammonia levels down, this isn't always convenient, especially when you cannot always attend to your fish on a daily basis. Test strips are very inaccurate, the better way of testing water is to use a liquid testing kit. Since you have had him for over a year, and given that bettas are almost half a year old when sold in stores, he may be getting there. We have a betta that we have almost had for two years and he is getting quite elderly but still in perfect health. The symptoms you are describing sound a lot like old age in betta to me, as they will become lazier than normal and unresponsive to most things they once were very attracted to. I don't think he is sick to where he needs medication, but there are things you can do in order to make living easier on old betta.

I personally would get a heater, as you need to keep the water warm or else that opens him up to any easy diseases, you can either get a preset or adjustable heater that will keep the water at 78 - 82 degrees.
The recommended wattage per gallon is roughly ten watts, so a 2.5 gallon tank would be perfectly heated by a 25 watt heater, this is what I use on mine, and a 50 watt on my five gallon tanks.

 

Firstly, you will need a heater, as bettas are tropical fish that need water in the upper 70's to low 80's, so a temperature of 79 is the happy medium for a lot of betta keepers including myself.

I also see that you do not know about the nitrogen cycle, this is very important, or else you will constantly run into ammonia or nitrite spikes due to the lack of nitrifying bacteria living on the media inside of the filter. You can have an uncycled betta tank, but you would need to do a daily 50 percent water change to keep the ammonia levels down, this isn't always convenient, especially when you cannot always attend to your fish on a daily basis. Test strips are very inaccurate, the better way of testing water is to use a liquid testing kit. Since you have had him for over a year, and given that bettas are almost half a year old when sold in stores, he may be getting there. We have a betta that we have almost had for two years and he is getting quite elderly but still in perfect health. The symptoms you are describing sound a lot like old age in betta to me, as they will become lazier than normal and unresponsive to most things they once were very attracted to. I don't think he is sick to where he needs medication, but there are things you can do in order to make living easier on old betta.

I personally would get a heater, as you need to keep the water warm or else that opens him up to any easy diseases, you can either get a preset or adjustable heater that will keep the water at 78 - 82 degrees.
The recommended wattage per gallon is roughly ten watts, so a 2.5 gallon tank would be perfectly heated by a 25 watt heater, this is what I use on mine, and a 50 watt on my five gallon tanks.

Thank you so much! I will definitely get him a heater and move him into the new tank. I have done conditioning and the "healthy bacteria" fizz tabs from the Jungle brand. I've also had the filter running in preparation to put him in there. Now that I know he's probably not sick, I will move him and make him as comfortable as possible.
As for the nitrogen cycle - are there any specific things I need to do? What brand of liquid testing kit do you use? The tank I got uses XS tetra filtering cartridges. Once I get the kit, if there is too much nitrogen, do I just change the water?

Thank you so much!

 

Thank you so much! I will definitely get him a heater and move him into the new tank. I have done conditioning and the "healthy bacteria" fizz tabs from the Jungle brand. I've also had the filter running in preparation to put him in there. Now that I know he's probably not sick, I will move him and make him as comfortable as possible.
As for the nitrogen cycle - are there any specific things I need to do? What brand of liquid testing kit do you use? The tank I got uses XS tetra filtering cartridges. Once I get the kit, if there is too much nitrogen, do I just change the water?

Thank you so much!

Do you think there would be a possibility of obtaining some media from a local aquarium store? They might be able to lend you a small amount of their media.

You aren't testing for nitrogen specifically, instead you want to measure the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels and do water changes if any of these are too high.
The general readings for ammonia should always be zero in a cycled tank, as well as nitrite, but nitrate should not exceed the tolerable range of 20ppm.