Betta may have velvet??

[angelabenefiel]

Hi, all! I am a new member, and this is my first post. I'm concerned with my new betta. I have a female betta in a cycled 10 gallon tank, she is happy and healthy! During a trip to my lfs i couldn't help but bring home a male betta and bought a small bowl to place him in. Mr. Davis is in a 1.5 gallon bowl with lid, I have placed smooth stones on the bottom, and a few small artificial plants for him to lie on. I've added a heater that keeps the bowl at 76. I do a full water change every 5 days, due to ammonia. I feed him frozen live brine shrimp, pellets, and flakes. I like to rotate.
So, he is a lovely double tail and has purple,red, blue, green iridescent fins and body. He has a gold sheen along his body and fins. At first I thought this was natural, but now I'm not sure as I saw him rubbing against items in the bowl.

He still swims around fine, not lethargic. He hangs out by the heater, props himself up and keeps his face near the surface for air a bit. Any advice? Does it look like velvet?

 

[shellieca]

He's beautiful. He may be changing color a little because he's in a good environment but you can take a flashlight & shine it on him, if you see the rust/gold velvety type spots. If it is velvet my understanding is you can black out the tank for a week or so to kill it off, may take longer. You can use meds. 1.5g is a very small volume of water so my #1 suggestion is to upgrade him to at least a 5g tank, he'll be much healthier in the long run.

 

[angelabenefiel]

Thank you for your advice. Its so hard to tell, I'm not sure if its his original coloring. I've tried shining a light on him while in a dark room and the gold seems seemless and not patchy. I think I'll keep a close eye on his behavior, and if hes scratching then i'll add some coppersafe.