velvet? or normal?

Question
I am pretty sure my betta fish has velvet, but a guy at a pet store attempted to convince me that his symptoms are "normal," and now I am confused. His body and (especially) fins have developed a coppery hue (I'm not sure if he looks like he's covered in a "powder" necessarily- but I do know that he's not "spotted") that I don't remember noticing before (the pet store guy said this "metallic look" is a normal development. If there is nothing "coming off of him," does that mean it is not parasitic, and thus not velvet?), and he has become
lethargic, hanging out at the top of his bowl and rarely moving. I bought BettaFix and CopperSafe, but am hesitant to use them unless I know that it will not harm him should it turn out he is not sick.  His bowl feels like the water is a little on the cool side... would a partial (warmer) water change be a good idea?

Answer
Hi Meryl;

Don't change water with warmer water. It will shock him. It's only temporary too and will only drop to the room temperature again. That will stress him too and possibly make him more sick. Put his bowl in a warmer spot or put a light on him to slowly raise the water temperature.

I would say he does have velvet but look at the photos on the following link just to be sure;

http://www.petfish.net/articles/Bettas/velvet_betta.php

Here is more information about velvet too;

http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/disease/p/velvet.htm
http://www.geocities.com/shtinkythefish/diseases/velvet.htm
http://www.fishjunkies.com/Diseases/velvet.php

I hope he feels better soon...

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins