sitting beta

Question
My 10 gallon tank has 2 glass fish (which are TINY), 4 neons (which are also very small), 4 platty's almost fully grown, an alge eater, and a bottom feeder (a catfish)-both of which are also small...and lastly a betta.  I rescued the betta (two months ago) from my friend who had it swimming in an liquor bottle (with water-obviously).  It has been doing extrememly well in my tank with the rest of my fish, but recently (last two days) it has been very sluggish in the sense that i will see it just resting and practially laying on the bottom of the tank.  I have this cove-like thing in the tank and i found it almost curled up in the corner of it, in the shade....  My only guess is that it is over eating because I give it beta pellets which it eats, but after it eats its dinner it eats the flakes that i give my other fish. But i'm not sure, and two days ago i saw about 5 tiny white dots all over it, which wouldn't move or go away-however they are gone now and i saw them on another fish so i'm concerned that it may be a form of ICK.  But it's all gone off both of the fish... And lastly, how do i tell the sex of the betta?

sorry about the length of this-but i wanted to give you all the information I could to help you...help me :-)

what's wrong with my betta and how can i help it?

Answer
Hi Margaret;

They may have had a case of ick and they fought it off. Watch them to be sure it is gone. You can raise the temperature to 82 degrees and it will help eliminate the rest if it is still in there. Ick hates heat but bettas love it so he should be fine.

To sex them; Male bettas have long flowing fins, females have short fins.

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins