My betta isnt eating, what do I do?

Question
I guess I have a couple of questions really. The first one is about my bettas. I have two male (I think) betta's, each in their own 1 gallon tanks with lights and bubbles. The tanks have been set up now for about 3 months,and before that I had each in their own large fish bowls for about 3 months. Both seem to be doing fine, but lately one has not been eating much at all, we feed both bettas in the morning at 8am and again at 10pm everyday and only give them 2 or 3 pellets of food. His food is building up on the floor of his aquarium, should I leave it, or change out his water completely, or is it possible to add some other fish that will help eat? And do I stop feeding him? When we go to feed him he comes up to the area where we drop the food and takes in the food but then spits it back out.
And I also have a large 25 gallon tank with an algea-eater and two sword-tails and one tetra. We recently lost 3 mollies and a tetra in the large tank due to "ick" and it has since cleared up and the survivors seem to be doing well. And there is no trace of "ick" remaining on them. How long should we wait to add more fish, and how many should we add at a time, and what period of time should we wait to add more after that? We would like to get our aquarium up to at least 14 to 16 fish, what do you recommend?
We run a Aqua-Tech 30-60 filter system
our pH has been beteen 7.0 and 7.2
and the tank has been set up for 2 months

Answer
Hi Anneliese;

He needs his tank cleaned. Once the food rots it will cause the fish harm by polluting the water. Raise his water temperature by placing him in a warmer place. Bettas often stop eating in temperatures that are too cool and when their tanks are dirty. You could try adding a mystery snail or a dwarf cory cat to his tank, but there shouldn't be leftover food at all anyway.

Wait a few more days to be sure the ick doesn't re-infect in the other tank. You can then add one or two fish at a time. Wait a week between each addition. This gives the filter system's biological balance time to adjust. The fish that have been in there went through the perilous break-in period and were so stressed by it that they succumbed to ick. It is quite common, especially if there are more than one or two fish to start the tank out. More than a couple of fish added to the tank during the 6 to 8 week break-in and some or all are bound to get sick and die.

I would suggest no more than 10 one to one-and-a-half inch fish as a total population for your tank. Make sure you keep up proper maintenance of making 25% water changes every week to two weeks. Vacuum the gravel at the same time and don't overfeed the fish. Following these guidelines will help your fish be happy and healthy for years to come.

Followups welcome.

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins