Betta scratching body on aquarium items

Question
QUESTION: My Betta jumps around scratching herself against her plants and aquarium decorations.  I am concerned because she is usually a very inquisitive fish swimming around enjoying her life.  Now, she sleeps on her Peace Lily leaves most of the day.  Her swimming motions are no longer like a shark, circling and stopping in mid-swim like a shark to observe things.  Also, I noticed that she has a velvety or ashy coat that was not noticeable before now.  I have read some things about how to perhaps cure her, but I am not sure.  I need to know one or two suggestions on how to treat her before she gets worse.  Thank you in advance for your advice.

ANSWER: Stacy,
It sounds like she has a couple of problems. With scratching is due to parasites. Make sure her heater is set at 80 degrees and add some aquarium salt to the water. You can also give her a salt water bath as well. I would at least add the salt to the water to help rid her of the parasites. The other problem is called Velvet.

To help prevent Velvet:

1. Place new Betta in quarantine for two weeks
2. Monitor water quality
3. Make sure the fish have a nutritionally balanced diet

To treat Velvet:

1. Keep the water temperature a bit higher than usual
2. Keep the lights dim for several days
3. Add the proper aquarium salt
4. Add copper sulphate to the tank for about ten days
5. Avoid carbon filtration during treatment process

Velvet is contagious, so if there are other fish in the tank, you will want to treat them all.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hello Jaymie!

Thanks for your sage advice.  I have more questions.  What is a "nutritionally balanced diet"?  I feed both my fish three micro floating Betta pellets once a day.  Is this sufficient?  Both of my fish are in separate fish bowls not in an aquarium.  I apologize for saying aquarium.  Does your advice still pertain to my fish?  I did buy two heaters just for fish bowls.  I will add them to their bowls along with aquarium salt.  Do I still need the copper sulphate for the fish bowls?  I use my fish net for both fish, do I need to treat my male Betta that is in a separate bowl? I noticed today that one of her eyes is orange.  Is this due to the parasites and is adding salt to her tank going to irritate her eye?  Should adding these heaters help with future possible health problems?  Thank you for your continued help.

Answer
Stacy,
Unfortunately, having them in bowls will make it harder to treat. No fish should be kept in a bowl. Each one should be in their own 2.5 gallon tank. The heaters you bought will not keep the water at the right temperature. These types of heater do not work and are a waste of money. The first thing you should do is get them out of the bowls and into tanks. It will also be hard to treat them in a bowl. You would have to know exactly how much water they have, then calculate the right amount of medication and salt. Too much will kill them and not enough with not help them. The salt will not irritate her eye, but will most likely help it. The pellet food is a good primary food, but you also want to be feeding them frozen blood worms and brine shrimp. Once a week you should be fasting them and feeding a cooked, pealed pea. You can also try the freeze dried versions of the above foods but make sure you are only giving them these once a week. Too much of freeze dried foods are not good for them.