My betta wants to swim, but he cant!

Question
Hi,
Please please please help us!
I got my crown betta, Dr. Jack, in May of '07. He's never seemed the heartiest of fish, but he's having some real trouble now...
I live in South Carolina, and while it's not the frigid north, it has gotten colder in the past couple months -- that's when Jack started struggling.
His setup and history...
Jack has lived in a 1 gal. bowl (no filter/ no heat).
I feed him 1-2 bloodworms 2x day
When it first got cold, before I turned the heat on in the house, Jack's belly seemed to swell and he stayed at the surface of the water, seemingly unable to swim or stay down. I placed a floor lamp next to his bowl with a couple bare bulbs shining on his bowl. This seemed to "warm him up" and fix what seemed to be a temperature-induced swim bladder issue.
Well, the light tended to cause a fairly rapid green algae build-up in his bowl. I changed his water to keep it (relatively) clean about once a week, but kept the lights on 24/7 to keep the bowl temp. up... which kept the algae around. I think the lights made it warmer than needed.
On Wednesday (11/21) I noticed that Jack seemed to be swimming sideways at the surface and floating to one side. He would kind of list to the side and rest against the side of the bowl at the surface.
I decided I needed a more permanent solution to get him through winter, so I bought a thermometer, filtered 2 gal. tank, and 7.5 watt heater (for 2 gal. tanks).
BUT - before I could get him in his new setup, he took a turn for the worse. On Sunday I put the new thermometer (submersible glass that suctions inside bowl) in his bowl. The temp has read between 72 and 78 deg. for the past 3 days, but since I put the thermometer in Jack has been sluggish and hanging out on the bottom.
I really noticed the bottom-dwelling yesterday (Mon.) and he's been on the bottom all day today rarely moving. About an hour ago, when I transferred him into his new filtered/heated tank, he seemed unable to move and did not respond much to the bowl being moved. When I poured him from the bowl to the tank, he seemed paralyzed and struggled a bit once he entered the new water but sank and hit the bottom on his side. His gills are moving, but he is laying on his side on the bottom of the tank. Every few minutes he will flail around like he is trying to swim but doesn't have the control, ability, or energy to do so. He doesn't seem to be able to get to the surface; he is basically scooting around the bottom in bursts and ending up on his side. His belly also seemed a bit swollen (though better right now).
The area behind his gills and on his underside underneath his gills is silvery in color. He is normally purple with red fins, but his color seems to have faded a bit (plus the silver areas around the gills).
What do I do?! I am not going to feed him tonight... but I don't know if he could swim up to get it anyway!
Can he breathe if he can't get to the surface?
The tank temp is currently 75 degrees.
His trouble couldn't have had to do with introducing the thermometer, right?
Other than his behavior and color, things look normal (no sores, "pinecone" dropsy effect, or bulging eyes).
Puh-lease offer any help/suggestions you may have. I want to save him!
Thank you!
Dana


Answer
Dana,

I hate to tell you this but its pretty much to late for your boy, he is in what I call the Betta death throws, most of his body has already shut down so its just a matter of time.  The cause of the problem I think is two fold, first the Blood Worms, second the cold, blood worms are great as far as a supplement food goes but a normal diet can cause all sorts of health problems for the fish, they are very fatty and can be hard to digest, often getting lodged in the intestines causing a blockage and very painfully death.  With feeding this food and the water temperature so low, it slowed down his digestive system and caused a rupture to occur.  The setup you have now sounds great and would make a Betta very happy.

Sorry I couldn't give you better news,
Craig.