sick betta! HELP!

Question
OK, so here's the deal. I recently brought my betta home, and while his 7.5 tank is cycling he's in a one gallon bowl. When I moved him from the pet store jar to the bowl, the new bowl contained water treated with amquel and novaqua. The temperatures were the same. He seemed fine in his new bowl overnight, then today has seemed listless - floating tilted to the side, not swimming around, staying near the top, not eating (last nigth he ate right away in his new bowl). I tested the water and it appeared to be within safe limits...however he seemed like he was getting worse. So, I gradually switched him over to bottled betta water this afternoon, so that now he is in 100% bottled water with novaqua (appx. 1/2 gallon), stress coat, and a little salt. He still isn't interested in food, and not moving very much in his bowl. His current bowl is being floated in the tank (which has a heater), so the temp is about 80 degrees. I'm sure stress/shock are a factor - he's experienced several changes in the last few days. What else can/should I do? I'm very worried about him - please advise!! Also, his tank is cycling without any fish, and currently going through the cloudy phase - if there are no fish do I leave things alone or still do water changes? In his tank I put novaqua, amquel, salt, and Cycle - the tank has a penguin biowheel filter.

Answer
Hi Kelly,
Sorry to hear about your betta. I bet like you said he is under a lot of shock and stress. Poor water quality could be playing a major part in him acting listless. If you got any readings for ammonia and nitrite (even trace amounts) that could be playing a huge factor in him behaving sickly. And so could temperature fluctuations, especially if he was previously in water that was room temperature (below 76F). Sometimes bettas can just be depressed also when moved to a new place.

I would change his bowl water at least 75% or more everyday with water that's preconditioned and equal in temp (or just a bit warmer is fine) and see how he does.

As for the cloudiness of the water its normal to have a bacterial bloom due to the sudden abundance of nutrients associated with newly cycling tanks. It may pass with time but feel free to do water changes if you want to get rid of it. 50% would be fine. Make sure you aren't adding too much of whatever you are using to fishless cycle it with.

Best wishes and feel free to write with anymore concerns!
Karen~