okay thanks for telling me to take a breath. i have not seen red flakes or black dots. i could look closer at him to look for you say white dots?? i will peek. i have not really handled him because i am trying to get him use to his new home. when i took the water out last night there were some floaty bit in there that were colorless and i took them to be normal animal dish floaties..dust and what not. i know that balls sometimes go a while with out eating i am mostly worried that he is a baby and had a traumatic injury. this is my first ball and i do not know there behaviors very well, but i thought that they were not so into the water. this may sound awefully niave, but can they get scale rot from soaking too much? i half wondered if it was just more comfortable to sit in there with no pressure on the broken neck area. well any more advice or thoughts surely are welcomed. i am a terribly nervous new dad.