New user Danny

Hey everyone I’m Danny I live in Pennsylvania and I found this forum hoping that everyone’s vast knowledge can help me figure what’s wrong with my Betta. I’ve become really attached to him and I’m really worried we’re going to lose him..

Welcome to the forum! I'm not an expert on bettas but my first impression is one of the following:

1. a tumor (either benign or cancerous)
2. a viral infection causing an overgrowth of tissue
3. a severe reaction to a parasite of some sort (parasite would be inside the mass with lots of inflammatory tissue around it)

Is he acting ill besides having the growth? Or is he behaving normally otherwise? How old is he? What is the tank size and have you tested the water for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates? How often do you change the water and how much at a time? Are there any other fish in the tank? This additional information would be helpful as to the cause.

Hello ?,

I’m too new to be offering suggestions on what might be wrong with him, but the experts will want to know about the water parameter, temperature, behaviour, feeding etc.

Fingers crossed he’s ok

coriesinhawaii said:

Welcome to the forum! I'm not an expert on bettas but my first impression is one of the following:

1. a tumor (either benign or cancerous)
2. a viral infection causing an overgrowth of tissue
3. a severe reaction to a parasite of some sort (parasite would be inside the mass with lots of inflammatory tissue around it)

Is he acting ill besides having the growth? Or is he behaving normally otherwise? How old is he? What is the tank size and have you tested the water for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates? How often do you change the water and how much at a time? Are there any other fish in the tank? This additional information would be helpful as to the cause.

Click to expand...

Hello, lately maybe the last week he goes inside his castle and hides, before that he would sit on top of the heater near the top of the water. I kinda thought it might be the medicine making him not want to be out. Every day or so if I don’t see him moving inside the castle (he can go inside and you can’t see him if he goes up one the sides.) I will slowly lift it up some till he would come out and I try to feed him when he does. He swam around for a little yesterday before eventually going back in. I recently got an air stone and I’m not sure if it’s bugging him so I turned it off last night. He 3 years old or so, he’s starting to get older but before all of this started he seemed perfectly fine, never would get sick,etc. the take is 2.4 gal and no I haven’t tested but I just changed the water 3 days ago and 4 days before that both at least 75%. No other fish in the tank and I keep the temp at 77/78 I turned it down to 76/77 when it started getting bigger. We’ve so far tried pimafix for 5 days and then switched to melafix for 3 days but at a >75% of dosage because I was told it’s not good for bettas. Then a friend gave us kanaplex which get one dose every 2 days for a total of 2 doses. Still didn’t seem to be getting any smaller so we started the metroplex the day before yesterday so 1 dose and tonight is the next one. I put 1/2 tsp/gal maybe a little less of aquarium salt in the last 2 water changes because I read that it can help to heal wounds and kind of dry them up. I also put beta water renewal the last 2 water changes which is just minerals. I have the filter out just the pump running so it don’t take the medicine out. And we have well water so no chlorine or anything like that, he’s been perfectly fine every time since we got him with the water, we also put a little bit of prime in at water change ever since we got him. which is supposed detoxify ammonia, nitrates and nitrites and helps provide a slime coat.

Are you maintaining your filter in another tank? If not the beneficial bacteria will die and then you'll be starting your cycle from scratch when you put it back in the betta's tank. If it's been out of the tank for more than a few days (and especially if your betta's still eating) the ammonia and nitrite are probably building up to harmful levels. Using Prime every couple of days and doing frequent large water changes will help but I would definitely buy a test kit to keep an eye on it. If he started behaving differently after you started the meds (and removed the filter) high ammonia and/or nitrite could be the reason.

For future reference if you need to use a med all you have to do is remove the carbon from the filter, not the whole filter with the biological medium in it. You can even cut open the cartridge, dump the carbon and put the cartridge back in if you want. Some meds do harm biological filters but not as much as completely removing them from use would.

Here's an interesting article on tumors in bettas:

https://www.bettacarefishguide.com/...-save-them/#Tumor_On_Your_Betta_Fish8217_Head

If it's due to a parasitic infection you could try anti-parasite meds (one that treats internal parasites). I know you mentioned you already tried Metroplex. I'm not very knowledgable about anti-parasitic meds, but I know I've heard it's more effective if you dose it via food instead of water. Otherwise, if it's not due to a parasite, I'm not sure if there's anything you could really do other than give good supportive care (high quality diet, good environment, immune supplements). If it's a benign tumor it's possible he could live for quite a while even with the tumor.

coriesinhawaii said:

Are you maintaining your filter in another tank? If not the beneficial bacteria will die and then you'll be starting your cycle from scratch when you put it back in the betta's tank. If it's been out of the tank for more than a few days (and especially if your betta's still eating) the ammonia and nitrite are probably building up to harmful levels. Using Prime every couple of days and doing frequent large water changes will help but I would definitely buy a test kit to keep an eye on it. If he started behaving differently after you started the meds (and removed the filter) high ammonia and/or nitrite could be the reason.

For future reference if you need to use a med all you have to do is remove the carbon from the filter, not the whole filter with the biological medium in it. You can even cut open the cartridge, dump the carbon and put the cartridge back in if you want. Some meds do harm biological filters but not as much as completely removing them from use would.

Here's an interesting article on tumors in bettas:

https://www.bettacarefishguide.com/...-save-them/#Tumor_On_Your_Betta_Fish8217_Head

If it's due to a parasitic infection you could try anti-parasite meds (one that treats internal parasites). I know you mentioned you already tried Metroplex. I'm not very knowledgable about anti-parasitic meds, but I know I've heard it's more effective if you dose it via food instead of water. Otherwise, if it's not due to a parasite, I'm not sure if there's anything you could really do other than give good supportive care (high quality diet, good environment, immune supplements). If it's a benign tumor it's possible he could live for quite a while even with the tumor.

Click to expand...

Well the actual filter pump that moves water is still on and running in the tank, but the actual filter or carbon pad is left out, I got new ones but saw it said not to use with medicine. I kind of thought by doing 75%+ water changes every 3 or 4 days would keep the water fresh and the levels down. But no I don’t have a test kit I will have to pick one up. I’m not sure if I should raise or lower the temp in the water it’s 77.1 right now I read that sometimes warmer water can make things worse. Should I give him a salt bath or use more or less then recommend aquarium salt which say 1/2 tsp / gal.

Most filter set ups have a cartridge that has carbon in it (what's in your picture above), and another insert, often made of plastic or foam, that is supposed to remain in place and not be changed. The one that stays in place is where the good bacteria establish. So if you just took out the cartridge in the picture above and there's another insert still in place you might be ok (your biofilter might still be in place).

If the biofilter was completely removed then large water changes definitely help but some amount of ammonia will still be in there and it will slowly rise until enough bacteria establish again to break down the ammonia (and then subsequently nitrite).

As far as the temp I would say it depends on whether you lost your biofilter or not. If you did I wouldn't increase it because ammonia becomes more toxic as temperature rises. Otherwise I would say it wouldn't hurt to raise it a degree or two because bettas enjoy warmer temps.

I don't have a lot of experience with salt treatments because I mostly keep cories and they don't tolerate salt well. But I'm not sure it would provide a lot of benefit. It can be good to treat parasites but if the parasite is inside of a large mass I'm not sure that it would have that effect. But it could reduce the swelling some if there's fluid in the mass.

This is really quite interesting. Can you post some more pictures of the fish so we can clearly see the head and brown spotting on the body?
Post video too if you can. Upload it to YouTube then copy & paste the link here.

How long has the fish had the brown spots on the body?

How long has the fish had the lumpy head?
What did the lump start out like at the beginning?