Betta with a lump under his chin

[ltkaarina]

Having searched for this issue on this forum I am fearing the worst but thought it is still worth asking.. Recently over the past couple of weeks I have seen a lump form under my boy's chin where the gills kind of meet. Then today he has been very listless and keeps going to rest at the bottom of the tank, which is VERY unlike him he has been super active so far. It started when I noticed him having difficulty eating the food I had been feeding him, I bought smaller pellets and that seemed to work fine but now... I think he has difficulty opening his mouth..

Here is a video of him, and I have attached a couple of pictures as well:

 

[NoodleOfDanger0]

It could be a tumor or an abscess. The picture shows that he has tank mates who may be fighting with him. Even though the rasboras aren't known for being aggressive, they might retaliate if he flares his gills at them and chases them. Also, with the sticks and such, he might have gotten poked which could cause an abscess. The video shows him going to the surface to breathe and then resting on the leaf. It looks to me like it could be an infection and he's just tired because his tiny body is having to fight the infection. How big of a tank is this? Are the Rasboras and snails the only tankmates he has? You have bladder snails and are the other one's ramshorns?

 

[Colin_T]

Tumour, cyst or infection in the mouth. There's no cure for a tumor or cyst but salt or a broad spectrum fish medication might help with an infection.

I would try salt for a week or two and if no improvement, maybe try a broad spectrum medication that treats bacteria and fungus (don't use an antibiotic though).

Before you add salt or medication, wipe the inside of the glass, do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate, and clean the filter. Then add salt.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

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SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt) or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket of tank water and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.