bump

[sweetgurlsparkle]

hey everyone

My betta has a bump below his mouth, with a white thing coming out the side of it. I first noticed it a little while ago but I figured it was just a scale coming off or something. It was pinkish to start with He's very active, eating well, the best I've ever seen him. He still has most of the salt in his tank from his constipation incident (maybe the salt turned it white), and if it will help, I'm buying some maracyn 2 today. Any ideas??

He lives in a ten gallon tank by himself. He hasn't been exposed to any fish or plants (although I'm buying some today ) at least in the last couple of months.

 

[sweetgurlsparkle]

I'm leaving soon, so a response before I leave would be great. thanks

 

[SRC]

He may just have a tumor, one of mine has one. It looks somewhat like a mole and has gotten larger over the last 2 months.

From what I've read about them, there isn't much you can do about it, just keep him comfortable until it get's too large for him to function normally with. You can excise it, but it's not reccomended.

Lumps

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Description:
Let's face it: lumps are weird. And they are often difficult to diagnose, making them even harder to treat! Sometimes it's not possible to do so without a biopsy. Sometimes even when treating for the correct problem, they can be beyond a fishkeeper's capability, and the fish will die, But it never hurts to at least attempt to make a diagnosis so you can try to treat the problem.

There are other types of lumps that can occur in food fish and other coldwater fish, but those won't be covered here. Try these links for some general info if needed on other problems:
http/www.giveusahome.com/fish/faq.htm
http/www.afip.org/vetpath/POLA/POLA96/fish.txt


Diagnosis: One of these situations may be the culprit.
Lymph nodes (see link for more)
Tumors in the fish may cause it to swell.
Parasites *in* the fish may cause it to swell.
Other unknown causes, such as a virus

 

[sweetgurlsparkle]

ugh..I hope not. Do tumors usually have things sticking out of it? It likes like a mole or something as you said, but it has a white particle protruting out of it. The white thing looks solid, not oozing or anything. I bought some maracyn 2, would that help? If some should it try to get some of the salt out of his tank or treat him in another tank?

 

[Bettaman]

get a picture of it as its hard to imagine it as i have seen moles with hair growing from them and thats what appears, in my mind so a picture would help us all to help your betta.......

 

[sweetgurlsparkle]

Wow, thats weird. Well since I don't have a camera I'll try to describe it.

As I said before, its just below his mouth. It's not a growth on the skin but something under the skin-the bump is the same color and texture as the fish. It's big enough that when he's swimming in profile on the opposite side of the bump, I can still see it. On the inner side of the bump (facing the middle of the face of the fish or where the two gills meet and run in two parallel lines) there is a small white/pinkish spot, that seeming to be an opening to the bump. There isn't any white stuff coming out now (must have fallen off) but its obviously where it was coming out before.

Thats the best I can do, hope it helps. Other than that he's perfectly fine and very active. He's not stratching or anything of that nature.

Please help me out; I bought some maracyn 2 if you think it will help and there still 2 tablespoons of sea salt (minus 2 20% water changes).

Thanks.

 

[sweetgurlsparkle]

Lumps and bumps that suddenly appear are usually bacterial infections. If the disease process is due to bacteria, it usually resolves by rupture (like a boil) pretty quickly. The white liquid that oozes out is pus that is formed when the white blood cells (immune cells) die while killing bacteria (in general). The most common bacteria which cause such lumps are Columnaris or Aeromonas

Wounds that are white on the edges and red in the center are most typically Aeromonas. Those that are red on the edges and white in the center are generally Columnaris. Both are gram negative bacteria. The best treatment for this is any sulfa antibiotic with trimetheprim. This can be put in the water and/or mixed with food

The first part sounds pretty accurate, I'm not sure about the second part though. It saya the best treatment is any sulfa antibiotic with trimetheprim, what about maracyn 2?