Large Tumor Like Bumps on Betta

[CrystalTFF]

I’ve tried nearly everything I can find online, and now all I can do is ask for help.

Specs:

5-gallon tank

Heated to 80 degrees

I can’t remember the name of the filter system, but it can filter up to 50 gal

Seachem Purigen filter in place of a charcoal filter

3 live plants and a little moss ball

Catappa leaves changed every few days


Water parameters as of a few minutes ago:

pH >60

Ammonia .50 ppm (This was a surprise, and I’ve already added some Seachem prime to detoxify)

Nitrite 0 ppm

Nitrate 0 ppm


Please note through all of this, Dave has never once made it look like he was sick. When I walk into the office he immediately swims to the front of the tank, he eats vigorously and swims from the top to the bottom with no issues. When I come close to the tank, there he is eyeballing me with that grumpy face. He has also had this same white coloring from the time I got him.


Story:

I got Dave about six months ago. He was fine at first, but within two weeks I noticed a small bump on his side. It almost looked like there was something under a scale. I kept an eye on it and it stayed small for about 4 months. Then there was a little bump on his tail fin. It also stayed small for about 4 months. In September everything went wrong and both bumps grew quickly and started to turn red. My water was within parameters this whole time, but I was using paper test strips so that very well could be wrong. In September the water was constantly at a high nitrite level, something I couldn’t get down no matter how many water changes. I removed some of the plants thinking I had too many and removed a little Squidward house I had in there because the edges on the inside were sharp. (I found out online that I should check them, and when I did run my finger over the inside of some of the holes I was shocked to feel how sharp they were.) So that was gone. With fewer plants, the nitrite levels were a little better but not great. This is when I started to treat him. First I did an Epsom salt bath for about five minutes, then placed him back into the tank. That didn’t help, and so I thought it might be ick, so I treated the whole tank for that. When that didn’t work I thought it might be some sort of fungal/parasite issue so I removed him from his tank and placed him into a 1-gallon medical tank with air stone and heater. There I treated him twice with Jungle fungus clear. I noticed that the bumps were no longer red and growing, but they did not reduce in size. I cleaned the entire tank, stones, filter, heater, and everything then treated it all with the fungus clear as well. (I don’t think this was necessary, but I wanted to make sure I got rid of all the fungus.) I cleaned the plants of dead leaves and waste, then soaked them a little in the fungus clear, then removed them to wait it out in a cup of distilled water. After two treatments I just placed him back into his original tank. That whole thing took about a month, and I did 50-75% water changes every week after, hoping the bumps would reduce.


Today:

Walk in and everything looks fine until I do his close up inspection and with the addition of the normal tumor-like bumps, he now seems to have a swelling in his abdomen. It is possible that this is from the ammonia spike, I believe that is also why the bump on his fin is a slight pink again. So here I am, completely at a loss on what to do next. I’ve put a lot of time, money, and energy into this guy, and I just want him to get better. So please, any ideas or direction on this issue would be so helpful.


Pictures:

I’ve included pictures of the two tumor-like bumps, and I tried to get the abdomen swelling, but it was harder to photograph. I’ve added some circles to help show what to look at.

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

This is not a common disease you see in fish but is quite commonly seen in people. If it's hard its the horrible C word, I say tumour instead of cancer but its the same thing. If it's soft and squishy it's a cyst. My money is on a tumour. There isn't much you can do for either issue (cyst or tumour).

Some fish are more prone to ailments and fish like Bettas that are inbred are genetically weaker than their wild counterparts. This makes them more susceptible to ailments. Unfortunately you got unlucky and have one of the few fish that has developed this disease. I have only ever seen it in half a dozen fish. It's very uncommon.

There is not much you can do besides keeping the tank clean and feeding him a varied diet. You can try adding vitamin supplements to his food. Get a fish vitamin and sprinkle it on some frozen (but defrosted) food like frozen bloodworm, and feed him that. If you can't get fish vitamins look for reptile or bird vitamins.

If you use fish vitamins you can use them every day as directed on the packet. If you use bird or reptile vitamins use it once a day for 6 days, then don't use any on the 7th day. Then add it again for the next 6 days. Basically 6 days of vitamins, 1 day without.

Try to get vitamins in a dry powder form and keep them cool and dry. Check the expiry date before you buy them.

You can try adding Beta-carotene to his diet. This is found in carrots, pumpkin, apricots and other orange coloured foods. Carrot juice is probably the easiest way to add it. Crush up half a carrot and add some frozen bloodworm to the juice. Let it soak for a minute and then feed to the fish. Before adding the bloodworm to the carrot juice, put the bloodworm in a fine mesh net and let it hang in a small container to remove most of the red bloodworm liquid. Then add the drained bloodworms to the carrot juice and let it soak for a minute before feeding it to the fish.

You can try blueberries or purple carrots too. Use them in the same way as carrot juice. They might help but they might not. But purple fruits do have strong anti-oxidant properties and might improve his overall health.

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Eventually it will spread through his body and when he has trouble swimming or stops eating, then euthanize him. You can use clove oil to put him to sleep. You put the fish in a small container of tank water and add 1 drop of clove oil. Gently stir it into the water and wait 1 minute. Add another drop and stir, wait, etc. Continue adding 1 drop at a time until the fish stops breathing, then put the container with fish into the freezer and let it freeze. After that bury the fish and frozen water in the garden.

If you can't find clove oil then a whack on the head will also do the job but it's not much fun to do. If you can't do that or get clove oil, then put him in a bucket of water with a lid and put that in the freezer. Then go for a walk and do something to take your mind off him for a bit.

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If you ever have water quality issues (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate), do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate each day for a week. That will normally fix any problems.

The photos you posted are very good and clearly show the issue.

 

[Jessie J.]

MY betta has the same bump on his side, and there are some more threads about the same thing. Collin_T, is the oval lump on his side a tumor too? He doesn't have the fin abscess though.

 

[Colin_T]

The lump just before the tail is common in older male Bettas and seems to be occurring more frequently. I think it is a genetic deformity caused by inbreeding. It doesn't seem to get worse in fish that have it but it doesn't look normal.

 

[NickAu]

The lump just before the tail is common in older male Bettas and seems to be occurring more frequently.

Its called a Cadual Peduncle.

As for the rest of the lumps they are tumors, there is nothing you can do about them, and eventually they will kill the fish