My betta has a huge white lump

[joshg]

Hi All,

I was wondering if you might be able to help me out with my sick fish. I noticed that he has developed a lump on one of his sides but i'm just not sure what it is. I've tried to take a few photos of it. The 2nd and 3rd show it best of all.

He lives in a small 12 litre (3.1ish gallon) tank with just a very small carbon filter thats running on a 50 cycle pump (this is shared with another filter on another tank). I have no heater as i live in tropical north australia so the temperature is quite worm. He gets fed dry pellets most of the time and sometimes defrosted blood worms.

I got him from the pet shop about 8 months ago

Usually change the water once a week and have a gravel vacuum. I also have another betta and he is fine. Any help would be great as i'd rather not loose him.

 

[Sandusky]

Aww, he's a beauty, but it looks like he's growing a tumor!
Sadly i don't think that there is much to do for him, more people whom have experienced this sickness would be of more help. I can only offer my best wishes, wich is what you're getting. Hope the little guy is doing ok though.

 

[joshg]

Thanks for that I hope its not a tumor though..

Appart from the lump he does seem ok. He does sit still quite a lot but he still gets bursts of energy and goes swimming around the tank

 

[zelandonia]

It might be a tumour but because it looks kind of white, it might also be an abcess. If it's an abcess it will be filled with pus and may burst. This could be an equally poor outcome to a tumour and I don't think there's much you could do to treat him. Just take it day by day- it's great that the lump isn't bothering him too much and that he still swims and eats!!

z.

 

[lolly]

I know nothing about fish illnes, but just wanted to wish you well.
Your Betta is the twin of mine & I hope he recovers.
Best wishes, pretty fish!

 

[Idolz]

You should add some aquarium salt to you tank, or move him to an ICU tank that you can put aquarium salt in. I'm not sure that it will cure it but it might help him.
Good Luck!

 

[f250fisherman]

It looks like a tumor or an ulcer. Either one will be bad for it. It could be some other things, but only being on 1 side...my guess is a tumor. Keep it comfortable and well fed, and you might still get some enjoyment out of it. Just my opinion, but if it gets worse, don't let it suffer. Good luck with it.

 

[littlefishie]

It looks like a tumor to me. One of my bettas, Ron, ended up with a tumor on his side. I had a friend who is very into bettas check him out, and also checked with the fish manager at the LFS. Both declared tumor and as he'd been acting funny for a while [not swimming properly, not eating properly, etc. When it started growing larger and he couldn't swim straight [he was stuck on his side] I couldn't take it anymore and put him down.

Your best bet would be to wait a little bit and see what happens with it, because it could also be an abcess. In my experience neither are treated well, but I'm sure it's possible.

Good luck, I hope your fishie makes it!

 

[joshg]

Thanks everyone!

I've added some aquarium salt to his tank and i'll see how he goes. He was very active this morning.

I have a little carbon filter in his tank. Is it recommended to turn this off when using things like salt?

 

[WILDER]

http/www.fishpalace.org/danscomments.html#Lump

 

[AlexsDaddy]

You don't have to discontinue filteration with use of salt. If it's a cycled tank, you don't want to do that anyway. The only time you really want to take the carbon out of the filter is when you are using actual meds but you only have to remove the carbon, not completly stop filteration unless the carbon is the only media in your filter, but even then you need oxygenated water flowing for the benificial bacteria in your gravel, on your decorations, the glass, ect...