In need of help for my male betta

[BabyLungs14]

I have had my male betta for about 3 years now and recently within the past month or so he is only floating on top of his tank. He contracted a white bump on his side as well as some fin rot. I researched how to treat these symptoms and have been feeding him a 1/2 of an un-husked pea daily as well as putting in a drop of "QuICK Cure" to provide some relief for his Ick. Also, I bought him a small heater for his tank about a month ago after realizing that his water needed to be much warmer than it was and he seemed to take to the temperature change extremely well! My question is...what now?? I have tried everything... I'm not quite sure what that bump is (thought it was bladder infection) but after feeding him his peas for a few days...nothing has changed. I will do ANYTHING to save this little guy... please help. I have included a picture of what he looks like as of this morning.

Sincerely,
Distressed Betta Owner

[Blue Fish]

Here are the treatments for Swim Bladder Disease as posted by our wonderful vet student DarkMoon17:

Swim Bladder Disease (SBD)/Bloat
•Symptoms: Betta has trouble swimming, maybe he can’t stay upright and can only swim on his side.
•Treatment: This is not a contagious or fatal illness. If it isn’t congenital (aka a condition that he/she has had since birth), then it is caused by over feeding or feeding the wrong foods. Bettas will typically recover after a day or two of Epsom Salt treatments (1-2tsp/gal) and fasting. You can help prevent a reoccurrence by switching to a better pellet food, feeding less and offering a more varied diet. To make it easier for the betta to eat and breath, you can make the water shallower. You can offer him/her frozen daphnia (sold at Petsmart) as daphnia will help him/her pass stool. DO NOT FEED THEM PEAS.

I'm not sure why it is so bad to feed them peas...but the concensus on here is that they are not good for the bettas. Hopefully someone else can chime in on why they are bad...I believe it has something to do with bloat? I can't remember for certain.

As for the fin rot, the treatment for that is either OTC antibiotics, or Aquarium salt (different from epsom salt). I think that if you treat him for the SBD, then the epsom salt would most likely help his fin rot as well. The two different salts work differently, but rot is a bacterial infection, and that's going to be susceptible to being killed off by any salt, epsom or aquarium.

For more disease information, check out these links:
http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=73332
and
http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=73333

I hope your guy is feeling better soon!

[LebronTheBetta]

Peas are bad because it damages the Digestive Tract. But a little bit won't hurt. Ich is a parasite which means it would multiply quickly so it isn't that "White Bump". When you mean that, is it a Tumor? A picture would help. I suggest not to continue with the Quick Cure. I hope he gets better. SBD is constipation.

[Sena Hansler]

Can you get a picture of the white bump?

Swim bladder disorder is the tummy bloating.

[BabyLungs14]

Thank you all for your input! It is greatly appreciated.. as for the picture of my betta's white bump I thought I attached it to my thread, but I guess it didn't work. I re-posted the photo below!

[LebronTheBetta]

The picture is too small. I can't see it. Sorry.

[BabyLungs14]

[BabyLungs14]

I posted the photo! All you need to do is right click on it.

I'm very sad right now... I just want him to get better.




After viewing the photo of my betta, please give me any/all input you have!

Thank you

[BabyLungs14]

[Sena Hansler]

Has it grown ever since it began to show? That there could be a tumor...