Lump on side

[Bombalurina]

A brief history: my gorgeous sorority girls arrived from QLD last night (a 1200km trip). They are all very healthy and fiesty, recovered their colour quickly and have good appetites. Last night as I was taking photos I discovered a distinct lump on my longfin red VT's side. I'm not sure what it is or how to treat it. Pictures attached. :)

I'd like to note that it wasn't obvious and that the lady who sold these to me has been nothing but helpful, and has offered me a full refund for this girl (which I have declined, as hey, I still have a beautiful and otherwise healthy fish for the rest of her life).

Housing
What size is your tank? 16 gallons
What temperature is your tank? 80F
Does your tank have a filter? 2, a Fluval U1 and a U2
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? No, but the filter provides surface movement.
Is your tank heated? Yes.
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? A sorority of 5 other females, 4 cories, and an unknown number of ember tetras, Endler's Livebearers and RCS.

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Attison's Betta Pro, and whatever she steals from the other fish. And possibly Endler fry.
How often do you feed your betta fish? Twice per day, fasting on Sundays.

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? Whenever nitrates get above 5, or once per fortnight, whichever comes first. Usually once per fortnight.
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? It varies between 2.5 and 5 gallons, depending on how much tidying I want to do.
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Prime, occasionally StressCoat, IAL or Flourish.

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5
pH: 6
Hardness: 1 degree
Alkalinity: N/A

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? She has a lump on her side.
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? I don't know, as I've had her less than 24 hours.
When did you start noticing the symptoms? Yesterday.
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? Nope.
Does your fish have any history of being ill? I only got her yesterday, but I'm guessing not.
How old is your fish (approximately)? Between 3 and 6 months.

[callistra]

How many fish do you have in that tank? It would seem you are overstocked... The bettas and coreys alone would be a full stocking. Though I understand you have multiple filters and plants.. so I guess that would make a big difference.

You're doing a 15% water change every 2 weeks... I know you have plants, but you should do at least some kind of change every week. Generally 25% or 4 gallons a week would be minimum, but if you did just 2-3 gallons a week that would be better.. especially since your water is SO soft.. you generally want at least 3 degrees of hardness for stability, and those plants will eat through it quickly.. So even though there are no nitrates, your plants need the fresh water and so do your fish.

Can I ask what water source you're using?

As for the lump it may be a tumor or injury of some kind. It may also be a swim bladder issue. I would dose 1 tsp per gallon epsom salt for 2 weeks.. after 12 hours you could increase to 2 tsp. Have you ever used epsoms? I recognize you, but I can't remember what you've used.. Beyond that I would just watch her and monitor poop to make sure there's no internal infection going on.

[Bombalurina]

You do recognise me - you helped me out with my girl Artemis. :)

I'm using tap water.

I am overstocked, but the fish I have are suited to the tank size and don't lack room to swim. I'm not happy with the amount of room my cories have, but they'll be in a 23 gallon (along with the Endlers and the girls) in less than a month, so they only have to put up with a small footprint a little longer. In terms of bioload, the test kit readings speak for themselves. :)

I'm wary of trying to increase my hardness - I don't want to cause a crazy jump and risk my fish. Is there a safe way to do it? Crushed coral in the filter?

Will epsom salt hurt my shrimp at all? I can't put her in the hospital tank as Odysseus is in it, and I don't really want to expose them too each other in case of cross-contamination (also, she's fiesty and healthy and would probably jump my cruddy make-shift divider to beat him up).

I'll increase the changes to 2.5 gallons per week if you think it advisable. :) I do also top the tank up every few days as I lose at least 2 gallons per week to evaporation.

[callistra]

Ah yes :)

I'm not really suggesting that you mess with the hardness, although if you wanted to I would use baking soda and equilibrium, but just replenishing water more often will make sure your plants don't eat through it too quickly.

IDK about the shrimp.. you might want to pm OFL

[Bombalurina]

Will do. :) Is Equilibrium the Seachem one? How do you use baking soda for hardness?

By the way, I've been meaning to compliment you on the boy in your avatar. He has the cutest expression. :)

[callistra]

Yeah. I use Seachem Alkaline buffer. It raises KH by 5.6 degrees every 1/2 tsp per 5g.. so if you wanted to a half dose or even a 3/4x dose that would probably be a good buffer.. baking soda may be different, but I think it's essentially the same thing..

In Equilibrium, one dose raises 3 degrees of gh.

If you wanted to mess with this I would do a lot of careful testing in separate buckets with your tap water..dosing.. letting it sit 24 hours etc and have a really really good graps on just how much kh and gh it is changing. When you get a good mix 3-6 degrees kh and gh is not so important but you should have at least a degree then you can start slowly adding the newly mixed water in during your regular changes to give your fish time to adjust.

Thank you! I love my Fireball :D He was my first betta ever.

[Bombalurina]

Thanks. I'll get hold of some and start experimenting. :)

No change on my girl's lump, but it looks kind of like a pimple before it forms a head. Do you think it is at all likely to rupture?

[callistra]

That's odd.. I don't expect it to burst. Hopefully it will go away with time and good water.