Large Lump Betta Side

[techstud85]

Hi Community,

I have been trying to treat my Betta for a large swollen side. It seems to be focused to one side and is rather large. I have treated him with tetracycline for the entire treatment. Epsom salt in tank. Epsom bath. None of these have seemed to resolve the issue. I have maracyn and maracyn 2 on order but will take a few days (of course everyone in town was out of meds). I am thinking its a bacterial infection as have fasted him and fed peas to no avail. Anyone have any recommendations? I will post a picture next.

[callistra]

Maracyns aren't great at internal infections, if that's what this is.

Are his scales raised?

What color is his poop?

How/what part of a pea did you feed?

Pics would help. Also fill this out to make sure we're not missing anything. http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=49233

[techstud85]

http://s2.postimage.org/4a2jg6psp/image.jpg

Additional Parameters:

Housing
What size is your tank? 5 Gallon (Not Pictured)
What temperature is your tank? Consistent 87.5 F
Does your tank have a filter? Yes - Biofilter
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? Surface by pump
Is your tank heated? Yes 87.5 F
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? None

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish?
NLS Betta Pellets / Once a week bloodworms

How often do you feed your betta fish?
Twice a day ~ 3 pellets two times daily

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change?
Once a Week Sometimes Sooner

What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change?
Roughly Half - Last Two Times 80% to get rid of tetracycline

What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change?
Stress Coat Plus (Was Adding AQ Salt but now Epsom Salt (5/4 tsp)

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?
I have not tested the water parameters.

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed?
Very swollen on side seems to have gotten larger.
Scales out due to swelling on spot. Only one one side.

How has your betta fish's behavior changed?
Seems to still be very active and usual jumpy.
Sometimes seems to sleep a little more then usual.
Still peppy overall though.

When did you start noticing the symptoms?
About 3 Weeks Ago - Swelling Has Come and Go but is worse now.

Have you started treating your fish? If so, how?
1) Started fasting and using peas - didn't improve condition
2) Gave full dosing of tetracycline (2 days water replace 2 days water replace) - no fix. Swelling went down a bit but came right back.
3) Removed AQ salt and put in Epsom Salt slowly - over few days at 5/8 tsp.
4) Gave Epsom Salt Bath - no improvement / reduction of swelling (just did though).

Does your fish have any history of being ill?
Seems to be a tail biter at times (can see frays in picture). Had some white spots on body before. Eventually left after Ick Treatment / Salt / Heat. Still not sure if was really ick.

How old is your fish (approximately)? Probably about a 1 1/2 to 1 2/3.

[techstud85]

Picture
http://s2.postimage.org/4a2jg6psp/image.jpg

Questions
1) Scales are only raised on the one spot no where else.
2) His poop is like red orange-ish. Has always been that color. He does not seem to be pooping much though and not a lot in amount either.
3) I fed him the inside part after running it under hot water. Balled it up into bite side pieces. Fed him about 1/4 or 1/6 each time. No loss of appetite ever.

Additional Parameters:

Housing
What size is your tank? 5 Gallon (Not Pictured)
What temperature is your tank? Consistent 87.5 F
Does your tank have a filter? Yes - Biofilter
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? Surface by pump
Is your tank heated? Yes 87.5 F
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? None

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish?
NLS Betta Pellets / Once a week bloodworms

How often do you feed your betta fish?
Twice a day ~ 3 pellets two times daily

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change?
Once a Week Sometimes Sooner

What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change?
Roughly Half - Last Two Times 80% to get rid of tetracycline

What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change?
Stress Coat Plus (Was Adding AQ Salt but now Epsom Salt (5/4 tsp)

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?
I have not tested the water parameters.

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed?
Very swollen on side seems to have gotten larger.
Scales out due to swelling on spot. Only one one side.

How has your betta fish's behavior changed?
Seems to still be very active and usual jumpy.
Sometimes seems to sleep a little more then usual.
Still peppy overall though.

When did you start noticing the symptoms?
About 3 Weeks Ago - Swelling Has Come and Go but is worse now.

Have you started treating your fish? If so, how?
1) Started fasting and using peas - didn't improve condition
2) Gave full dosing of tetracycline (2 days water replace 2 days water replace) - no fix. Swelling went down a bit but came right back.
3) Removed AQ salt and put in Epsom Salt slowly - over few days at 5/8 tsp.
4) Gave Epsom Salt Bath - no improvement / reduction of swelling (just did though).

Does your fish have any history of being ill?
Seems to be a tail biter at times (can see frays in picture). Had some white spots on body before. Eventually left after Ick Treatment / Salt / Heat. Still not sure if was really ick.

How old is your fish (approximately)? Probably about a 1 1/2 to 1 2/3.

[callistra]

That's how you feed the pea.. he didn't even poop after that? His poop would have looked like the raw pea coming out.. green.

Your tank is WAY too hot. Why is so hot?

The tetracyline has unfortunately toasted your cycle so you're going to have to use a drops kit and recycle once he is well. In the meantime twice weekly water change of 50% and 100% will do. If your tank was fully cycled before, your weekly water change routine would have been fine so long as you were also siphoning the gravel.

The epsom salts are a good start. I'd leave him in that at a rate of 1 tsp per gallon (predissolved and added slowly to avoid shock) for at least 2 weeks and until the bulge is gone.

Make sure your guy always gets one fast day a week. For now, don't feed him anything else until he produces some poop and some of that swelling should hopefully go down too with the epsoms.

In the meantime look for Kanaplex by Seachem, Maracyn Plus or as a last resort Furan 2. The Maracyns have some chance of working but not a good one.

[techstud85]

Thanks very much for the info. I had the temp there to treat ick but because he seemed to like the temp kept it. I already set the heater down to 82ish so it should be there in a few hours. I am going to fast him as suggested And ordered some kanaplex as well. For the Epsom salts is there a too much point and do I need to replace with each water change meaning ratio replace?

[callistra]

Epsom salts are needed in the case of raised scales to draw the extra fluid off the body. Very necessary. Yes, keep the same ratio. So if you do a 50% water change just do a 50% dose of epsoms.

[techstud85]

Update

I purchased some maracyn and maracyn two and have been changing the water more regularly. On average I have the betta in about 4 tsp of Epsom salt for his 5 gallon tank. Even with the complete treatment he looks a bit larger. His side kinda looks like a balloon and is very translucent.

I have kanaplex and an Indian almond leaf to try and improve this condition. I also after fasting for about a week am just feeding small daphnia amounts. I am debating trying to puncture the swollen side after getting an insulin needle but really scared ill hurt him in the process.

Does anyone have comments on maracyn not treating, the next steps above, and potentially puncturing the side ( including how to if at all)?

Thanks in advance!

[callistra]

I said before Maracyns aren't great on internal infections. I would also increase your epsoms salts. You're on less than 1 tsp per gallon.. increase to at least 1 tsp. You can go as high as 2 tsp.

Puncturing him is a huge risk and I would not do this.

Can you share photos?

[techstud85]

http://i49.tinypic.com/2mqs1ld.jpg

I figured that was the case with the maracyns and now that the kanaplex is here can finally use that. I was using the maracyns as an in the meantime med till the other med got delivered. I have already adjusted the solution to be closer to 1 tsp per gallon. I really was not crazy about the draining idea to start with so now I'm pretty convinced not too:) anyway let me know any thoughts from picture. Thx