Large pea size tumour?

[trishberk]

Hi,

I am looking for some advice about my daughters betta. We have had him for about 9 months. For about 3 weeks he has started to be a little finicky with his food, and we noticed his belly was getting a little bigger on one side. Was a little worried. But yesterday afternoon I cleaned his tank. Then noticed he had a small sore on his side - looked kinda like a few fins were falling off. Over the next few hours the sore grew and grew, it happened very quickly. By morning he had a huge white pea sized ball on his side. It was not like cotton - so thinking its not fungus. It was smooth and white. All day it seemed to slowly get bigger. Then around 3pm it actually fell off!! I have no idea what it could be or what to do for him. He now has a small open sore on his side. I have been constantly searching the internet for answers but cant seem to find anything similar. Does anyone have any idea what this could have been? How I can prevent it from ever happening again? And if I need to do anything for him now? Thank you so much for your help! I really appreciate it!

[Ronin]

Odd. Never heard of any tumor ever falling off, it sounds more like some kind of parasite. But then, I've never heard of an aquatic parasite that gets that big. Either way, I'd get the little ball out of the water just to be safe, and if you could get a picture, one of the more experienced members may be able to identify it. The best thing you can do for the wound is keep the water warm and clean, and add some aquarium salt if you have some. Actually, I'm not sure if you'd want to use the salt on such a large open wound, someone else should probably clarify that for me.

[trishberk]

I did remove it as soon as it fell off. The area where it fell from seemed to heal up fairly quickly. I can still see a small dark area there. I will try adding some aquarium salt to his water. He actually seems not too bad now. He is swimming around and eating. It was just so weird and really kinda scary to watch him going through that. I hope he continues to recover. If it was a parasite like you had mentioned is there anything else I should do to prevent that? And how on earth would he get a parasite? I feed him betta bites and freeze dried blood worms and he is alone in the aquarium. Thanks for your reply I really appreciate it.

[dramaqueen]

It may have been a wound that scabbed over and the scab just fell off. That's just a guess, though.

[trishberk]

Just wanted to give you an update on Rainbow. He is doing amazing! He is very interactive again, eating well and yestereday he built a bubble nest!! I am so happy I was sure he wouldnt make it. Thanks for your help, really appreciate it.

[Noko]

I would keep an eye on him. Hope he stays well!