Tail Blister/Cyst/Parasitic infection??

[9 Bettas]

Hi All,

Hoping someone may have seen this before and know how to help us. Levi has developed a huge lump in his tail - its been growing steadily for maybe 2 - 3 weeks and is now right up against his body.

His water is cleaned weekly and the gravel gets stirred up and cleaned at least once a month. He's eating normally and it doesn't seem to bother him but its bothering me! He's about 3 so not a young fish.

All our other fighters are treated the same with the same water (but in different aquariums) and none of the others are showing any signs of the same thing so I don't think its anything that has come in through the water.

Will post a pic. I took him to the local aquarium store today but they had never seen anything like it before so couldn't tell me anything other than give him a salt bath and maybe prick it. I don't want to do that and stress him out or worse - make it worse!

[BettaSquirt]

Hmmm... I've never had this happen to one of my fish, but 2 of my friends did, and i'm guessing it usually happens because of old age and leads to death sooner or later :( . My friend had a 2 year old betta and it got one of those and recently died. My other one had a goldfish that was like 6 years old and got one of those and also died recently... I don't know what they are, though, i'm sorry :[. I'm guessing it's some type of tumor or something?

[9 Bettas]

Thanks Squirt

[BettaSquirt]

Your welcome, i'm sorry I can't help much :/

[Zenandra]

It looks like a tumor to me. I've seen them in bettas before, usually in older bettas, and they usually aren't treatable. Does it seem to effect him too much? Or is he acting normal? If it's really bothering him you could try a salt back, but if it's not effecting him I would just leave it alone let nature takes its course.

[9 Bettas]

No, it doesn't seem to be bothering him, he's acting pretty normal for him, maybe a little sluggish but the weather is cooling off here now (its Fall)... I'm just concerned as it started down in his tail and is getting bigger so that now it is touching his body and thinking if it gets into his body then he hasn't got long left. Shame there is so little we know about their illnesses in the greater scheme of things.

Zenandra I love the gorgeous guy in your profile pic there!!

[Zenandra]

Thank you!!! I just won him on Aquabid! I should be getting him sometime next week!!

[BettaSquirt]

How old is Levi ?

[BettaSquirt]

Or, how long have you had him?

[9 Bettas]

I've had him almost 3 years, he was fairly small when I got him so I'm guessing not very old at the time.