is this a tumor, or what?

[Luimeril]

please note: this is NOT my fish, but a friend's. she comes to me for all her betta info needs, and i help her out as best i can. for this, though, i'm stumped.

she was asking me about how to heal fin rot in one of her bettas, and we got to talking. she updated me last night, that his fins are looking pretty good, and that she rescued a short-tail who had an odd lump on his head, and asked me if it was just a giant scab, or something worse. after seeing the lump, i worried it may be a tumor. i told her that i thought it might be one, but i'd get advice from others first.

this is Iquis. he looks like an MG PK or HMPK, and i love him. i'm totally jealous of her finding such a beauty at Petco, i think.


you can see the odd lump, just above his gill.

on a horrifying note, she said his cup was "filled with enough bettafix to smell awful for almost a month"!

so, what do you all think? does Iquis have a tumor? :<

he lives in a gallon tank, with frequent water changes. no heater, but her house stays warm all year long. he gets to see neighbors and flare, but not all the time. she said he's active and seems happy, and she's ordering some IAL to add to all their tanks(namely for the ones with fin issues. she has a bad tail biter, and i told her how tannins can help the fin grow back good. .3.).

[Oldfishlady]

Thats what it looks like.....melanomas or pigment cell tumor...usually benign and not uncommon due to the hybridisation and linebreeding that goes on with this species....

Usually it won't kill them and they can live a normal life unless it grows to the point that it impede daily living or if its cancerous spreading to internal organs...

Some will grow forming layers and then split-oozing, looking bloody-and the fish will get a secondary infection from the open wound and that is what ends up killing it not the tumor....

No treatment other than good care, water quality and proper nutrition.....

Lovely fella.....

[Luimeril]

thanks, OFL. i'm sure she'll be happy to know it shouldn't hurt him. i'm honestly glad she got him, instead of someone who wouldn't give him the care she will, or him sitting there in the cup of Bettafix 'till he dies. x:

[Myates]

He's very handsome, I'm jealous too!

(no need to add anything, OFL is the best hehe)

[Luimeril]

my friend got a better pic of his odd bump. tell me what you all think!

[Pataflafla]

I think it's very possible. My sister has a boy with a tumor in that same spot, but it's gotten so big that it's starting to go over tothe other side of his head, has rendered his right eye useless, and he can no longer flare his beard on that side. He's also started to have some motor skill issues, so it's nearing his time unfortunately.

I think that guy will be fine for a while though. Just keep the water a little bit cleaner if it looks as though anything has burst.