[spookyspooks]

Hey guys. My white HMPK Spooks has had a red lump on his ventral fin for a while now. He hasn't always had it, but in the last two months or so it's grown pretty big, about two mm across. The closest I could find was Lymphocitis, which looks like it isnt curable, but I'd like to make sure it isnt something else. It keeps growing bigger and it's getting pretty huge.

He's in a filtered, planted 8gal with a snail and two ghost shrimp. He's eating well and as sassy as ever, his only issue is the gross red lump.

http://imgur.com/ss9EuK2


You can see his pretty green eyes in this picture. Don't worry about the weird lighting on his back, my tank is covered in window screen so it makes weird gross shadows. His scales irl look completely fine and pearly.

Thanks!

 

[Taeanna]

being on a fin I am unsure if it is lymphocytosis, I am not even sure it is able to grow on fins. Hopefully a more experienced breeder can pop in to correct that if I am wrong.

The most likely culprit is a fin bubble which are a type of pimple caused from infection. I havent seen one of this size before though.

If it is a fin bubble then your best strategy for now is to do a water change to keep everything sparkling (always the first thing to do when you see infection) and add some AQ salt to his water. This wont directly heal anything but it will cleanse the infected area and tighten the finnage somewhat which might encourage the lump to burst and so purge the infected matter/heal faster.

Is he still acting as normal or does he seem unhappy using that fin?

 

[lilnaugrim]

Lympho can grow on fins and that is generally where it pops up first, most of the time in a linear fashion on pectoral fins. However, this doesn't look much like Lympho, if anything it almost looks like a pigment build-up if anything although a weird place for it.

I would follow Taeanna's suggestions first and see what comes of it.

 

[spookyspooks]

He's still acting super normal and doesn't seem bothered by it at all.

Pigment buildup seems reasonable, he has some red junk on his butt fin so that might be why it's red. Does that cause so much swelling though?

 

[lilnaugrim]

The red particularly looks like normal coloration to me since it does match the coloration on the Caudal fin (tail fin), so I'm inclined to say that is just natural coloration but it is peculiar how it is around the "infected" area, perhaps just a coincidence? It is possible that it is also a cyst, these can grow on fins as well. It doesn't seem to have the more lumpy appearance that I find cysts to have although each one is different in its own way.

So we've got roughly four possible diagnoses:
Lympho
Fin Pimple
Pigment Buildup
Cyst

I do doubt that it is lympho though, you would most likely see more spots jumping up occasionally and as I said before, more often than not it tends to start on the pectoral fins and just come up randomly every now and then. That's a big difference between Ich and Lympho, Lympho tends to move around randomly where as Ich will attach and stay attached until knocked off by meds or heat when they die. So that is something you can look out for.

I'm sort of inclined to say pigment buildup just because he is acting normal and doesn't seem bothered by it, since that isn't a disease, just something that happens to Dragons occasionally when their pigment has no other place to go so it builds up in one ore more spots. Generally however, this happens on the body so that would be another weird thing lol. But continuing with that anyway, the buildup can fall off and sometimes at that point it will fall off clean, or sometimes it will open up a wound in which case you would use some AQ salt for a few days to sterilize the wound and make sure no infection gets in while doing daily water changes to keep the tank clean and clear of most infections.

So all that is left are the cyst and the pimple, similar in nature I believe? Taeanna can give more info on that I think. But cysts can grow at any time and on any place of the fish, including inside. They can also grow in size over a short period of time or gradually over a few months, they can also fall off at certain points also leaving wounds which the response would be the same as if the pigmentation fell off; aq salt and water changes. Tannin source would help in that case as well.

Sorry I'm sort of rambling and thinking about things as I go!

 

[spookyspooks]

Thanks for all the info! c:

So I'm assuming if the cyst falls off, the fin will too? Its pretty much the whole thing.

 

[lilnaugrim]

Not all of it, just the part that is infected, although I haven't dealt with fin cysts and whether or not it will fall off. I know ones on the body can depending on if it grows on top of the scales or if it is bulging out from the inside, if it's the latter then it probably won't fall off unless very excess and the fish hits it the right way on some decor or something like that. But as I said, I'm not as well versed when it comes to fin cysts.

 

[Taeanna]

The main difference between a pimple and a cyst is that a pimple is a surface infection desperate to get out. a cyst is an internal (internal can also count as inside the skin) infection that the body is dealing with but cant drain out as conveniently as a pore clog.
In many cases cysts drain slowly from the inside or just stay the same, but depending on where and how it is placed they can rupture just like a pimple does. it leaves a wound but closes quickly and heals.

So really even if it doesnt go down a cyst wont bother him. Likely he cannot even feel it because bettas have little nerve pulse in their finnage and the cyst may be strangling the afferent pathway.
Of course if you see it growing or you feel it will benefit him you can try puncturing it. But I really consider that as only a last resort. It would stress him out a lot to capture and hold him still.

 

[lilnaugrim]

Ah, that makes sense Taeanna, so I had the sort of right idea about the inside/outside, just pimple on outside like humans and cysts on insides, that makes a bunch of sense!

 

[Taeanna]

Glad I could be of help and yes you were right on track.
I just wanted to add for clarity and because you added I could expand on it all.

 

[spookyspooks]

Good to know it's not a huge deal. I'll leave it unless it looks like he's bothered by it. It can be his special fin.

 

[spookyspooks]

So it's been a month and the lump is even bigger. The fin has fallen off leaving only the big red lump.

It seemed to burst a few weeks ago so I dosed the tank with AQ salt and he was fine, I'm just wondering if the missing fin is something to be worried about

 

[lilnaugrim]

Can you get recent pictures of the area? I'm not sure I'm reading this correctly.

Missing fins usually don't bother them as long as it doesn't get infected is all. Ventral's are only used for stopping short but there are plenty of fish out there who are bred and when they grow up because of a certain bacteria, they actually never grow in their ventral fins but they still live on fine!