Help Treating Betta Bump/Growth

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BettaDad

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Mar 9, 2020
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Our betta JT has a bump/growth on his dorsal fin (see photo). The bump has developed a layer of grunge over it. The bump has been there for a couple months. At first it didn't seem to be bothering him, but it started to get bigger and grow some fuzz/mold so we used Jungle Fungus Clear. He has had fin rot issues off and on for about a year despite water parameters checking out when tested with a liquid test kit. We tried treating the fin rot with with BettaFix recently. It seems like the fin rot has stopped, or at least slowed.

JT is acting a bit lethargic. He is still eating and swimming around, but is sitting on the bottom of the tank more than usual and has some loss of color. We started another dose of Fungus Clear this morning. Any ideas about the bump and possible treatment suggestions would be welcome.

More details below.

1~What type of fish is afflicted? In addition, please describe what is wrong with the fish to the best of your ability (i.e. cotton like growth, bloated, etc.).
See above.

2~What are your tank parameters (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, temp, pH)? Please give exact values.
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrites 0 ppm
Nitrates 5.0 ppm
Temp 78 deg F
pH 7.0

3~ How large is the tank? How long has the tank been set up?
5 gallon tank. He has been in this tank for at least 6 months. It was cycled before he was put in.

4~What type of filtration are you using? Please give the name and number (i.e. Fluval 304) and amount of gph if known.
We’re using a sponge filter.

5~How many fish are in the tank? What kinds of fish are they and what are their current sizes?
He is in the tank by himself.

6~When is the last time you did a water change and vacuum the gravel? How often do you do this? How much water do you remove at a time?
We’ve been doing water changes/vacuuming gravel once every 5-7 days recently to try to keep the water quality high. We usually would do about a 20-25% change but with the Fungus Clear treatments we’ve done ~70% change.

7~How long have you had the fish? If the fish is new, how did you acclimate it/them?
He’s about two years old.

8~Have you added anything new to the tank--decor, new dechlorinator, new substrate, etc.?
For the last two months we’ve been transitioning from our (high PH) tap water to bottled spring water.

9~What kind of food have you been feeding your fish, have you changed their diet recently?
NorthFin Cichlid Formula (couldn’t find Betta Bits, but this is extremely similar based on manufacturer info). We soak the pellets for 5-10 min before feeding. He’s been eating this for 6-8 months.
 

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This has good information which might help - The underlying issue is an injury likely with bacterial infection, then fungal infection. You might try a medication which treats the bacterial infection, then use the Betta fix, The information might tell you if they can be used together Check API Fin and Body Cure
https://bettasource.com/betta-fish-tumor/

One of the most important things is to do daily / every other day water changes on the tank to ensure tip top water quality. It helps the fish have less stress and then its body can focus its energy on fighting the infection and getting well.

Before starting a new medication do a couple back to back 50% pwc and make sure that the water quality is ideal. If it isn't, do another couple pwc back to back. Since you often do not change the water for a couple days you do not want the fish suffering with bad water quality.

A water conditioner like Prime will detoxify harmful water spikes, but is not to replace good maintenance/water changes.

Read medication information carefully treat as directed and use all doses as directed. Some medications do not kill off the beneficial bacteria in a filter and in the tank, but most do when treating a bacterial infection.
 
Thank you! We appreciate the post very much. The info from the BettaSource site was helpful too.



We'll take your advice and follow up with results.
 
We have been treating with the API Fin and Body. After adding it to the tank, it has been clouding up A LOT. We've followed the directions, halving the quantity for our 5 gal tank. After an hour or so there are bunches of floating cloudy particles in the tank. We use a sponge filter and it seems to be getting really full of the particles. This whole process freaked us out, so we did a 50% water change to get the water back to some semblance of normal. Is this intense clouding normal?
 
I'd say we waited 2-3 hours before the water change. It was still a bit cloudy after the change. It's clear this morning.


The clouding doesn't worry me so much as the clumps/particles - it looked like the tank was full of brine shrimp.


We'll try again this evening. I was thinking about pre-mixing the powder with some of the tank water in a cup before pouring it in to see if that works better. Would it make sense to turn off or remove the filter completely for the duration of the treatment? After the Bettafix, fungus treatment, and this bacterial treatment, I doubt it contains any beneficial bacterial.
 
The medication could treat anything which is IN the filter.

You would only need to remove carbon if it is newer than a week, after about 7-10 days the carbon has lived its useful life, and wouldn't be pulling stuff out anymore. I am usually cautious and would take it out if it was about 2 weeks old, lol, trust issues. since I rarely ever use carbon, it isn't an issue for me.

It would be fine to leave the filter running. As any infection in the filter would be treated as well. And IF there was any BB left then you wouldn't loose it.

I couldn't grab the info right now on what it actually kills off in the bacteria department.

In the paperwork from the box it most likely will tell you.

Also gram negative medication will generally effect the BB less than gram positive medication. You can find the active ingredient and check on the effect it has on BB.
 
Oh, and my water always cleared the next day as well. Pre-mixing it with slightly warm water might help too with the clumps. (treated with a bit of dechlor if warmed tap water of course)
 
Thank you.



The active ingredient is Doxycycline Hyclate. I was able to find this site which says the API treats gram-positive and some gram-negative bacteria Aquarium Medications Part 2 | Antibiotic & Antimicrobial Treatments


We will leave the filter as you suggest - it is just a sponge so no carbon.



If we can get rid of this infection we'll plan on frequent testing/water changes until we can get another tank cycled for him.


Will try the warm water pre-mix and see how it goes!
 
We did the pre-mix in warm water. It was still a little cloudy, but more what I was expecting. Much better.
 
Checking in for an update and hoping for some more insight. He still has the bump and it seems like it's slowly growing.

We did a week of the API fin & body treatment. Although it didn't get rid of the bump, we think the treatment got rid of some lingering fin rot he was dealing with. Followed it up with 50% water changes every other day for a week and then went to 25% changes every three days.

His current tank conditions are as follows

Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrites 0 ppm
Nitrates 5.0 ppm
Temp 78 deg F
pH 7.6

The pH is a bit higher than we'd like - we had to switch to a spring water/tap water mix for a bit since we were having trouble finding spring water in stores for a couple weeks. The tap water in our area is relatively high pH. Back on a higher spring water ratio, so hopefully that will start to decrease.

He is still plenty active and is eating well. Any other ideas on how to treat the bump?
 

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This is the same type thing I am dealing with in my Betta.

He has 4 spots. One big growth that looks better now than it used to and 3 tumor things. And swelling in his chest next to the 2 growths. So sad. Presently using the Api fin and body cure as well. Might use Kanaplex next, just couldn't get the med around me in a timely manner.

So I understand your situation.

Your Betta's spot looks like Lymphocystis Disease, It might have been mentioned before.

In my fish case he got the Lymphocystis spot first, then later developed the visible from the outside of the body tumors. Hopefully your fish just has the Lymphocystis disease.

I would also add that it might be useful to help him in the future to run another round of antibiotics. If he looks like the spot begins to enlarge significantly looks red, oozy or if parts of it look like it might be otherwise infected. In reading, one article mentioned that antibiotics can lower the force of the development. If I come across it again, I will post it and you can see how it will, or not work for your fish.
 
Thanks for the reply. Sorry to hear your fish are dealing with the same thing. It is helpful to have the name of the ailment. Most of what I'm seeing on lymphocystis says it usually goes away eventually.

The Wikipedia page on lymphocystis suggests weekly bacteria treatments. This makes sense to me since it sounds like the biggest risk to the fish's health is through secondary bacterial infection.

We may try a vitamin supplement and immunity booster.

Thanks again for the reply and good luck!
 
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