Lump On Betta’s Fin

HI i’ve had this betta fish since March. I adopted him from petco when one of my friends who worked there told me a kid had dumped him into the turtle tank. He is now named Turtle and in a 9 gal with some ember tetras, the tank has been running and cycled since October 2018
This is what he looked like in March when I got him

shortly after I got him he developed a lump on his fin. I do not have any pictures of the first lump but it grew bigger until one day it wasn’t there when I checked on him in the morning and it tore a good chunk of his fin off. I had been treating his tank with the recommended dose of Melafix during this time but it made no difference.
Now he has a second lump. it grew right above where the first lump was but it’s touching the back of his body. its grown huge fast and I’m afraid when this one comes off it’ll cause a lot of damage to his fins and body.
What is this ?? What can I do to help ??

 

HI i’ve had this betta fish since March. I adopted him from petco when one of my friends who worked there told me a kid had dumped him into the turtle tank. He is now named Turtle and in a 9 gal with some ember tetras, the tank has been running and cycled since October 2018
This is what he looked like in March when I got him View attachment 583093
shortly after I got him he developed a lump on his fin. I do not have any pictures of the first lump but it grew bigger until one day it wasn’t there when I checked on him in the morning and it tore a good chunk of his fin off. I had been treating his tank with the recommended dose of Melafix during this time but it made no difference.
Now he has a second lump. it grew right above where the first lump was but it’s touching the back of his body. its grown huge fast and I’m afraid when this one comes off it’ll cause a lot of damage to his fins and body.
What is this ?? What can I do to help ?? View attachment 583095
View attachment 583096

That looks like a tumor. Because he had a similar lump before and you said it's getting big very rapidly, I'd suspect that it's some kind of cancer rather than something benign.
Unfortunately, if that's the case, there's very little you can do for him other than taking him to a vet or removing it yourself. The only other possibility (but extremely unlikely) is that he picked up some huge atypical parasite from the brief period he was in with the turtle. The first lump may have been the same thing and rather than being torn off, may have ruptured. Did you ever find that piece of tissue (the ripped off lump) in the tank?

 

That looks like a tumor. Because he had a similar lump before and you said it's getting big very rapidly, I'd suspect that it's some kind of cancer rather than something benign.
Unfortunately, if that's the case, there's very little you can do for him other than taking him to a vet or removing it yourself. The only other possibility (but extremely unlikely) is that he picked up some huge atypical parasite from the brief period he was in with the turtle. The first lump may have been the same thing and rather than being torn off, may have ruptured. Did you ever find that piece of tissue (the ripped off lump) in the tank?

Thank you for the reply. I was unable to find the piece of tissue that came off, but I did attempt to look for it so it would not sit and break down in the tank. When it came off or ruptured or whatever did end up happening to it it took off quite a bit of his fins and I expected to see them somewhere in the tank but they weren’t there anywhere from what I could see. I really do feel as if once this next lump comes off it’ll cause a lot of damage to his body as well as his fins :/

 

Thank you for the reply. I was unable to find the piece of tissue that came off, but I did attempt to look for it so it would not sit and break down in the tank. When it came off or ruptured or whatever did end up happening to it it took off quite a bit of his fins and I expected to see them somewhere in the tank but they weren’t there anywhere from what I could see. I really do feel as if once this next lump comes off it’ll cause a lot of damage to his body as well as his fins :/

It may not come off. It may just keep getting bigger to the point that he is unable to swim or even get to the top. Adult Bettas are partially obligate air breathers. This means that they have to get a majority of their oxygen by breathing surface air. They do this through a tiny hole in their head via a specialized Labyrinth organ. You could help him with this by getting him a betta hammock or leaf and placing it 1.5-2" from the surface of the water.

Create a comfy bed for your betta with a hammock!
If he gets sick enough, you may need or want to consider euthanasia. If it comes to that point, members here know the correct way to euthanize fish using clove oil. Clove oil is used as an anesthetic for fish requiring surgery or other procedures and a simple overdose is used for euthanasia.

 

hey everyone, my guy seems to be getting worse. his lump or tumor is more white and a lot more noticeable on the other side. He is also sitting at the surface a lot and seems to be struggling. his scales also look like this and i’m a bit afraid, can anyone help me out ?

 

Pinconing can be a sign of dropsy. Does his belly look swollen or bloated?

 

hey everyone, my guy seems to be getting worse. his lump or tumor is more white and a lot more noticeable on the other side. He is also sitting at the surface a lot and seems to be struggling. his scales also look like this and i’m a bit afraid, can anyone help me out ?View attachment 584302

I'm sure the snail that's attached to him isn't helping his situation I'm sorry he's sick and yes, dropsy is fatal and they rarely get better. I recently had to euthanize one of my honey gouramis because he ended up with dropsy and only got worse.

 

I'm sure the snail that's attached to him isn't helping his situation I'm sorry he's sick and yes, dropsy is fatal and they rarely get better. I recently had to euthanize one of my honey gouramis because he ended up with dropsy and only got worse.

Poor guy

 

Pinconing can be a sign of dropsy. Does his belly look swollen or bloated?

yes a little bit

 

That's definitely dropsy on top of quite a bad tumor. I'm afraid that he almost certainly won't recover from this. You can try to make him as comfortable as you can but you may want to consider euthanasia. I'm so sorry.

 

yes a little bit

Unfortunately it sounds like he may be in for a rough ride. As mentioned above dropsy is almost always fatal unless caught early, however the most visible sign would be the raised scales and that typically means it has come too far to recover from. In addition to the tumor, things do no look promising. Treatment would likely do very little if not stress him more. I'd say get some tasty food and give him plenty to rest by the surface on, simply make them as comfy as possible.. I'm sorry this is happening to you guys.

 

I'm sure the snail that's attached to him isn't helping his situation I'm sorry he's sick and yes, dropsy is fatal and they rarely get better. I recently had to euthanize one of my honey gouramis because he ended up with dropsy and only got worse.

That's not a snail. It's a tumor.

 

That's not a snail. It's a tumor.

My bad. It looks just like a snail. So sorry