Peculiar bump/tumor-y growth!!!

Strange growth on a friends betta, I’d love to pitch his case to the forum for ideas on treatment. Here are what his tank conditions are to the best of my knowledge:

Tank
10 gallon tank, running several months - yes filter (HOB) and heater kept at 78°.
tank mates added SLOWLY: 1 panda Cory, 1 rabbit snail, 3 ember tetras, 3 African dwarf frogs.
Planted with a few varied bolbitis / anubias, no fertilizers.

Maintenance
Monthly 30ish% water change, yes gravel vac, this last month have done weekly 25% water changes observing the bump onset…


*Parameters
Using API liquid tests, yes tank did a month long fishless food cycling before adding betta, solo betta another month before tank mates added slowly, a couple weeks before each new species.
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5 ppm
pH: 7.2

^ this is pretty steady, never seen an ammonia spike even after the death of the second panda Cory and one Amano shrimp. But it’s been a couple months since then and all has been well. The bump started growing after that settled out.

Illness & Symptoms
Betta appears to behave normal, bump/tumor looking thing came in slow over last month then tripled in size over the last couple days. Still no change in behavior, eats and swims as usual at this time.

 

Most likely a viral tumor. Usually not lethal, just ugly. The cyst will eventually burst & the Betta will soon be on the mend.

 

Most likely a viral tumor. Usually not lethal, just ugly. The cyst will eventually burst & the Betta will soon be on the mend.

Think it’s of the sort that the burst is a reproductive strategy and would effect tank mates? Or indeed non-contagious?

 

If the tankmates have injuries or open wounds the virus has a greater potential to spread.
A healthy fish can usually fend off a virus exposure.

 

He

If the tankmates have injuries or open wounds the virus has a greater potential to spread.
A healthy fish can usually fend off a virus exposure.

Heard. thank you for your input ☮️

 

yeah. looks like Lymphocystis to me, If so it's non fatal (unless it happens internally like on gills or in the fishes mouth or throat and can't eat) and will pass with time, and might leave scarring. It is contagious to an extent that other fish could get it also, not contagious to you or inverts or the frogs (they have their own iridoviruses) keep water quality high and nitrates low and it will run it's course, and best shot at the betta not getting a secondary infection. And the other fish, if they aren't stressed and immune systems are strong, they won't likely get it or got it asymptomatically. one of the others probably had been exposed and it was a latent carrier, then the betta right place right time and some stress that lowered it's immune system. betta could have been the one with it and it starts showing up weeks to months later also, it's one of those things that's hard to catch even with quarantine because of how long it incubates.

The Betta likely got itfrom being prone to bloat or swim bladder issues, which cause stress and would lower their ability to fight off stuff. it will pass in time, once you see signs of it, it's in the tank and every fish has long been exposed already, so there's nothing you can really do but wait it out. \

clean water of good quality, and feed foods you know the betta won't get digestion issues from for the duration of it, for the best outcome and recovery.