Betta With Large Growth.

[candycorn]

Copied from Betta forum on advice from another member.

So my beloved office betta has a terrible growth as you can see. (he is white in the photos...my work camera had a flash I could not turn off so I blocked it with my finger and now he is pink!)
He is in a 3 gallon planted tank with filter and heater. He has been with me for over a year. The growth started as some strange bump about 3 months ago...but has definatly progressed. I fear it is cancer. His fins have also become very straggly in the last week or two. I have added traces of salt on the advice of my wife who has been a fishkeeper for years.
Has anyone seen this before? Is there any chance it could be something else? I breed show mice, so I understand how to ease the pain of a mouse with a large tumor and at what point they are in pain...but I am at a loss with a fish. How do I know when he is in pain/too far gone? I realise that fish are not mammels and don't express pain, but I don't want him to suffer either. This is my first fish with this sort of growth.
Any thoughts?

 

[WILDER]

Does the growth feel hard, Or soft like filled with fluid?
Is the growth smooth in texture and appearance?
Is the growth also beneath the skin?
Does the growth resemble a cauliflower?
Any red areas, or pink areas to the growth?

Sorry for all the questions. But it hard to tell in the pic.

 

[candycorn]

Does the growth feel hard, Or soft like filled with fluid? It has the same feel as the rest of the fish. He was not keen on me touching it.
Is the growth smooth in texture and appearance? smooth but not perfectly round and pushing out the scales so that they stick out. - feels slimycoated like the rest of him.
Is the growth also beneath the skin? beneath the skin
Does the growth resemble a cauliflower? It has ups and downs but is not bumpy in quite the same way. More like rolling hills than bunches of bumps.
Any red areas, or pink areas to the growth? very small points of pink have been seen. Although I don't see any today.

Sorry for all the questions. But it hard to tell in the pic. Not a problem. It is not easy to photograph really.

 

[WILDER]

All you can do is use an internal bacteria med.
If it is a tumour there not much to be done i'm afraid.
Just make sure you can't see any parasites underneath the lifted scales. Lump and bump can cause the scales to raise if the lump is beneath the skin.

Good Luck.