Growth on my betta fish's side

[Jesse2016]

Hi!

My female betta has been growing a large growth on her side for a couple months now and we have been adding salt and doing 50% water changes every 2 weeks. Is there a cure for it?

Thanks!

 

[CherryBerry670]

I’m no expert, and please do seek other advice, because it could be totally harmless, but that looks more like a tumor than anything recognizable. I suppose you should go on treating as you have, but…tumors are really something that has to be cut out by a vet.

 

[Jesse2016]

Yeah I've asked the staff at Petsmart and they weren't sure either. They suggested the salt bath treatment which we have been doing. She's pretty mobile still and eats properly, but the bump does impact her behaviour I think. Thanks for the reply!

 

[Stefan3289]

It’s a little hard to tell from the pictures but it looks quite similar to the start of lymphocytis (cauliflower disease). It is caused by a iridovirus and is incurable, but is also harmless and won’t kill the fish. I would keep the water as clean as possible by doing 50% water changes weekly to prevent it from getting a secondary infection, which is what can cause it to die rather than the lymphocytis. I attached some pictures of the lymphocytes from pictures online as different stages I tried to find to see if it looks like any of them.

 

[Jesse2016]

Hi Stefan,
Yes it does look like the first picture but bluish in colour due to her skin. I've been keeping up 40-50% water changes to prevent salt bath becoming too toxic. Her name is Raven and she's been with us over a year now.
Thanks for all the help,
J