# Betta fish Lymphocystis?



## JacobWall (Jun 5, 2020)

Hi everyone! 
I am brand new to fish forums so please forgive me if I messed anything up! I’ve had my betta for 10 months she always had a spot but I had started noticing it grow and grow in the last 3 months. If anyone has any idea what this could be or how I could treat it I’d appreciate it! I’ll try keep photos organized from earliest to newest. 

Housing:
How many gallons is your tank? 15 Gallons
Does it have a filter? Yes aqua clear
Does it have a heater? Yes 
What temperature is your tank? 78-79
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? No
Does your Betta have tank mates? What kind? 5 Corydoras, some small snails

Food:
What food brand do you use? Bug bites
Do you feed flakes or pellets? 
I think they’re micro pellets? 
Freeze-dried? Not sure
How often do you feed your Betta? How much? 
Small pinch every morning what she can eat in about 1 minute sometimes another minute if she’s being really cute later in the evening 

Maintenance:
Before your Betta became ill how often did you perform a water change? Weekly
What percentage of water did you change? 25-40%
What is the source of your water? 
City water
Do you vacuum the substrate or just dip out water? 
Used to just dip but now vacuum 
What additives do you use? What brand of conditioner? 
Fluval water condition and flourish fertilizer as it is a planted tank.

Water Parameters:

Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0ppm
pH: 7-7.5 (maybe slightly higher hard to tell which colour matched best) 
Hardness (GH): 180 city water is hard
Alkalinity (KH): 180 city water is hard 

Symptoms and Treatment:
When did you first notice the symptoms? 
When purchased.
How has your Betta’s appearance changed? 
Growth grew in size and eventually covered eye.
How has your Betta’s behavior changed? Less active
Is your Betta still eating?
Yes
Have you started treating your Betta? If so, how?
Initially used Tetra Fungus guard but used two treatments, after that did nothing I took her to the vet and got amoxicillin. After a 10 day treatment eye looked much better and growth has shrunk but is now slowly growing has been one month since end of amoxicillin treatment. 
Does your Betta have any history of being ill? No
How long have you owned your Betta? 10 months 
Was he or she ill or suffering some sort of damage when purchased? She had the white mark when purchased but was much smaller and assumed it was colouring.


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## Rana (Apr 27, 2013)

That looks more like a scale tumor than Lympho to me. Lympho growths can be white, but is usually tinged with more of a grayish color, and has a rough "cauliflower" appearance. Your girl's lump is fairly smooth by comparison, and looks as if it's more a part of the scales rather than growing out of her body underneath. I'm going to attach an example of a betta with Lympho for comparison- though of course, every case is different.

Marble bettas tend to be prone to scale tumors because of the rapid color changes they go through (I am not sure if your betta qualified as "Dragonscale" during her white phase, but they are also prone to scale tumors, as well as scales which grow over their eyes). Unfortunately, for a tumor there's no cure or treatment. Normally these scale tumors are surface-level and don't really affect the betta much, they may grow larger but they don't spread to other places or directly impact their organs etc, but hers is in a tricky spot since it's right on her head.


In terms of treatment approaches, the only real difference between a tumor and a Lympho lump is that the Lympho is more likely to fall off, allowing the betta to heal the skin underneath. To encourage this to happen you can add in a small amount of Aquarium salt to your tank- 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon per gallon, for up to ten days. But I am not sure if Cories or any of your snails & plants are sensitive to salt so you would want to research that first. The idea is that the AQ salt will irritate the betta's slime coat and potentially help reduce the viral load, encouraging the growth to break off. A superficial tumor can _sometimes_ also fall off, but it is not as likely- especially since the growth on your girl's head has a fairly spread-out footprint which means it's pretty well anchored in place.

So while you _can_ give AQ salt a try, I would not really expect it to do anything in your case. Other medicines won't have any effect either, and will add to her stress levels instead, so I would not suggest using any unless she develops a secondary infection.


My guess for why the growth seemed to shrink after the antibiotics is that she developed a secondary infection (most likely the same type as Pop-eye, considering placement and eye involvement) causing the area in general to become swollen. So when the medicine was able to clear that up, it seemed as if the growth itself shrank.


Sorry, I wish I had better news. But the level of care you're giving seems to be pretty excellent and that's the most important factor in keeping a betta's health up even when they have a problem like a tumor!

One thing you can do if you have the budget is add in a frozen (or live!) source of food for her, like bloodworms, brine shrimp, or daphnia. These are packed with protein and good fats and can help her keep her strength up despite the growth. She may also have an easier time eating them rather than pellets since they are softer, if the growth seems like it is starting to affect her mouth. (Freeze-dried versions are good as a treat, but do not have the same level of nutrition so feed sparingly, not as a full meal)


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## JacobWall (Jun 5, 2020)

Hi Rana,
Thanks a lot for this information it makes me feel a lot better at least having a bit more of an idea of what it could be. I’m not sure how well it shows in the photos but it is raised I’d say a 1/16-1/8th of an inch from her scales. I also noticed at the part closest to the top of the scales it almost looks like the scales are standing up but they are very small.

I will do some research into AQ salt with my tank but I also have a small quarantine tank she could stay in for a few days for treatment.

Thanks also for the advice on feeding i will try get her some blood worms and brine shrimp.


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