# Lump near the base of the tail?



## nihonbetta (Nov 27, 2013)

Hello! I am new to this forum and want to see if anyone here could help to our betta fish in our office.

We have a giant plakat betta fish in our office for about 2 months, and we noticed 2 days ago that there’s a lump starting to grow near the base of its tail.
The lump is a smooth one, and is on its left side. 
He looks as happy as usual, and still eats a lot, but we worry that the lump will grow larger if we don’t treat it properly.
Does anyone know what this lump could possibly be? What should we do? Help please :-(

Housing 
What size is your tank? about 2.5 gallons 
What temperature is your tank? 71.6
Does your tank have a filter? yes
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? no
Is your tank heated? yes
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? water plant

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? betta fish pellets
How often do you feed your betta fish? morning and evening, 8 pellets a time

Maintenance 
How often do you perform a water change? once a week
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 1/3
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? water conditioner (chlorine remover)

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters? No

Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Hardness:
Alkalinity: 

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? lump appear at the base of the tail
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? behaves normal
When did you start noticing the symptoms? two days ago
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? no
Does your fish have any history of being ill? no
How old is your fish (approximately)? 4-6months


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## safyreshel (Nov 29, 2013)

Hi, I actually just joined this site because I saw your post and my betta has a similar bump by his tail.
This is what has happened and what I think is going on with my Betta's:
I believe the bump is a symptom of constipation or has something to do with his swim bladder because my Red betta is floating near the top of the tank and swimming sideways and has to try really hard just to swim a few inches down. I noticed the bump when these symptoms began to appear. 
My blue betta has a smaller bump in the same area I think and he is mostly staying at the bottom of the tank, although he is able to get all around.

Is your betta swimming normally? Able to get to the top and bottom of the tank comfortably? Active?

I found this site because I am trying to find out how long the pea treatment takes to work.
I think my betta's tank got too cold last week, we noticed a problem with the tank and got a new one but it took a day to set it up and move them in. The new tank has a heater that keeps the water around 78 degrees (I keep adding warm water trying to get it to 80). We also got a filter to keep the water super clean to help them get better sooner.
I believe their metabolisms were slowed by the cold water and that they are both constipated. I think the bump is related because it appeared at the same time (although if anyone else knows something more I am interested). I think my red one is having a harder time recovering because he is struggling to keep his head under water. He is very smart and wedges himself between the heater and the tank wall so he can rest!
I fasted them for 3 days and have kept the tank as close to 80 as I can. There is a divider in the tank but the blue one found a small way through and kept following the red one! I watched carefully and let them see each-other hoping they would flare and help them poop! But, they were actually quite friendly to each other! So, we fixed the divider and separated them. They can see eachother through the new divider, I had worried it would stress them to see each other but so far it hasn't caused either of them to flare once.
Today I fed them some of a frozen organic pea after warming it slightly. The blue one ate it right up and seemed to want more at first, then he sat on the bottom looking like people usually do at the end of a Thanksgiving meal! The Red one kept trying to eat it but had trouble because he's floating and sideways, finally I got him to eat it off of a plastic spoon! I let them each have 1 tiny food pellet a few hours later.

After the pea I noticed I could see their bellies were full, they looked slightly swollen and it seemed to be moving in the right direction.

I will post again when something more happens. You might want to try feeding a small bit of a pea to yours incase it is an obstruction, before it gets any worse? Also, make sure your tank isn't below 76 degrees. I found a really informative page on constipation and swim bladder problems on another site, I can try to post a link later if you want?

I hope this helps you, also if anyone has any advice for me, it is appreciated!


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

Based on that pic...IMO/E-What you are seeing is a normal part of the anatomy....Caudal peduncle...it can be more pronounced on some Betta than others-even more so from one side to the other.....
The abdomen and internal organs are located under the head


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## safyreshel (Nov 29, 2013)

@oldfishlady- so does that mean the lump was always there and I just noticed it because my fish got sick? Or can it develop randomly? I actually saw my blue one poop a little while ago (finally!) and realized the lump was not near that area! So, I came on to mention to the original poster that the lump might not be related to constipation. 
I noticed their bellies swelled up after the pea treatment. My blue one seems a little better but the red one is still floating  
Does anyone know how long they take to heal the swim bladder after the constipation subsides?
(Both my fish are male, both are named Betty! So I have to define them by color. My son was just 3 when we got them and named them both Betty! (I think he heard Beta and translated it as Betty at the time!)


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## jaysee (Dec 9, 2009)

The caudal peduncle is what many bettas use as their primary attack weapon when fighting. A peduncle is just a spur of bone, serving as the primary attachment site for muscle, so it sticks out a little causing a bulge.

Agreed on the anatomy - the vent is right before the anal fin, and marks the end of its innards. The rest of the fish is pure muscle.


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## nihonbetta (Nov 27, 2013)

Thanks for all the replies!

Our fish (his name is Yukio) is pooping regularly (actually a lot ! ) so it‘s not like he’s suffering from constipation.
He could swim normally, and is as active as usual. (It doesn’t look like the “lump” really bother him at all)

Actually, we had another fish before, which had a similar lump at the same place when he’s like about 1year old.
The lump eventually grew to the size of half of his body in 4 months time and he didn’t make it through：( We thought it was just a random rare case…. but now Yukio is having the same thing .
Yukio did get stuck between the tank divider and the tank wall about a week ago, so I would like to think maybe the lump is just a bruise? or a blister? that he got when struggling to get out. 

And I really really do hope it is an anatomy thing, or at least a healable bruise rather than a tumor…Just the lump looks a bit larger than last week… 
I checked the pictures I took for Yukio sometimes ago, and he did not had that lump at that time….(The picture is kinda blur so I can’t tell for sure though)

I think I will at least try to get him a new heater first coz it doesn’t look like there’s much we could do now…
The heater he’s using now is not working well which the water temperature remains low even we set the temperature at 78. It’s even lower than the other tank in the same room which doesn’t have a heater.
(The funny thing is that the name “Yukio” is the same word of “Snowman (the yeti one)” in Japanese) 

I would try to update some more photos if there is any significant change.


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## jaysee (Dec 9, 2009)

It certainly is possible that it's something growing. If that is the case, then there's nothing that can be done. Let's hope you just noticed it and that your mind is playing tricks on you, making you think it's getting bigger.


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