u/cytarria

I was doing my weekly water change when I noticed a large lump on the side of my female betta. As I looked closer there seems to be a smaller lump just behind it.

I don’t know how I could have missed something so serious, unless it grew over night I just feel awful. I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary when I fed her yesterday both times. Sure, I could say it’s because she swims really fast and is mostly skittish, but it was just plain negligent of me. I think as a fish keeper its easy to be caught up the happiness my fishes personalities and interactions we have, easily, yet that is no excuse for the issue at hand.

My worst fear is this is a form of cancer. For context, she was “gifted” to me after I convinced a relative to give her up due to her poor living conditions in November of 2025. I know that she is from petsmart so I am led to believe that this may be the cause of the current circumstances due to the poor health of fish from that chain.

If anyone can 1. Identify and assess her condition and 2. Inform me on any and all of the next steps to take forward I would greatly appreciate it. I love Beast (her name) she is very unique and special to me, which is why this whole scenario guilts me to my core. I don’t know what I did wrong, she has a heavily planted 10 gallon with 0 tank mates and has she shown no other signs of any illness. She is extremely active and this has had no impact on her eating habits, so I really hope this is benign. Please, please, please help. Anyone.

I was doing my weekly water change when I noticed a large lump on the side of my female betta. As I looked closer there seems to be a smaller lump just behind it.

I don’t know how I could have missed something so serious, unless it grew over night I just feel awful. I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary when I fed her yesterday both times. Sure, I could say it’s because she swims really fast and is mostly skittish, but it was just plain negligent of me. I think as a fish keeper its easy to be caught up the happiness my fishes personalities and interactions we have, easily, yet that is no excuse for the issue at hand.

My worst fear is this is a form of cancer. For context, she was “gifted” to me after I convinced a relative to give her up due to her poor living conditions in November of 2025. I know that she is from petsmart so I am led to believe that this may be the cause of the current circumstances due to the poor health of fish from that chain.

If anyone can 1. Identify and assess her condition and 2. Inform me on any and all of the next steps to take forward I would greatly appreciate it. I love Beast (her name) she is very unique and special to me, which is why this whole scenario guilts me to my core. I don’t know what I did wrong, she has a heavily planted 10 gallon with 0 tank mates and has she shown no other signs of any illness. She is extremely active and this has had no impact on her eating habits, so I really hope this is benign. Please, please, please help. Anyone.