Popeye or Tumor?

[Silhouette]

I've been trying to treat my Betta for "Popeye" for a while using Epsom salt baths (Canada, no meds) but it didn't seem to really be doing anything. As his "Popeye" got worse, it began to look more and more like it's actually a bubble underneath the eye that's pushing it up? And after getting these pictures I'm actually wondering if this is a tumor, or something completely different than Popeye.

It was really bad at one point so I moved him to a spare, clean tank, at which point it almost immediately deflated... But now it's growing again. He eats, swims, etc all normally and besides having a bit of a Blindspot now, he seems to be the same as always.

Hes in a separate tank so parameters are all 0, changing out 50% water every day when I give him his salt baths. Ph is 8, temp is 80F.

[Colu]

it could be a benign growth or a cyst  or a cancerous growth as your in Canada and your treatment options are limited what I would do is add some Indian almond leaves as they have antibacterial and antifungal properties you  might have to add one leaf per gallon to get a benefial effective and I would also add aquarium salt 1 table for 2 gallons to his tank and leave it at that level for a week you could contact a fish vet to see if you could get holed of minocycline as it has anti-inflammatory properties and has proven effective at shrinking some types of lumps 

[Silhouette]

Great thanks so much for the answer, I will try that. He did seem to look better when I moved him to the separate tank and I added tannins to it. Can I ask what the aquarium salt would be good for? When I first though it was popeye and treating for that it seemed a lot of people warned that aquarium salt could exasperate it (vs the epsom salt I've been using thus far).

I will ask my vet as well, have another appointment with them coming up anyway so I'll see if they have any suggestions then.

[Colu]

On 10/19/2022 at 1:13 AM, Silhouette said:

Great thanks so much for the answer, I will try that. He did seem to look better when I moved him to the separate tank and I added tannins to it. Can I ask what the aquarium salt would be good for? When I first though it was popeye and treating for that it seemed a lot of people warned that aquarium salt could exasperate it (vs the epsom salt I've been using thus far).

I will ask my vet as well, have another appointment with them coming up anyway so I'll see if they have any suggestions then.

Aquarium salt good at treating some types of external bacteria infections  you can fluid buildup behind the fish's eye when they have Popeye the salt will help to reduce any fluid buildup