# giant tumor on betta - when it is time?



## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

When holding proper balance / swimming becomes hard for the fish.
Had betta in the past start laying on plants or the bottom and they don't last long after that.
Sorry for your pet.


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## demonr6 (Mar 14, 2011)

Wow, that stinks. I lost a betta earlier this year and it was brutal putting him down,


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## mindy (Dec 22, 2010)

thank you. he seems to be swimming ok right now. he was laying on the bottom of the tank for a while and laying in the leaves but he seems to have bounced back from that.  i don't like this.

i have done some searching on this site about euthing a fish and it seems that cutting the spinal cord is the most humane way to go but i honestly can't bring myself to do that. what is another humane way? i was thinking clove oil? i just don't know and i hate thinking about it. but, i also hate thinking about my fish suffering.


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## Imaginary1226 (Jul 27, 2010)

I have a betta with a large tumor, it is towards her tailfin though so it is not interfering with anything. When your betta starts having trouble swimming I would say it is time to end it. Clove oil works...you could also hit it with a hard object to the head.....it is a hard thing to do.


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## defiesexistence (Sep 13, 2010)

I would go clove oil. But also it's possible to put the fish out, remove the skin from the tumor, remove the tumor, and place the skin back where it's supposed to be, and use antiseptic.


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## mindy (Dec 22, 2010)

thanks guys.

defiesexistance, i don't think i could do that. if i can't cut his spinal cord then there is no way i could preform surgery.  i did assist an ophthamologist preform surgery on 2 patients' eyes but i was not involved with the cutting! just the handing of instruments. 

imaginary, i couldn't hit his head either.  i remember the picture you posted of your betta's tumor, you posted it on my other thread about what the bump could be. it seems my betta's tumor is growing much faster than the one on your betta. or maybe it is as big as it will get now...who knows.


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## 10gallonplanted (Oct 31, 2010)

Another way that you dont have to see him suffer is put him in a cup in the freezer..


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

If you're not a vet, I wouldn't perform surgery.
Infections are worse than the surgery.

You can use the clove oil to put down the betta or kill it very quickly if you can't find clove oil.


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## mindy (Dec 22, 2010)

10gallonplanted said:


> Another way that you dont have to see him suffer is put him in a cup in the freezer..


i read that he will suffer a lot from this method. i don't want to do that. i prefer clove oil since it seems that it puts them to sleep, like anesthetic, before euthing him.


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## mindy (Dec 22, 2010)

mistergreen said:


> If you're not a vet, I wouldn't perform surgery.
> Infections are worse than the surgery.
> 
> You can use the clove oil to put down the betta or kill it very quickly if you can't find clove oil.


i would NEVER preform surgery on any pet. i couldn't bring myself to do it but that is completely besides the point that it is not safe to do. like you said, infection is not good.


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## Native American (Sep 22, 2006)

I know this is digging up an old thread, but my daughter has a betta facing the same circumstances. I've been searching the internet, and am coming to the conclusion that mirrors most of the others posting on this thread...as normal locomotion through the fish tank becomes very difficult for the betta, it's time to put down this pet in a humane manner.

First, the "cup in the freezer" is _not_ a painful avenue. Nearly all pain stimulus/response is routed through an animal's cerebral cortex. Fish differ here because they don't even have a cerebral cortex. When you put a fish in a dark setting, the lack of visual stimulus does much to put them in a more relaxed state. The cooling water causes bodily and neural processes to slow down, and eventually shut down.

For example, when a fish is hooked on a rod and reel, it doesn't respond to any sort of pain stimulus; rather, it responds to the unusual situation of not being able to swim away. Without a cerebral cortex to manage and present a pain stimulus and response, you essentially are left with a mental processor that gives "just the facts". However, it can trigger a flight or fight response.

Tonight I'm pondering when we will be forced to use the cup of water in the freezer. Our betta is still swimming, having put up with a large left-side tumor for a couple months now. I can't believe he can still swim in a somewhat reasonable manner, and still take food from or fingertips. It "looks" painful to me mainly because I think in terms of how _we human bengs_ would feel with a boil the size of a basketball on our left sides. The fish processes this information in a far different manner.

v/r, NA


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## audreymantel (Apr 15, 2018)

Thats the cruelest way. They feel pain from the cold.... Stated from the Veterinarians admi


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