Got Q-Tip 6 months or so ago from a PetCo (I know I shouldn’t, but if I’ve got a setup that’s appropriately suited, I just cant seem to pass the betta section without tearfully selecting the saddest looking one). I understand that bettas sold to big chain stores are liable to deformities, illnesses and truncated life spans, so I’m not surprised that this is how it’s turned out, but I want to help the guy live the best life he can even under these circumstances.

I think he injured himself on the driftwood in my community tank while I was on vacation and my pet sitter didn’t know what to do, so she just let him float around in there for a couple weeks while the injury transformed into an infected bubble. When I returned, I isolated him in a hospital tank, dosed it with some aquarium salt & have been adding a little bit of Kanaplex every couple days, then doing 30% water changes and repeating the process.

Basically, he isn’t healing and it’s been like two fuckin months. He’s still perky, has an appetite, gets excited when I draw at my desk beside him, and is more or less acting the same way he was when I first bought him. I fear reintroducing him back to the tank with the open wound, but I have a little bit of a guilt complex knowing he’s just stuck in the boring hospital tank all day without much stimulation.

So what’s the deal do you think? Is this still a wound or is this a tumor? Am I to expect a gradual decline until it’s unethical not to euthanize? Is there an alternative medication you would recommend besides the Kanaplex? Should I add him back to the community tank just to give him the opportunity to enjoy life a little more? Open to all suggestions.

Is it a tumor or a flesh wound?