sprewel1612

So I was at the fish store today and this guy came in with a large flowerhorn and was trying to get the store to buy it. The store offered a little credit (I mean really little) so I took it off his hands for a little more. I examined him some and realized why the guy may have been trying to get rid of it. The fish has a lump on its side. I'm not really good at figuring out if a lump is a bacterial infection, cyst or a tumor. The scales are still intact in the area, its almost like the fish has a little marble under its skin. Here are some pictures (they look clearer when clicked on)...what do you think?

Attached Images

	fh1.JPG (66.6 KB, 14 views)
	fh2.JPG (66.5 KB, 17 views)
	fh3.JPG (79.5 KB, 13 views)
	fh4.JPG (98.3 KB, 23 views)

capekate

What a shame. Its hard to say if its a cyst or a tumor. I really dont know if there is anything you can treat it with if it is in fact a cyst or tumor of some sort. I know that my betta's have had tumors of which I lost the two. Eventually the tumor gets so big that it affects their internal organs.
I hope that is not what your very nice looking flowerhorn has.

ranger460

It's hard to tell from the picture but it looks like it could be knot disease (also called pimple disease). You say that the scales are intact, but they usually start to protude if it is knot disease. If it is, it's eventually fatal. It is caused by a sporozoan that is encysted in the muscle tissue and is therefore untreatable. This is because the dose of drugs needed to be effective would be lethal to the fish as well. I wish I could be more definite about the diagnosis, but this is my best guess based upon the pictures.