Lumpy Goldfish?

HI all. I have a "carnival" goldfish that I took in about 3 weeks ago. Initially there were five, but as expected a few passed away. I am down to two now. I'm in the process of cycling a larger tank for them, as the two are presently in a cycled 10g. I am monitoring parameters closely and have had no ammonia spikes that I have seen.
I have now noticed my smaller of the two has a pink bulge on its stomach/side. It seems to be getting larger and it's only been there for a few days. Any thoughts? I posted on a disease forum and was told to deworm, treat as fungal and treat as bacterial. I am not sure if that's too much of a barrage of treatments.

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• Chippenstein
• Aug 16, 2018

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• Chippenstein
• Aug 16, 2018

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• Chippenstein
• Aug 16, 2018

 

Kanaplex is for bacterial/fungal treatment. That is a sick looking fish, he has quite a bit of color loss as well. I would try kanaplex. Feeeder goldfish have a very bad immune system, so literally any thing wrong with them becomes life threatening.

 

Thanks for the input. What are you seeing in regards to color loss? This fish has actually gotten brighter since I got it.
Are you recommending to treat with a broad spectrum treatment?
Additionally - it actually appears the fish is missing a pelvic fin completely.

Kanaplex is for bacterial/fungal treatment. That is a sick looking fish, he has quite a bit of color loss as well. I would try kanaplex. Feeeder goldfish have a very bad immune system, so literally any thing wrong with them becomes life threatening.

 

I would not deworm, use an antibacterial and antifungal simultaneously. In fact, I'd skip the antifungal entirely.

What size of tank do you have these guys in? I'm not a goldfish pro at all, and I hate to say this, but I believe those are commet goldfish anD unfortunately a very large tank or pond is required for them ultimately. Do you have a plan to rehome or upgrade? They will need a bigger tank than 75 gallons.

I would guess it is a tumor or parasite issue. I do see he has a missing pelvic fin, I'm sorry, but genetically weak fish are prone to other issues.

If I was to do anything, I'd start with a dewormer like Levamisole. After that is done, a parasite treatment like PraziPro. But honestly, I wouldn't jump to using that based on the issue just yet. Fish can get these bumps/growths and live for years no problem and not infect others. I've seen it myself in my own tanks with weak stock.

 

Thanks for the reply. I too think these guys are comets and am prepared to size up their tank as they grow. I'm prepping a 30 right now and will move up from there. I do hope to get them into a pond, knowing that they would be happier in that setting.
I am also aware that they are from a crummy source - honestly, I am surprised these two have been doing okay. I took them from a friend who wanted to way overstock a 30 (she was going to put 12 in!!). Their current tank size isn't ideal, but temporary. I had figured that at the least, they would be saved from the torture of ammonia poisoning from a way overstocked tank or some kid's fish bowl.

So your advice is to monitor for now - at what point would I intervene?

I would not deworm, use an antibacterial and antifungal simultaneously. In fact, I'd skip the antifungal entirely.

What size of tank do you have these guys in? I'm not a goldfish pro at all, and I hate to say this, but I believe those are commet goldfish anD unfortunately a very large tank or pond is required for them ultimately. Do you have a plan to rehome or upgrade? They will need a bigger tank than 75 gallons.

I would guess it is a tumor or parasite issue. I do see he has a missing pelvic fin, I'm sorry, but genetically weak fish are prone to other issues.

If I was to do anything, I'd start with a dewormer like Levamisole. After that is done, a parasite treatment like PraziPro. But honestly, I wouldn't jump to using that based on the issue just yet. Fish can get these bumps/growths and live for years no problem and not infect others. I've seen it myself in my own tanks with weak stock.

 

You have a nice plan Good one!

Idk, I can't tell just from a lump what the problem might be tbh. That's why I don't have a suggestion, sorry.

If I was to do something, I'd start with deworming. I did have an internal nematode issue in my tank with the tumour fish. I have no idea when the parasite snuck thru my QT, but this one black phantom tetra never grew to full size and developed huge lumps in her body. Oddly enough, she outlived all her siblings. She lived to be 6 years old, which is a full life for a tetra like her. I didn't do anything about it because it didn't bother her at all.

Any other symptoms?

 

No other symptoms. Still moving around normally, interacting with the tankmate, eating voraciously, and grazing. Just a peculiar spot.

You have a nice plan Good one!

Idk, I can't tell just from a lump what the problem might be tbh. That's why I don't have a suggestion, sorry.

If I was to do something, I'd start with deworming. I did have an internal nematode issue in my tank with the tumour fish. I have no idea when the parasite snuck thru my QT, but this one black phantom tetra never grew to full size and developed huge lumps in her body. Oddly enough, she outlived all her siblings. She lived to be 6 years old, which is a full life for a tetra like her. I didn't do anything about it because it didn't bother her at all.

Any other symptoms?

 

Well, like I said, it could be a growth or tumor, OR a parasite cyst.

I wish I could think of a reason the lump would be pinkish. It doesn't look like an external wound or anything.

I personally deworm all new fish in QT after a nematode evaded my normal 3 month+ QT procedure. So if it was my fish, it would be going through a deworming treatment anyway. I use Levamisole for deworming and only use the 2-3ppm dose. Here's the link I use


Not everyone believes in prophylactic treatment though, and when an issue arises, I only medicate once I have a pretty good idea what's going on. If the issue isn't contagious, I only medicate in a hospital tank so the other healthy fish are not medicated for no reason.

Anti-parasite meds do not cause immunity (as far as I know), but I won't use antibacterial meds unless I know the fish need it.