My Catfish Has Developed A Strange Growth

We have one catfish in aquarium tank and it has developed this really strange growth in a short period of time (2 weeks). Does anyone have any advice on whether it is treatable. The fish is 2-3 years old. thx

 

Plecos have retractable spines just near their gills/mouth area and that is what it looks like to me. Not sure why your pleco has them out 24/7. It could be infected or injured in that area as it looks a little red. Could it have got stuck somewhere and injured the area when getting out?

 

Plecos have retractable spines just near their gills/mouth area and that is what it looks like to me. Not sure why your pleco has them out 24/7. It could be infected or injured in that area as it looks a little red. Could it have got stuck somewhere and injured the area when getting out?

Thanks for your note. Not sure if it could have injured itself as we haven’t got any trap points but we recently had a water issue so an infection could be an issue. Will pop along to local specialist to see about some medicine. Thanks again.

 

Thanks for your note. Not sure if it could have injured itself as we haven’t got any trap points but we recently had a water issue so an infection could be an issue. Will pop along to local specialist to see about some medicine. Thanks again.

An update - we use Ektolbac in the tank and after just one day the redness has completely gone and the spines have retracted. Thank so much for pointing us in the right direction.

 

It's a good thing you posted this story or I would have freaked out yesterday. Was watching my albino bn pleco and I noticed these things sticking out on the side of his head near his gills. I looked closer and the looked just like this picture so I figured they had to be his spikes. He flexed them a couple times and pulled them in. It was very interesting to see.