Bolivian Ram Large White Bump Growing on Fore Head (Pictures Included)

Hello,

I have had my Bolivian Ram for about 2 years and he has always had some sort of white spot on his head area. They come and go- I have always assumed it was ICK. Lately, a large white bump that looks more like a growth that is going under the skin and protruding from the head is forming. Unfortunately my ram is not acting himself, not moving as much and just seems off.

I have been doing large water changes and treating with two medications with no luck:

Hikari Usa - Prazipro
Hikari USA - ICH-X

I have attached images and I would greatly appreciate any kind of diagnosis or treatment suggestions, thank you so much!

need pictures where the fish is in focus.

it's not white spot so stop using the medication.

it could be a parasitic worm that got lost and ended up in the fish's head. Or it could be something like hole in the head disease but the white bit in the head would say its more likely to be the parasitic worm. There's not normally any cure for the worm and most fish simply live with them.

Colin_T said:

need pictures where the fish is in focus.

it's not white spot so stop using the medication.

it could be a parasitic worm that got lost and ended up in the fish's head. Or it could be something like hole in the head disease but the white bit in the head would say its more likely to be the parasitic worm. There's not normally any cure for the worm and most fish simply live with them.

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Thanks for the response. I am updating with new pictures. It looks like the wound has opened up so now there is a hole and it looks like some type of white fungus is in the wound. The white was clearly under the skin a few days ago and now the wound has opened.

I started treating with Seachem Polyguard today so hopefully that helps.

Do these new pictures suggest it is HITD or something else?

tyler0951 said:

Do these new pictures suggest it is HITD or something else?

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BLURK, where's the puke emoji

It's not hole in the head disease, although the fish does have a big hole in its head

I would say it's either a bacterial infection or a parasitic worm making a break for it, most likely the worm due to the white area under the skin in the earlier pics.

Part of me says euthanise it, the other part says see what happens and record everything because it's really interesting, even if it is gross.

It's rare to see things like parasitic worms in the wrong parts of fish so if this is a worm and it's making a break for it, photos and video would be worth getting for science. Having said that, the hole could get infected and the fish will have to be euthanised. But the medication you are using (Seachem Polyguard) should prevent any infection so I reckon watch, record, document and wait to see how it goes.

Take new pictures each day.

If the fish stops eating then euthanise it.

Omg I experienced this as well a couple weeks back. It’s parasites eating at his flesh. They could have been brought in from new plants, new fish, or even the food. It just randomly started happening to my guppies. I ended up medicating the tank with the product attached. Unfortunately for some of my younger guppies and fry, the didn’t survive but I’m older ones did. (I think it’s because I waited to long because I didn’t know what to actually do) Give this a try! Treat the tank for 5-7 days and water changes. Keep us posted

I admit to knowing just about nothing in this kind of area but could this not be a tumor?

Just don't panic, sometimes these things just go away on their own. If the fish is eating, then just leave it alone. Don't treat the tank for something that you don't know about.

jaylach said:

I admit to knowing just about nothing in this kind of area but could this not be a tumor?

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tumours don't rupture open overnight.

justqu3 said:

Omg I experienced this as well a couple weeks back. It’s parasites eating at his flesh. They could have been brought in from new plants, new fish, or even the food. It just randomly started happening to my guppies. I ended up medicating the tank with the product attached. Unfortunately for some of my younger guppies and fry, the didn’t survive but I’m older ones did. (I think it’s because I waited to long because I didn’t know what to actually do) Give this a try! Treat the tank for 5-7 days and water changes. Keep us posted

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API General Cure contains Metronidazole and Praziquantel.

Metronidazole is an antibiotic designed for people but treats internal protozoan infections in fish. The fish is eating well and not doing a stringy white poop so an internal protozoan infection is unlikely.
Metronidazole also treats Hexamita, which causes hole in the head disease. This is not hole in the head disease caused by Hexamita.

Praziquantel treats tapeworm in all animals, birds and fish. In my experience, Praziquantel does not treat parasitic worms that get lost in the fish's body because they are a different type of worm to a flat/ segmented worm.

It is definitely a rough look for my poor ram but I almost can't look away in a weird way... He is actually doing better behavior wise and is eating although the wound looks worse and worse. I just have a clown pleco in there as well currently so I am dosing the tank pretty strong. Just added the API General Cure today as well in addition to the Polyguard yesterday. I figure its better to do a desperation treatment at this point.

I'll do an updated picture tomorrow if anything changes.

you don't want to be mixing chemical medications with antibiotics and tapeworm treatments. that can put a huge amount of stress on the fish.

Still baffled at what my ram is dealing with but he is doing a lot better. Acting normal and eating well. The hole hasn't gotten any bigger and the white puss or whatever it is seems to be going down. There's definitely a large hole in his forehead so I'm hoping the infection\parasite will go away soon and the hole can scar over. Updated pic attached.

Just wanted to update my ram made it through and is doing great. He's completely back to normal and has a little scaring on his forehead but super active and aware again. When he was sick he had trouble finding and eating food it seemed like his senses were off.

My best guess is that it was hole in the head and the general cure powder was probably the best treatment. I did 40% water changes every 3-4 days for a few weeks and changed out my filter media. Hope if anyone else has this problem this thread will help.

tyler0951 said:

Just wanted to update my ram made it through and is doing great. He's completely back to normal and has a little scaring on his forehead but super active and aware again. When he was sick he had trouble finding and eating food it seemed like his senses were off.

My best guess is that it was hole in the head and the general cure powder was probably the best treatment. I did 40% water changes every 3-4 days for a few weeks and changed out my filter media. Hope if anyone else has this problem this thread will help.

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Thanks for the post. That was exactly what happened to my ram a while ago, needless to say it didn't survive.
API General Cure is not widely available in Australia, so if anyone knows of equivalent medications by Blue Planet or Aquasonic I'd love to hear about it.