Goldfish growths

[Jabottom]

My goldfish has growths on his back. These started about 6 months ago and have continued to grow. I have fed anti-parasite food and it does not seem to help. Any idea what this could be and if it is treatable?
(Water changes weekly parameters are in range/low for nitrate, nitrite, and ammonia)

uploading photos (white dots are snail eggs)

 

[Sgooosh]

i dont know... reminds me of saddleback disease...

 

[Jabottom]

i dont know... reminds me of saddleback disease...

Thank you! I’ll research that

 

[Colin_T]

It's not Columnaris because that kills fish within days and this has been going on for 6 months.

The large patchy lump on the back is probably a tumour and there's nothing you can do about it. However, there are no organs in that part of the body so why a tumour would grow there is beyond me.

It might be a mild infection that hasn't healed.

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What are you feeding the fish?
Perhaps add more plant matter in their diet and add some raw or cooked prawn.

You can try adding salt and this might help if it's a minor fungal infection. However, salt won't make any difference if it's a tumour.

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SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt) or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, then increase it so there is a total of 4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate (4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will affect some plants and some snails. The lower dose rate (1-2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will not affect fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

 

[FishGuest5123]

@Colin_T. Perhaps bacterial???

 

[Colin_T]

The fish has had it for 6 months so it's unlikely to be bacterial, unless it's a very slow growing bacterial infection (Fish TB) that is sort of being kept in check by the fish's immune system. But normally bacterial infections would have killed a fish in 6 months.

It could be bacterial or fungal. Salt should help if it's these but it's a matter of wait and see how it reacts with salt.

 

[FishGuest5123]

The fish has had it for 6 months so it's unlikely to be bacterial, unless it's a very slow growing bacterial infection (Fish TB) that is sort of being kept in check by the fish's immune system. But normally bacterial infections would have killed a fish in 6 months.

It could be bacterial or fungal. Salt should help if it's these but it's a matter of wait and see how it reacts with salt.

Good catch. I forgot it had been 6 months.

 

[Jabottom]

It's not Columnaris because that kills fish within days and this has been going on for 6 months.

The large patchy lump on the back is probably a tumour and there's nothing you can do about it. However, there are no organs in that part of the body so why a tumour would grow there is beyond me.

It might be a mild infection that hasn't healed.

------------------
What are you feeding the fish?
Perhaps add more plant matter in their diet and add some raw or cooked prawn.

You can try adding salt and this might help if it's a minor fungal infection. However, salt won't make any difference if it's a tumour.

------------------
SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt) or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, then increase it so there is a total of 4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate (4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will affect some plants and some snails. The lower dose rate (1-2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will not affect fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

Thank you for the advice I feed a large variety of food which include pellets, flakes, cooked peas/carrots, raw zucchini/cucumber/spinach, algae, and shrimp pellets. I’ll try the salt!