9.5 year old Gramma, looking pale with skin tag.

[Dburr1014]

So my 9.5 year old Gramma looks like it's missing scales and has this skin tag that comes and goes.
I haven't really been worried about it for the past couple years. I figured he's old and Google told me they live for about 8. Now this tag is big and he's getting more pale that I ever seen him before.

Just looking for thoughts.
Just old or something else. Swims the same, eats the same, no changes in behavior.
I just fed the tank to get him out in the open for the video.

@Jay Hemdal

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Tough to see, but it looks like fin damage, perhaps another fish took a chomp out of it.

9.5 years is geriatric for a gramma. I checked my records and it looks like I've had one that lived 7 years and one that lived 9.

Jay

 

[Dburr1014]

Tough to see, but it looks like fin damage, perhaps another fish took a chomp out of it.

9.5 years is geriatric for a gramma. I checked my records and it looks like I've had one that lived 7 years and one that lived 9.

Jay

Yes, very old.
That damage is actually on his side. Looks like he's missing scales.
I'll try for a better pic.
. Maybe these are better?

Edit: I think I said this in the first post, this has been on and off for 18~24 months. Sometimes it's bigger, sometimes smaller. This is the biggest tag I've seen. Always in the same spot. On the side of the belly. It's definatly not the fin.

 

[Dburr1014]

I'd like to share my earliest photo of him.
April 23, 2014.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Yes, very old.
That damage is actually on his side. Looks like he's missing scales.
I'll try for a better pic.
. Maybe these are better?

Edit: I think I said this in the first post, this has been on and off for 18~24 months. Sometimes it's bigger, sometimes smaller. This is the biggest tag I've seen. Always in the same spot. On the side of the belly. It's definatly not the fin.

Oh - I can see it clearly now - I thought that white material was on the trailing edge of the pectoral fin, not the body.

Gramma are really prone to Lymphocystis, and this looks like that, but you never see Lympho in long term captives like this. Lymphocystis is a virus that causes the fish's skin cells to become giant sized. Once the virus is fought off by the fish, those cells go back to normal and the fish never develops it again.

Just a guess here - but cancer causes groups of cells to grow in number (not size) but if the cancer is in the epidermal cells, the symptoms would look similar. Older fish develop cancers. The chronic nature of this indicates that it isn't a parasite or bacteria, so I can't rule cancer out as the cause.

Jay

 

[Dburr1014]

Thanks Jay.
I'm guessing there's not much to do here. This is what I thought.
As long as he is eating we'll give him the best life we can.

 

[albano]

I also have an ‘older’ gramma, that was really losing its color. With no help from me, his color has been improving in the last month or so.

 

[jtf74]

Hopefully it will be around a bit longer. Mine is looking old too. I got it also in early 2014 and it was already fully grown at the time. I'm guessing it has to be 11-12 years old. Has some small patchy spots for a couple years but still very active.

 

[Dburr1014]

Hopefully it will be around a bit longer. Mine is looking old too. I got it also in early 2014 and it was already fully grown at the time. I'm guessing it has to be 11-12 years old. Has some small patchy spots for a couple years but still very active.

I added a second RG July of last year. She grew pretty quick. Within a year is was about full size.