Fish Tumor?

[Chuk]

I have a lawnmower blenny in my 90 gallon tank that seems to have developed what I can only describe as a tumor. He has been in there just shy of a year. I've attached a couple of poor quality pictures of him. Any idea on what this could be besides what I think it is? No livestock changes in the past 2 or 3 months and he is eating fine without it obviously effecting his swimming ability.

SG: 1.025
Amm: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate 1
Phos:0.36
Ca:430
Alk:7.6 dkh
Mg: 1440

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

Is it on his fin? About how big is it? Sorry, hard to tell from the pics

 

[Chuk]

Yes its on the fin that runs along his spine (I'm pretty sure its called a dorsal fin), towards the tail end. It is about the size of a sugar pea ~1/4 inch diameter .

 

[Humblefish]

I can't really tell anything from those photos.

 

[Humblefish]

Does it look anything like this: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/lymphocystis.257461/

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

Does it look anything like this: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/lymphocystis.257461/

That's what I was leaning towards from the description given.

 

[Maritimer]

What I'm seeing looks almost like a balloon on the side of his soft dorsal - is that correct?

If you can get a photo with more balanced lighting, that would help a lot.

~Bruce

 

[Chuk]

I've seen lymphocytes before and it doesn't really look like that it's just one single balloon/ bubble that's skin toned not white. I'll try and get a better shot when I get home from work. It's tough when he likes to keep his tail inside the caves.

 

[Chuk]

these were the best I could get last night. I'm not sure they are any better. But its worth a shot

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

these were the best I could get last night. I'm not sure they are any better. But its worth a shot

Wow it does look like a tumor. For what it's worth, I have seen fishkeepers take their fish out of the water and cut off growths from fins on YouTube. They use a scapel to get as clean as a cut as possible and then do an iodine dip on the fish to prevent infection and keep it in a hospital tank for a few days. However, most of these videos I have seen were done with goldfish and other sturdy freshwater fish (one was an Asian Arowana though). It most cases the fin grew back but sometimes it just healed up and was shorter than normal.

I personally would only consider doing such if A. The tumor or cyst was affecting the fish's health or swimming ability significantly, B. I was confident in my ability to make a clean cut quickly without keeping the fish out of water too long and stressing it out more than necessary, and C. I had all the necessary tools and medicines on hand to deal with potential infection.

I may be totally wrong in even considering this as an option, but you also said it wasn't affecting his swimming or health noticeably, so it may be something to just leave alone for now and see how the fish does long term.

 

[Maritimer]

How long did it take this growth to reach its current size?

Does it look as though it's filled with flesh / solid material, or fluid?

~Bruce

 

[Chuk]

I didn't notice anything before yesterday but that doesn't mean it wasn't there. I usually don't see his whole body he normally just has his head poking out of a cave in the rock work. I would wager a guess it took about a week or so to get to that size. It doesn't seem any bigger today than yesterday. To me it looks like its filled with fluid but I would have to catch him and poke it a bit to know for sure. The whole thing seems to have an opaque look to it which leads me towards the fluid filled option.

 

[Humblefish]

I didn't notice anything before yesterday but that doesn't mean it wasn't there. I usually don't see his whole body he normally just has his head poking out of a cave in the rock work. I would wager a guess it took about a week or so to get to that size. It doesn't seem any bigger today than yesterday. To me it looks like its filled with fluid but I would have to catch him and poke it a bit to know for sure. The whole thing seems to have an opaque look to it which leads me towards the fluid filled option.

Sounds like an abscess. Fluid filled area of skin, that usually self-corrects. There’s no real treatment besides vitamins, healthy foods, clean water to help it along.

 

[Chuk]

A quick search for fish abscess turns up a boat load of pictures that look very similar so I think you're spot on humblefish. I will give it a few days or so and hopefully it will begin to shrink. Thanks for the help.