Goldfish with lumps

[sharn]

Had a customer come in today enquiring about her gold fish that are developing bumps, im stumped so thought someone into goldies might be able to help.

She keeps them in baths, moderatly stocked. Dont think she has much in the way of filtration but she does water changes every week or so she said. She has the worst effected isolated and has run 3 treatments of Furan2 over them with no improvement.

The fish start off with a pimple looking thing that slowly grows over time. Apparently it looks as if its growing under the skin though, not on top. Eventually they are raised around 1cm or so off the fish and they sometimes pop- but not really pop, more like the skin peels back down off the lump leaving who knows what exposed. I thought perhaps Lympho but i dont think the lumps got that big and burst, not peeled.

This is happening to several fish and seems to be an ongoing problem. She thought perhaps the lead paint off her roof could be part of the cause as it is getting in the pond :-?

[Whiskas]

I heard somewhere goldies can get warts, and warts can be contagious. Could it be warts?

Or maybe a parasite that lives under the scales/skin and then grows to the point where it 'pops' out.

Could be a cancerous type lump but woulda thought it wouldn't have been spreading throughtout the pond?

Dunno got me stumped too.

Had a search on the net and found this:

tumours

http://www.goldfishinfo.com/ailment2.htm#tumours

Another one i found:

Goldfish also sometimes develop coloured lumps on the skin. These are usually relatively harmless tumours known as fibromas, but are unsightly. They can be removed with a sterile scalpel blade if the fish is anaesthetised with "Aqui-S"* and placed on a soft wet surface. Carp "pox" is a virus infection characterised by soft white lumps on the skin which reappear if excised, but is less common.

http://www.fish.wa.gov.au/docs/pub/FHinfo/fhinfo05.php?0308

[Caryl]

My first thought was carp pox (warts) too and it is contagious.

[sharn]

Ewwwwww. I'll do a bit of reading on that one then and give her a ring and see if it sounds like it. She did get the parents of most of her present fish from a big neglected pond and they had ulcers galore etc so perhaps its been passed on.

Thanks guys

[Caryl]

Come to think of it, if they are clear and bursting I would say ulcers. Carp pox are bright white and look just like big warts.

[sharn]

She said they were more whitey in colour so im not sure however i hardly got a word in so couldnt ask her if they popped up more in winter (as carp pox does apparently). She's bringing in a few next week some time, at different stages of the problem, so I will take some pics and see if it can be matched up to anything.