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Inanga: Lump on the Lip - serious?


Romeo

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I've got two inanga, and the big one (12cm+) has a lump on it's lip. I've had them for about 6 weeks, and I haven't seen any evidence of whitespot.

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HISTORY:

It's had the lump for about a week and has seemed to swell up pretty quickly. A few weeks ago I noticed something white in it's mouth, hanging out, but it disappeared after a few days. Following that, my GF spotted what looked like a parasitic worm of some sort in the tank. It was about 1cm long, and looked like a white hair that was wiggling around like crazy.

A few people have suggested I euthanize the fish, but he's my third favourite pet!

Cheers,

Romeo

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Hi Romeo,

Good to know your inanga are doing so well and settled down enough to let you see them! ;)

Is the lump firm or does it flap around a little?

Inanga are good at bashing their mouths/noses when they dash about. Sometimes loose skin or scar tissue from these accidents can look like diseases, and both look white.

The other option is some kind of tumour. Don't worry, on fish tumours are rarely much to write home about, usually caused by a virus. I had a kokopu with a tumour in its mouth. It was growing slowly with the fish but looked annoying. One day it disappeared never to be seen again!

Of course a disease is possible. Based on the photos I wouldn't worry too much. If it was fungal it would be hairy.

If it was my fish I would keep a very close eye on it and watch for changes. If I was really worried I would add 1/2tsp of salt per litre of aquarium water (your koura will be fine).

I wouldn't worry about the worm, it is probably just something left over from live food etc. You say it was wriggling around like crazy: swimming in a figure-8 shape?

Euthanasia is a bizarre overreaction, IMO!

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RE Stella

Thanks for the help, it sort of looks like an injury/tumor. It's definitely not fluffy and it's uniformly coloured. Like a lump under the skin, it doesn't appear to move around at all.

The worm thing, it was going CRAZY figure 8 styles. I don't feed them live food either, mixture of bloodworms/shrimp/raw steak offcuts, so I'm stumped as to where the worm thing came from. I haven't seen anything like it before, or since.

I'll see how we go with the lump, if it gets any bigger I'll notify the forum.

Cheers,

Romeo

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