The Puffer Forum

Hi Everyone

I really need your help....i know i need to give you water parameters but i cannot get the water tested till the end of the week......
I have a 13" fahaka whos 5yrs old......the 490l tank has been set up for 1,1/2years with no problems.

in the last month i ve noticed a very small round lump inside of Bruce. it hasnt grown and hasnt moved. it also seems to give him no pain as he is swimming around and eating normally. however it is def coming from the inside and i just wondered if anyone knew what it could be or if it could get worse.......its only appeared since we moved house 2months ago, so i wondered if it could be an IP?.....if so ive got a treatment to hand.
i just dont want to leave it if i can treat it.......i also cant get a good picture of it because his stripes seem to hide it!

i can get the water parameters to you asap.....
but any ideas would be great!!!

Do you have any photos?

Even without parameters (it's always good to have your own test kits on hand), you can start by posting your water change schedule & filtration system. How old would you estimate him to be? What are you feeding him? Is he deficating regularly? What does his poo look like?

There is a possibility he could have a tumor & in that case, it may go away or may not.

hi ...
yes he is pooing fine and its not stringy like IPs....its brown as usual...
hes 5years old
he has two Eheim wet and dry canister filters running.....
he gets a varied diet of cockles, prawn, mussels and snails......
i did have a home testing kit but it wasnt that accurate compared to the fish shops however never had any problems when tested on a 2weekly basis.
he gets a 25% water change every 2 weeks.......

ill try and get a photo but its only 7-10mm diameter and protrudes outwards by 5mm (ish). its more predominant when he curves his body.......

It'd be best to increase the size and frequency of the water changes.Your tank probably has ammonia and nitrite. Thats probably why he has the lump. Do a 50-75% water change to help remove most the toxins and keep doing it daily or every other day and see if you see any improvement.

Yes, I'd up that to 50% weekly, which is what most of us pufferkeepers do here. How about my other Qs?

ok ill up the water changes and see how that goes.......pufferpunk i thought id answered all you questions?.....filtration,water changes,diet, and poo??

so if it is a tumor do you think it may just stay static?.....he is happy as ever at the moment and dont want that to change!

Sorry, I shouldn't be answering Qs that late...

If it doesn't go away on it's own, you'll need to get a biopsy of it to a fish vet.

ok thank you for all your help....ill keep a close eye on it.....fingers crossed!