Cichlid ulcer?

Question

Help! My African cichlid has just developed a large red bubble on his"chin" right between and under the gills. It's a hemispherical shape, fairly regular, maybe just under 1/4" in diameter. I have not introduced anything new to his tank lately. He had a water change about a week ago which may have been enough stress to set it off. I'm guessing it could be a bacterial infection but before I treat him i would like to know anyone has an idea what this could be?

He had been darting and jumping more lately. He still has his appetite, doesn't scrape, lag or exhibit otherwise abnormal behavior. The ph was a little high the other day so I have been trying to slowly lower it and he isn't jumping and darting anymore. The lump resembles a waterblister that hasn't popped.

I suspected he may not survive but I'll give it a try. Thanks!

Answer 1

It might mean your water quality has gotten off somehow. Have you tested it recently? How is the fish's behavior? Is he less active, sitting at the bottom, or flashing (Rubbing his body along the sides and bottom of hte tank?)

Costia is a kind of protazoan parasite that causes red bumps under the chin and they can also show up along the back. There may be cloudiness on the skin, too. It's treated with .02% copper or Acriflavine. (If the red areas are under the scales, that's probably bacterial, though.) One treatment is to raise the temperature of the tank pretty high- like maybe 89F degrees (32C) for a while.

It is also possible you've got a bacterial thing going on, but all of thse problems can happen when the tank water quality is off. Test the water (if you don't have a test kit, pet stores will usually test it for you if you bring in a sample, but you should get a kit yourself anyway.) My bet is you'll find the nitrites a bit high, meaning you need to do a series of partial water changes.

If it's a blackish or red nodule under the skin, it might be a skin fluke. That's treated with paragon.

Check this list of symptoms and see if you can find what you're dealing with: http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/information/Diseases.htm#Costia

Start ASAP because these things can be pretty hard to treat.

Answer 2

The water blister looking boil is a classic symtom of several different bacterial dieases. The most notable and most common of these in aqurium conditions is probably Vibriosis. The method of transmission is not known, but it can lay dormant in a fish for some time and can also infect open wounds causing a blister like appearance. it is also possibly transmitted through the water (orally) so any other fish in the tank could be at risk.

As the blister is clear or translucent, we will discard the ideas of tumors or parasites both of which form solid colored raised areas of skin, more like a pimple than a blister.

The treatment for the majority of these bacterial diseases is all the same. You will need to treat with medicated foods to eleminate the bacteria completely although water borne treatments can be helpful in preventing the spread. You should treat with a gram negative antibiotic, currently Sulfamerazine and oxytetracycline are the drugs of choice and seem to produce the best results. You can mix powered versions of either drug with the fishes food so that it sticks to the food. Treatment rates vary, but mixing 20 mg per 500 mg of fish food seems to be the minimum effective dose. Furanace mixed at the rate of 1 gram per kilo ( obviously you need to adjust that fod your food container) is also considered effective. A vet can supply you with any of these medications and probably help with mixing the medicines at a reasonable rate. Over medicating would be difficult, so don't worry about having 5-10 times this amount of medication mixed withthe food. You should plan to treat for 10 to 14 days.

Not to rain on your parade, but the majority of these disease have a mortality rate of over 95% without treatment and over 20% with treatment. Sorry for the bad news, but at least there are treatments that will help.