My fish has a pimple!?

Question

I have had my comet goldfish for over a year now and I've had very few health problems. Today I noticed that he has a some sort of white bumps on his forehead and nose that look sort of like pimples. He's not really acting oddly but I'm worried about what this could be. Please help!

Answer 1

It may be the breeding tubercules, but your fish would seem to have these in an unusual place. Typically these are found on the gill covers and along the front edges of the side fins. See this link for photos: http://www.bristol-aquarists.org.uk/goldfish/info/sexing-fs.htm

The other possibility is this is the beginning of an ich (parasite) infection. See photo of this (on a betta): http://eric.petfish.net/bettaich.jpg If this is ich, you can treat this with medication or salt. It also helps to increase the temperature so the life cycle speeds up. The spots on the fish are the parasite in a cyct, so these aren't affected by the medication - by heating the water to 86-90o (raise slowly, a few degrees each hour) these will drop off into the water where they can be killed by the treatment you use. The treatment will take 10-14 days (no matter what the directions say, or you'll risk reinfection), or at least 3-5 days after you no longer see spots on the fish. See this link for info on treatment options for this: http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/health/ich.shtml

Answer 2

May be breeding stars, tubricles. Look to see if he also has them on his gill covers and leading edge of the pectoral fins. Males get those in the spring.
Or it could also be a bacterial infection. If the fish is attempting to scratch them off by rubbing into stuff in the aquarium then I would assume they are an infection. Watch the behaviour of your fish will be the best indicator at this point. Comets are very active fish, so if he's lathargic, scratching, yawning a lot, and fin clamping, its a good indication he may be ill.
If he's booking around as usual then he's likely ok.

Answer 3

Google the word "dropsy". It's a disease that (some)
goldfish get. If not attended to, it will spread to other fish and make them sick as well. You can use Epsom Salts in the water, but read how to do it on Goolge. I don't want to tell you something that harm your other fish, so make sure you read up on it it on Google. It is very informative.

Answer 4

This is a guess, but I have a tank of tropical fish so I've seen a lot in the past few years... The pimple that you're speaking of might be cancerous (?).

Answer 5

this could be white spot. White spot is exactly what it sunds like. It can be treated with drops placed into the water from a local pet store.

Answer 6

They are probably just growths but I think that you should take it to your nearest pet store and ask.

Answer 7

That is totally gross.