# Large Bumps on Balloon Molly



## shoelaced (Feb 21, 2018)

We have a balloon Molly who has developed three bumps on her side - a large one and two smaller ones. They look like warts or something, they don't have any particular texture, no fuzz. They look like growths of some kind, maybe underneath the scales because they aren't discolored at all. She has some cloudy-colored discoloration on top of her but we honestly can't remember whether that's always been there - we've never thought anything of it and she's always had some mottled coloring at least. She is a little bumpy on top where the discoloring is but I'm not sure how smooth she's supposed to be. She's much bigger than when we got her so I think we assumed she was just aging. She doesn't seem to have been rubbing on things in the tank or showing any other signs of being bothered by it. She has some small white spots but I don't think it's ich - they're in just a couple clusters of three or four and I think she's always had them, along with some black spots.

She developed the bigger one and it has gotten bigger, and the other two developed now so we're getting very worried. We first noticed the first bump about three weeks ago and have tried a few extra water changes, replacing the filter charcoal, and Melafix to no avail. If you can provide any advice or thoughts on things we can try we'd be very grateful. Here are the parameters mentioned in the sticky post:


*1. Size of tank?*
20 gallons, possibly 25. It's an old tank.

*2. Water parameters*

*a. Ammonia?* - none.

*b. Nitrite?* - none. We are good about changing 25% of the water once a week.

*c. Nitrate?* - some, but according to the test it's not in the danger zone.

*d. pH, KH and GH?* - pH looks like it's closest to the 6.8 color, KH around 40, GH is hard, around 150.

*e. Test kit?* Tetra easy strips, and we also have a separate ammonia test tube kit.

*3. Temperature?* - Around 79F

*4. FW (fresh water) or BW (brackish)? *- Freshwater
*
5. How long the aquarium has been set up? *- About 7 months?

*6. What fish do you have? How many are in your tank? How big are they? How long have you had them?*
We have another balloon molly, a guppy, a bottom feeder that I think is a pleco, and two small mollies that are actually the children of the fish with the bumps, who was apparently pregnant when we got her. They're both about three months old. The pleco is about two and a half inches and the rest are maybe one and a half inches. 6 fish total. We've had the pleco for about a month and the rest for about four months. Never any problems with fighting or anything, they get along well.

*7. Were the fish placed under quarantine period (minus the first batch from the point wherein the tank is ready to accommodate the inhabitants)?*
We haven't quarantined the molly with the bumps. None of the other fish seem to have them.

*8. a. Any live plants? Fake plants? *- Fake.

*b. Sand, gravel, barebottom?* - Gravel

*c. Rocks, woods, fancy decors? Any hollow decors?* - We have a hollow dinosaur skull but the rest are fake plants and a "rock shelf"

*9. a. Filtration?* - Yes... submerged.
*b. Heater?* - Yes... also submerged...

*10. a. Lighting schedule? What lights are used?* - The fluorescent light above the tank doesn't work so they have colored lights inside and sunlight during the day from the nearby window (never direct light though), as well as ambient light from the room. We turn all the lights off at night.

*b. Any sunlight exposure? How long?* - Never direct sunlight, there's a window in the living room near the tank but it faces north.

*11. a. Water change schedule?* - Weekly
*b. Volume of water changed? *- about 25%
*c. Well water, tap water, RO water?* - tap water treated with a dechlorinator from the pet store. I've tested our tap water with the testing strips though and aside from being very hard water there's nothing concerning about it.

*d. Water conditioner used?* - some kind of green liquid called "acurel."

*e. Frequency of gravel/sand (if any) vacuumed?* - We vaccuum it every time we do a water change. The tank stays pretty clean looking all the time - our bottom feeder does a very good job.

*12. Foods?* - Usually this "tetra color: tropical granules" stuff. It's like red granules and they eat it pretty fast.

*How often are they fed?* - Once daily, sometimes with an extra little bit of dried shrimp stuff. Rarely but now and then we treat them to a few boiled peas.

*13. a. Any abnormal signs/symptoms?* - She acts completely normal, eats, doesn't seem to be stressed out. Swims around and is generally pretty active. Just the bumps.
*
b. Appearance of poop?* - Normal?
*c. Appearance of gills?* - Normal... 

*14. a. Have you treated your fish ahead of diagnosis?* - Yes, we looked around online and people seemed to suggest Melafix if we suspected a bacterial infection. We didn't really know what to suspect so we tried it for about a week and it didn't seem to change anything.

*b. What meds were used?* - See above.

Photos attached. It was hard to get a clear one but you can see the bump on the left side (the fish's right) protruding out, especially in the one with the black cord behind it. In the one where she's hanging out by the colored lights you can see the three bumps outlined by their shading.


----------

