# Help! Growth on Goldfishes eye, no idea what it is!



## chrisjg04 (Sep 21, 2008)

Hey everyone, for some time my fantail goldfish has had a fleshy growth sort of thing over his eye sort of resembling an eyebrow. I put him on melafix and pimafix for 10 days with no results. I then talked to my friend who works at a local fish store and he said that he had most probably bumped into something in the tank and there was nothing I could do. 

I am off away at college now and my girlfriend just came to visit me this weekend, she informed me that his eye had gotten much worse and his "eyebrow" is beginning to cover his eye. She also said it was white and described it as a barnacle. 

He has been swimming and eating fine the whole time, however I am starting to worry and think this may not just be a bump and something more serious. 

I have looked into eye diseases and found nothing of this sort, I don't believe it to be pop-eye as it looks nothing like the pictures that I have seen of it. 

Does anyone have any idea what this may be, I would love to figure this out and help my poor fish is at all possible. :?


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## Little-Fizz (Aug 19, 2007)

Sounds like an injury, but the primafix and melafix probably would have cleared that up :? And if it was bacterial it should have done the trick to. But to me it sounds like dead skin hanging off your goldies face. Is there anyways you could get a picture to us? That would greatly help us help you. Also, can you post your tank size, water parameters, and other tank mates? Maybe how long the tank has been set up too?


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## chrisjg04 (Sep 21, 2008)

Ill have my mom take a picture today, she is taking care of the fish for me while I am away at college. 

I don't know the water parameters at this point in time because I havent been home to check them.

It is a 10g tank (Needs upgrading I know, hopefully when I go down in a few weeks I'll be getting a 29 bowfront). His other tankmakes are a Fantail Goldfish and a Common Pleco.

The tank has been set up for over a year now.


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## Little-Fizz (Aug 19, 2007)

Can you get her to test the water?


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## chrisjg04 (Sep 21, 2008)

She would have no idea how to do it, and wouldnt understand what to do. I spend several hours with her on the phone the other day walking her through a simple water change.

Anyways here are some pictures of his eye, the best I could get from her...
 





























Hope this helps!


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## bettababy (Oct 12, 2006)

If I may interject here...
Even though the pictures are not clear, what I see appears to be a possible tumorous growth beginning to spread over the eye. The fact that it is raised and "barnacle like" as you put it, tells me that it is indeed excess tissue, but it doesn't appear to be hanging. 

Now, the bad news....
It is impossible via internet to know if this is a malignant tumor, a progressing infection, or even a benign tumor, which is possible. Without a biopsy of the infected tissue there is no other way to know that for sure.

After reading your description of how these fish are being kept, my first guess would have to be that the issue is in large part due to water quality. To know that a 1 yr old fancy goldfish still fits into a 10 gallon tank is heart breaking, but to hear that 2 of them AND a standard pleco still fit into a 10 gallon after a year, that tells me this tank has had serious problems for a very long time. 

Heavy nitrate levels are going to be unavoidable in this kind of situation. I am very curious to know how often and how much these fish are being fed, along with what kinds of foods and how often water changes are being done, and how much water each time. Heavy nitrate levels over a period of time have been known to cause these kinds of problems, and while I can offer to help you clean it up and give this fish the best chance to heal... I can't offer any help with treatment of the problem other than in fixing the conditions that caused it. 

If its of any comfort to you, I took in a ryukin a number of years ago, full of tumors all over the body, covering both eyes. Everyone around me thought the fish was a goner. This fish was about 5 inches long and 2 yrs old when I took it, and coming from a 30 gallon tank with other large fish. After about 6 months in a properly set up and clean 75 gallon tank the tumors began to disappear. Slowly at first, but then faster and faster. That fish lived another 3 yrs after I took it, and it had quality of life left before it died of internal injuries, all of which appeared to be caused by being kept in a dirty tank that was too small. This fish should have lived about 20 yrs. 

I urge you to find a way to either get these fish into a MUCH larger tank asap, or to find them new homes in proper size tanks. If kept under these conditions there is no way to avoid an agonizing and early death in them all.


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## chrisjg04 (Sep 21, 2008)

The fish are being fed twice daily minimal amount of floating pellets, and the pleco gets one algae wafer daily.

Water changes are preformed on that tank every other day at 50%.

I am in college and will be getting a larger tank for the fish when I am able to go home this month. I know that this tank has serious problems, I can only blame my own ignorance at this fact. The most that I can do at the moment is have my mom preform frequent water changes and keep them in the best of conditions as possible until I am able to get home.

From that point I plan on isolating the Fantail to see if any form of treatment will help. Any imformation on suggested treatments is welcome and appreciated.

Just as another note the last water test preformed yesterday brought back levels of NitrAte at 80 and NitrIte at .5. This was after several days of no water changes and now they are being given every other day and levels should drop more into an acceptable range.


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## bettababy (Oct 12, 2006)

There really is no "treatment" other than to get the fish into proper conditions and watch it closely. 

If you begin to experiment with medications you could make things much worse. Goldfish can't handle just any medication, and without knowing for sure what you're dealing with/treating for, could cause many adverse effects. My best suggestion is to keep it clean, slow feedings to once/day and only as much as the fish can finish within 1 - 2 minutes, and daily water changes... and hope it can hold out until you can get it into a proper environment.
Best of luck to you


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## chrisjg04 (Sep 21, 2008)

I was not going to treat with medication is an attempt to try them all.

My plan was to isolate the fish in the 10g and put salt in the tank to see if it helped any. I was hoping that a combination of the salt and pristine water conditions would allow it to get better over time.


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## Little-Fizz (Aug 19, 2007)

I don't know about the salt but keeping the fish in very clean water is a really good idea.


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## bettababy (Oct 12, 2006)

Salt is ok to use, but don't overdo it. 3 Tablespoons in 10 gallons of water is plenty. When doing the water changes, don't dose the salt again at full strength. If you're sure 50% of the water is being removed each time, then 1/2 dose (1.5 tablespoons) of salt each time is safe. Salt does not evaporate, so if you take out 40% each time and dose for 50%... it will accumulate. Too much salt can be toxic, so be careful, please. It is also safe to just pour the salt into the water, no premixing needed. If the fish eats some of the crystals, that's ok also. 

The goldfish I mentioned earlier... I didn't use any salt in the water, just kept it clean long term, and made sure the fish had good, proper food, lots of silk plants to help avoid stress, and plenty of space to swim around. A good filter plus an added air stone can also help a lot. Goldfish are about the dirtiest fish there is, so if the tank is 10 gallons, its a safe bet you'll need a filter strong enough for 20 gallons. 

When you get the new tank, something to keep in mind... this is a fish that should grow to about 6 - 8 inches when full grown. Full size is usually obtained by 3 - 4 yrs of age, so they grow quickly. (The one I have now is about 6 - 7 inches and its about 2 1/2 yrs old) Once the water conditions and space issues are fixed, it is likely the fish will begin growing again, and at a normal (or almost normal) rate. The bigger the next tank is the more money you'll save in the long term and the easier it will be overall to care for the fish. For 2 fancy goldfish, expect to need 90 - 120 gallons. If you start out with the larger tank, you'll save a lot of money not having to upgrade every 6 - 8 months as they grow. The same is true for the pleco... it should begin growing again and rather quickly... and a standard pleco gets about 18 inches long. 90 - 120 should be large enough to keep all 3 fish long term, provided it has good filter and maintenance. 
(I'm not trying to be pushy, just trying to save you some $$ in the long term)

Good Luck to you!


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## chrisjg04 (Sep 21, 2008)

I got an updated picture of his eye, just figured I would post it and see what you guys think as i still dont know for sure what it is...


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## bettababy (Oct 12, 2006)

Much better picture, and it is what I expected to see based on your description. My advice stands as before based on this new picture.

There is no way to know if that is malignant or not without the lab work, but that is a tumor. Cleaning up the conditions as we discussed already is about all you can really do for that kind of condition. You can try the salt, but I don't see any sign of infection that salt would help with. The only benefit of the salt for something like this is maybe to help boost the immune system a bit. If its malignant there isn't anything that can be done, so it may just get worse.
Sorry I couldn't offer better news.
Good Luck with it!


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## chrisjg04 (Sep 21, 2008)

I will see how it does in good tank conditions. I was already prepared to hear that it was a tumor, as that is was the general consensus on several sites. 

I know that you can possibly get these removed by a quilfied vert, but I don't think that I would want to risk it being so close to his eye. 

Hopefully the water conditions and salt will help. 

Thanks!


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## bettababy (Oct 12, 2006)

You are correct that a qualified vet may be able to help you, but that will depend greatly on the whether or not the tumor is malignant. A vet would need to do the lab work to determine that, and I warn ahead of time... unfortunately... aquatic vets are not cheap.
The eye removal surgery my husband and I did on my oscar was quoted to me at $200 - $300 minimum charge from a dvm, with no reassurance the fish would survive and/or recover. Not many people are willing to spend that kind of money on a fish facing those kinds of risks.
Again, good luck to you!


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## Little-Fizz (Aug 19, 2007)

bettababy said:


> Not many people are willing to spend that kind of money on a fish facing those kinds of risks.
> Again, good luck to you!


Hahaha, and if you are willing to people will think your crazy, seriously I had a rat once (The best pet ever) and she got mammary gland tumors twice, and both times I paid like 300$ to get them removed. Everyone said "You could have a bought an army of rats!!" But it was worth it, my rat lived to the ripe old age of 6, when she finally passed even my dad cried! :? Thats huge, my dads the kinda guy who acts tough so it was a real shock to see tears rolling down his cheeks as we buried my dearest friend Roxy, R.I.P. 

Sorry about the story lol but if you have the money too and you really enjoy your pet, its totally worth the money.


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