Bulge near gills on yellow clown goby

[aciak]

I was staring at the tank tonight and noticed a small bulge on one side of my yellow clown goby’s face near his gills. He seems to be eating and swimming fine. Normal breathing, normal behavior. Any idea what this is? A parasite? How to treat it? I’ve had him for about 6 months from dr reef. Looked healthy when I got him, has good color.

Parameters:
Sal: 1.026
Alk: 8.2
Temp: 78.5
Nitrate: 15
Phos: .17 (this went up recently from a normal range of .05-.1, been feeding the tank less the past couple weeks or so)

Tank has been running for 2 years.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I was staring at the tank tonight and noticed a small bulge on one side of my yellow clown goby’s face near his gills. He seems to be eating and swimming fine. Normal breathing, normal behavior. Any idea what this is? A parasite? How to treat it? I’ve had him for about 6 months from dr reef. Looked healthy when I got him, has good color.

Parameters:
Sal: 1.026
Alk: 8.2
Temp: 78.5
Nitrate: 15
Phos: .17 (this went up recently from a normal range of .05-.1, been feeding the tank less the past couple weeks or so)

Tank has been running for 2 years.

This looks to be a tumor and often will grow more. The best treatment IF the fish responds will be seachem Kanaplex in a separate tank a its absorbed by the fish. May have begun as infection

 

[aciak]

This looks to be a tumor and often will grow more. The best treatment IF the fish responds will be seachem Kanaplex in a separate tank an its absorbed by the fish. May have begun as infection

Ugh. Thats disheartening. He’s my favorite in the tank. Thanks for the quick reply. Here’s a few more pics I just snapped from a different angle.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Ugh. Thats disheartening. He’s my favorite in the tank. Thanks for the quick reply. Here’s a few more pics I just snapped from a different angle.

Nice bright Yellow. Lets get confirmation

@Jay Hemdal

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Ugh. Thats disheartening. He’s my favorite in the tank. Thanks for the quick reply. Here’s a few more pics I just snapped from a different angle.

I agree, likely a tumor. It may not be malignant though. There is also a isopod parasite that lives in the gill chambers of fish, but I’ve never seen those in a goby. You can sometimes identify those by looking into the gill chamber as the fish breathes and you can sometimes see the segmented body of the parasite.
I don’t think there is a treatment for either issue, but they also won’t be immediately fatal to the fish.

 

[aciak]

I agree, likely a tumor. It may not be malignant though. There is also a isopod parasite that lives in the gill chambers of fish, but I’ve never seen those in a goby. You can sometimes identify those by looking into the gill chamber as the fish breathes and you can sometimes see the segmented body of the parasite.
I don’t think there is a treatment for either issue, but they also won’t be immediately fatal to the fish.

I took a peek at him again this morning with a flashlight and I’m not seeing some sort of segmented structure in the bump. It looks sort of solid in color and gray’ish.

I guess I’ll just keep an eye on him but if someone has more ideas on what this is and whether it may be worth putting in QT for treatment that would be much appreciated!

 

[aciak]

Update. Been observing the past couple days. The bump looks to be mostly gone. No other odd behavior. Color is good. Breathing and eating have been fine. Sort of mysterious…

 

[sfin52]

Ugh. Thats disheartening. He’s my favorite in the tank. Thanks for the quick reply. Here’s a few more pics I just snapped from a different angle.

They only live a yr or two.

 

[shcrimps]

yellow squirrel goby

 

[aciak]

They only live a yr or two.

False. There’s instances out there of people having them for 10+ years.