fish with swollen areas, like tumors?

SinCrisis

HI all,

A couple of weeks ago, i visited a friend and she has a couple of tanks at her place. In a 20 gallon long, she has several fish that seem to have tumor-like growths, that is one area of the fish would be swollen, like a ball. She told me that it started with one fish and now almost every fish in the tank has it.

My first though was parasite, but i don't know any. The fish are not exhibiting any normal behavior. She also moved a birchir from the 20 gallon to a 50 with chiclids and the birchir has that same lump in its side (looks super awkward). Anyway i was wondering if anyone had any ideas on what this could be and how to treat it?

willow

interesting.... what fish are they ?

mwalk90

kind of sounds like dropsy, but its not particularly contagious unless its just really bad water conditions

SinCrisis

the infected fish are all kinds, black skirts, a birchir, and a rosey barb. I thought dropsy made fish slower and less likely to eat? according to her her fish eat like gluttons still. Also, the fish have been around and having this problem for a long time too, so it doesnt seem to be affecting thier lifespan too much. I will ask her to see if any dropsy meds will work. Thanks