Weird brownish spot on piranha, please help identify! pics!

[StickMan]

I noticed my piranha had a small white bump on his side the other day, now a few days later it has turned into a brown spot and he's swimming around a lot more than normal. I'm getting worried about him, need to know what to do. Here's a pic:

His tank parameters are all normal, water is fine, clean etc. I feed him wild caught minnows, i'm afraid this may be a parasite of some kind from the minnows. Please advise me on what this is at least so I can start treating it. I'm half tempted to start adding salt tonight just as a precaution.

 

[Guest]

well its definitely NOT ichi can tell you that

although it could be another type of skin parasite

if you are doing wild caught minnows make sure the pond it CLEAN!!!!! it cant be bad or polluted

try finding a local dealer who has minnows and buy some from him

im sure they are very cheap and you will know 4 sure the water is clean and non polluted

 

[Toirtis]

Could be a parasite...I would watch it for the next few days and see if it shows any changes.

 

[StickMan]

more details

Today i've noticed a rather large lump on his other side around the same place as the brown dot is on the other side. Like his belly is really swollen out, but only on one side, and the other side has the dot on it! AHHHH! I'm really worried now, he's my only piranha! Will salt help this? I have melafix and pimafix and salt on hand, but havent added anything to the tank. I will go and buy whatever it takes to treat this! Please give me suggestions.

 

[Guest]

well how about taking some live food and letting it die, then stuffing its mouth with crushed and deshelled green peas, maybe he is bloated?

IDK im not a doctor, but i can tell you what he doesnt have.... saltwater ich!

lol just trying to cheer you up

 

[StickMan]

ok, today I decided to add salt today since nobody knows what the hell this is. I added the first day's dose according to the salt thread(1tsp/gallon) and i'll do that for the next 2 days and hope for the best.

Man this sucks

 

[Steven A]

Howz is it now ?

 

[StickMan]

He's hanging in there, the lump doesnt seem to have gotten any bigger, but it has gotten a bit darker. I've added day 2 of the salt treatment. These pics are a bit bright because the salt makes the water temporarily cloudy. The dark spot on his left side got a bit darker, and the lump went from normal color to a slightly darker color. Zoom in of the affected areas:

Any more ideas about what this is? Not sure if the salt is doing anything or not.

 

[StickMan]

Ok, got him moved over to the new house today, had to have stressed him out, i know it stressed me. The condition has worsened. PLEASE TAKE A LOOK AT THIS PLEASE. I have no idea what it is, and all i've treated with so far is salt. The original scab on his one side has now healed, but the lump on the other side has progressed. maybe you guys can now tell what it is.

PLEASE HELP! I hope he doesnt die before someone can identify this!

 

[StickMan]

Crap. The lump got a bit taller, apparently busting thru the skin, its hard to tell. Check out the latest pic here. You can really see how far it's sticking out.

It is no longer red on the end, but instead a light brown color. Is this his stomach or some other internal organ poking out? I've been dosing the tank with pimafix and melafix for about 4 days. Doesnt seem to make a difference one way or the other.

I really have no idea what to do about this. I have a hard time telling if he has been eating or not. He still mauls things, but doesnt seem to get much down. I've been trying to give him worms for about a week now and he mauls them but it looks like most of the worm goes uneaten, if not all of it. I'm really worried about this, its so weird!

 

[Fluff]

Wow, I'm really sorry I have no idea. That is so wierd. A tumor perhaps. It has grown pretty rapidly. I sure hope he recovers for you.

 

[Guest]

im really sure that this is most likely a tumor

either that or a parasite

thats the wierdest infection i have ever seen!

HHRF

 

[StickMan]

OK, I hadn't posted on this in a while since it looked like he was getting better. The lump went down quite a bit, left a small wound which is healing up nicely. The problem is another lump has formed on another part of his body. Im starting to think this is some sort of internal parasite or something. Anyone have any ideas? I think it's bothering him now because he's been doing a strange move where he turns sideways and swims fast to scratch his side up against the top of his cave. This is odd behaviour that i haven't seen in him before.

After the first lump went down, he started eating again after having not eaten for about 2 weeks. I figured he was getting better. Now this has sprung up and he's scratched himself on the top of his cave so much that he's scratching the lump up quite a bit. Here are some new pics:

I think these are pretty good pics, you should be able to tell me something from these. You can see the new lump scratched up and you can see the old lump healing. I'm half tempted to dose the tank with some parasite medication, but I don't really know of anything out there for internal parasites. If this thing is a parasite it hasnt reared its ugly head outside of his body. Maybe its a bacterial infection? I think i've stumped every fish forum on the internet with this one!