Take a look at this PIC and tell me what on earth it is!!!!

[st204]

Hey there. I came home yesterday to see my goldfish with two large bumps on it's sides. I set up a hospital tank immediately with raised temperature to 76 and some salt. Today, it seems whatever was under these bumps have broken through the scales and are sticking out. They are not fuzzy either, they look pretty solid. I've never seen anything like this before. The fish is also swimming crazy. It's zooming around and bumping into the glass often, and it's never done that before!

My water is
ph 8.5
ammonia 0
nitrite <0.3mg/l

It is a 25 gallon planted tank with the one goldfish (which is about 2 inches long) and one pleco which is 1.5 inches long, and I have the temperature set to 71 degrees. The filtration is very basic... an Aquaclear 200. I usually do 20% water changes every week but have fallen behind in the last couple months to once every two weeks.

HELP!!

Here are the pics:

What on earth is it???
Thanks!!

 

[Zagz]

The bumping is most likely flashing because he is probably itchy. I'd guess at a parasite. I'll do some searching for you and see what I can find.

 

[Zagz]

http://www.goldfishinfo.com/diagram.htm.


Unfortunately I can't find anything specific to the problems you are having, anchor worms, skin flukes have some similarities but nothing the exact same as what I am seeing in your pic.

Any other symptoms, clamped fins, gasping?

http://www.kokosgoldfish.com/disease.html

Sorry I couldn't find anything more specific, I think increasing the temp and adding salt is the correct idea for now.

 

[Zagz]

Perhaps Lymphocystis? http://www.bristol-aquarists.org.uk/goldfish/info/diseases.htm Bottom of the page

 

[st204]

Thanks for the info Zags!

I took a look this morning, and now it appears those strange white things have fallen off! It's still swollen in those areas, but the white is gone. I am really confused.

Do you think it was just pus? I would think pus wouldn't be so solid looking... I dunno? Any more ideas? I searched the net for into but couldn't find anything similar to what it has....

 

[Zagz]

I'd keep an eye on it and watch really close. It could still be a parasite or bacterial infection. Make sure he is eating and stops flashing. Let me know how it goes.

 

[Rach101]

No idea, it sounds kind of like anchor worms. Beautiful goldfish, despite the white growths though.

 

[ahboy22]

Looks like some kind of tumor or roundworms http://www.fishpalace.org/Disease.html

 

[st204]

Hmmm, the white stuff looks to be much bigger than roundworms or anchor worms. They were probably about 2.5mm in diametre... pretty big for a worm. I tought it could be a tumor, but do tumors grow and then fall off after a couple days? I wouldn't think so...?? Now there is more swelling happening in the abdominal area, while the other two (shown in the pics above) are disappearing. The fish is not zooming around as much as before, and is eating without hesitation.

geez, I am still stumped. I am treating it as if it's a bacterial infection at the moment, and hope that solves this....

 

[Toirtis]

Could be bacterial, although it also could be some sort of hyperactive cyst, too. Have you retrieved any of the bits that have fallen off? Can you tell us about the consistancy of them?