Assistance Growth inside 27" Tyre Track Eel - Help

[Nothgiel]

Hi all,

I've a large Tyre Track Eel.

I've attached a picture as best as I can of the issue, it shows his eyes, some if his nose but inside his mouth.

Inside, between the gills around an inch inward from the start of the bottom part of his mouth, there is a large Orange or Kind of Yellow growth which is pictured.

I've investigated myself to determine if it was either food that has unfortunately had a shell on part attached to the food given once without knowing and maybe it'd stuck in his mouth or maybe some kind if stone due to the colour.. could be either food or stone at that juncture but upon close inspection, delicate, it must be a growth is my only determination.

I noticed he was a bit off with temperament, he's a sociable eel normally is our Neel so we know he's not well, then he's only eating 20% of what he would daily, which continued for 4 or 5 days of feeding which is odd.. he is normally happy to pig out as much as his belly can fill until he's satisfied, he eats very very well normally and normally trusts me implicitly, which eel owners or those who know maybe also that your Eel must trust you to feed well. Its not easy getting food to him but he's very happy normally.

So upon the differences in behaviours, hence why I looked into his mouth just to see if something was preventing him raring or causing obstruction.. well whats pictured is a growth as said, he now hasn't eaten in 5 days when normally its good daily feeds.

I worry after the unsettling time he's had with the affliction itself and the investigation wasn't nice for anyone ?. At first after his shock died down, he was replacing his coat of slime it would seem, as he did develop new slime patches that I figured would turn back colour when kind of cured with time..like a new exoskeleton for others his slime would replace as a new coat. Anyway he wasn't happy for a couple of days but is back to his I'd self so Great News.. however the growth remains and he isn't eating still..

Any ideas what the growth is, the name or all and any information would be appreciated. Is it curable or treatable .?

Thank you.

Pictured are one of the issue this week and another was around 2 months ago.

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

I love the name Neel


QUESTION TIME
Have you added anything new to the tank in the 2 weeks before this started?
What do you normally feed the fish and how often do you feed it?

How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change?
Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the tank?

What is the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH of the water?
What sort of filter is on the tank?
How often and how do you clean the filter?

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If the growth in its mouth occurred rapidly (in a week or two), it is usually a bacterial infection but could also be a viral infection. If the growth took months to grow, then it is either cancer or a cyst.

There's no cure for cancer or cysts in fish and they usually die. Some Fish Vets will offer surgery, which is expensive and often kills the fish due to the anesthetic and being out of water for too long.

Bacterial infections can sometimes be treated with salt, broad spectrum fish medications, or antibiotics. Antibiotics should be used as a last resort and only on known bacterial infections, so try salt first and then a broad spectrum fish medication. (See directions below for salt).

Viruses normally occur when the environment gets a bit dirty or the temperature becomes too hot or cold, and the animal (fish) are stressed out. Normally cleaning up the environment and getting it perfect will help the fish fight the virus and it clears up on its own. Sometimes viruses can weaken the immune system and allow bacteria into the fish, which need treating as well.

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WHAT TO DO NOW?
Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. This removes the biofilm on the glass and the biofilm will contain lots of harmful bacteria, fungus, protozoans and various other microscopic life forms.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in. It also removes a lot of the gunk and this means any medication can work on treating the fish instead of being wasted killing the pathogens in the gunk.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use the media. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens so the medication will work more effectively on the fish.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration to maximise the dissolved oxygen in the water.

Try to get a 1 minute video of the fish breathing and if possible shine a torch in its mouth and get some footage or pictures inside its mouth. Not easy to do but could help.
You can upload videos to YouTube, then copy and paste the link here.

If you use a mobile phone to film the fish, hold the camera horizontally so the footage fills the entire screen.

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SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt) swimming pool salt, or any non iodised salt (sodium chloride) to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If/ when you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket of tank water and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.