Goldfish bump

[fishlover1314]

Hey everyone, I have a fancy goldfish in a 5 gallon tank, it’s been doing well untill 2 days ago it got a bump, I did a water change and cleaned the tank, it shares the tank with a Pleco, after the water change the fish was acting healthy and was swimming and eating, this morning the bump was bigger and has white stuff coming out of it, did a 30% water change, my mom did the water change and said the fish got stuck in the suction tube but she got it out, it was bleeding from the bump and now is still swimming and acting normal. This keeps happening, is there something we can do to prevent the bump? What causes it?

 

[Andy Sager]

I'm not sure what to address first, the tank size, the white spot, the red spot or the clarity of the pictures?
The tank is way too small for a goldfish. Goldfish need a lot of food which makes them poop machines which means that the average filter appropriate for a 5 gallon tank will be too small for a tank housing a goldfish.

The white spot may actually be an internal worm that is moving on to a next life stage outside the body.

The red spot looks like a hole which may have been from a worm that has left the fish already leaving behind a wound that may be infected.

Clearer pictures of the area would definitely help.

Now for the questions.

How long has the tank been set up? Has it gone through the cycling process? When was the last time you tested the water ? How often do you do water changes on the tank when nothing is wrong with the fish? How long have you had the fish? The " white stuff" that you said was coming out of the bump, is it solid or a liquid you see ooozing out?
Do you have access to a larger tank ( over 20 gallons)
Let's start there.

 

[fishlover1314]

I'm not sure what to address first, the tank size, the white spot, the red spot or the clarity of the pictures?
The tank is way too small for a goldfish. Goldfish need a lot of food which makes them poop machines which means that the average filter appropriate for a 5 gallon tank will be too small for a tank housing a goldfish.

The white spot may actually be an internal worm that is moving on to a next life stage outside the body.

The red spot looks like a hole which may have been from a worm that has left the fish already leaving behind a wound that may be infected.

Clearer pictures of the area would definitely help.

Now for the questions.

How long has the tank been set up? Has it gone through the cycling process? When was the last time you tested the water ? How often do you do water changes on the tank when nothing is wrong with the fish? How long have you had the fish? The " white stuff" that you said was coming out of the bump, is it solid or a liquid you see ooozing out?
Do you have access to a larger tank ( over 20 gallons)
Let's start there.

We have had the fish for 6 years, the tank is 10 years old, it’s been cycled, has water changes once - twice a week, the white discard was solid, I test once a week and every time the parameters are perfect, we are thinking it is a cyst. We do not have access to a larger tank. We haven’t needed one since the fish has been healthy.
it is just blood that came after getting stuck in the cleaning tube.

 

[Aiken Drum]

If the fish is 6 years old it should be full grown at 8 to 10 inches which would be way too big to fit in a 5g tank. The fishes growth is severely stunted, and honestly a 6 year old fish in a 5g tank is exceptionally unusual, but the stunted growth will have effected long term health. This could just be time spent in unsuitable conditions catching up with the fish.

 

[Andy Sager]

We have had the fish for 6 years, the tank is 10 years old, it’s been cycled, has water changes once - twice a week, the white discard was solid, I test once a week and every time the parameters are perfect, we are thinking it is a cyst. We do not have access to a larger tank. We haven’t needed one since the fish has been healthy.
it is just blood that came after getting stuck in the cleaning tube.

As Aiken stated, your fish is severely stunted and that can in itself cause all kinds of issues. If the bump was a cyst, what was coming from it should have been liquid so if it was solid, a worm or parasite is more likely. There are many types of worms and not all are in the intestinal tract. Some are embedded into the flesh ( what you probably had. )
All I can say is that if this happens continuously, you most likely have a parasite that goes through it's life cycle inside the fish, comes out to release eggs, the eggs hatch and then the parasite looks for a host, which is the goldfish. You would need to do a deworming of both the fish and the tank but for now, the concentration should be healing the wound. The tank can be dewormed while the fish is in the hospital tank.
To medicate the wound, I would need to know what your water parameters actually are ( pH, Nitrate, GH, ) and you will need to use a separate hospital tank or container as the antibiotics can severely damage your biological filter bed and you would need to cycle the tank again.
Hope this helps.

 

[fishlover1314]

I wasn’t the one who saw the puss, my mom did, she said it was liquidy but not like watery. This is the first time it’s ever happened.

This is also not my only tank, I have a 30 gallon with fish in it, of the same age, that are the same size as she is. They aren’t in the same state so I can’t move her to it. She is all better now.

The tank she is in houses a bottom feeder as well, could the bottom feeder be a carrier for something that causes that?

 

[fishlover1314]

As Aiken stated, your fish is severely stunted and that can in itself cause all kinds of issues. If the bump was a cyst, what was coming from it should have been liquid so if it was solid, a worm or parasite is more likely. There are many types of worms and not all are in the intestinal tract. Some are embedded into the flesh ( what you probably had. )
All I can say is that if this happens continuously, you most likely have a parasite that goes through it's life cycle inside the fish, comes out to release eggs, the eggs hatch and then the parasite looks for a host, which is the goldfish. You would need to do a deworming of both the fish and the tank but for now, the concentration should be healing the wound. The tank can be dewormed while the fish is in the hospital tank.
To medicate the wound, I would need to know what your water parameters actually are ( pH, Nitrate, GH, ) and you will need to use a separate hospital tank or container as the antibiotics can severely damage your biological filter bed and you would need to cycle the tank again.
Hope this helps.

pH is 6.5 nitrate 0 and GH 200

The fish has healed since doing the second water change, she’s swimming happily.

 

[Andy Sager]

pH is 6.5 nitrate 0 and GH 200

The fish has healed since doing the second water change, she’s swimming happily.

Okay, let me understand: the pictures of the fish in your first post are not the current wounds? And when you say it's healed already, that would mean the wounded side now looks like the opposite side of the fish? If not, please post a close up pic of the wounded area.

 

[fishlover1314]

They are the current wounds, they were from a few days ago, she is healed meaning she doesn’t have any bumps, or blood anymore, its almost healed all the way, but it doesn’t look like the pictures anymore. It’s almost back to normal.

 

[Andy Sager]

They are the current wounds, they were from a few days ago, she is healed meaning she doesn’t have any bumps, or blood anymore, its almost healed all the way, but it doesn’t look like the pictures anymore. It’s almost back to normal.

Okay that sounds better. If it's healing that rapidly, I wouldn't do anything different than what you are doing. As for can a bottom feeder carry the parasite? Yes, in fact many bottom feeders come in infected because they are on the bottom and that's where parasites usually have a stage of reproduction.
If you see the bump begin to show again, I'd move the fish into a bare bottom container so that the " thing" can leave the fish and you can see what it is and if it's alive or just an infection.

 

[fishlover1314]

Okay thank you