Bulges on Royal Pleco Fins

[wesbailey87]

Hello All,

I recently purchased a Royal Pleco at petco the other day and didn't notice until I made the trip home, but there seem to be bulges on one fin. Can anyone help me with this? How can I help heal him? Is it treatable?

I keep my water pristine and do 90% water changes on my 75 gallon that I have him stocked in. I also add freshwater salt 1 tablespoon for every five gallons.

Please help! Pictures attached!

 

[GamerChick5567]

Looks like some sort of bacterial tumor thing, a cory of mine had one similar on it's nose a couple months ago. Could also be an infected wound? That's what my cory had. Keep up on the salt and water changes. It might go away. If not try using a general anti-bacterial. it may clear up. It could also be lymphocystis but I'm not sure, usually it grows on the body iirc.

Pleco's/other catfish are usually tough as hell, I wouldn't worry too much . Next time you go to petco though let the manager or fish person know, could have been a bad shipment.

 

[Pomatomus]

Hmm tough to say. Is it "cottony"? If so a skin scrape would tell if it's columnaris (easy to see under microscope), but I doubt that's the issue.

It could be a tumor or cyst if it's hard. It does look like lymphocystis, which often affects fins, but I don't think it is because lymphocystis has not yet been reported in catfishes. I can't rule out epitheliocystis, but that doesn't usually affect the fins.

My other guess would be a wound with a saprolegnia infection. If it's cottony and the fish experienced lower water temperatures during shipping, then this is a likely culprit. It can be treated with warmer temperatures and things like salt or methylene blue, but melafix can help too.

I'd like to see what others think though. It's tough to tell how hard or spongy the mass is from the picture.

 

[GamerChick5567]

Yeah that's what I was thinking. Just an infected wound. Maybe peroxide would help? Clean it real gently with a cotton swab? Should be perfectly safe, just avoid his gills and eyes.

 

[wesbailey87]

Thanks guys. It looks cottony to me. It hasn't seemed to affect him very much. I've been doing water changes and just dosed with melafix. I'm going to try that for a week and keep the temps steady. I appreciate your advice. He's my favorite about 5 inches. Biggest I've ever seen a Royal Pleco sold and I'd like to keep him around.

 

[Charney]

i would rub it off gently and treat the area with diluted iodine

 

[Rob909]

Pull the growth off, it should be really soft, then keep up with your water changes. Add some bacteria to the tank and make sure the Pleco is still eating well. Bacteria will correct itself as the water cleans up. Normally it’s from a scrape that got a little dirty. I had a royal that I picked up from the LFS with the same stuff on it.