I come to the fish experts in my time of need looking for some help with my black ghost knife. I was away on vacation for about a week (fish were taken care of by my regular house sitter) and got back a couple days ago. I just noticed a few hours ago that my knife has something sprouted from the base of his jaw. The growth looks to be about 1.5 inches and I haven't been able to identify what it might be.
Please bear with me as I try to list everything that might help diagnose the problem.
The black ghost knife is 3 to 4 years old (6 in long), in a tank that's been active for almost 10 years. The last problem I've had with the tank was a bad case of ick about 5 years back, and haven't had any fish die in at least 9 months.
The details: 45ish gal bowfront freshwater community tank. Tank mates include 2 cories, 2 clown loach, 1 common pleco (11 in long), 12 various tetras, and 4 hatchet fish. Everything is pretty mature and too large for the ghost knife to eat. It seems a little crowded to me, but everyone has been getting along great for so long, I haven't worried much about it. No new additions in the last year.
Used my last API freshwater test kit a month ago and everything was perfect. I'll need to hit the LFS tomorrow to make sure my water parameters are still good.
The last water change was about 3 weeks ago, where I replaced about 15 gal. I vacuum the gravel substrate every water change, which occurs every 3-4 weeks.
Temperature is kept at 78 degrees F. I cannot remember (or tell from looking) what type of filter I have for the tank, but it uses a single bio-wheel and it's rated for a larger tank than I have. Filter hasn't been changed in a long time though, and that's something I need to replace for sure.
The tank isn't exposed to any direct sunlight, the only windows in the room being on either side of the same wall the tank is against. I have the tank lights on a timer so that they are on from 7:30am until 10pm.
The fish get an appropriate amount (as container directs - that they are able to eat within a couple minutes) of TetraMin tropical flakes in the morning and evening. I drop 1-2 Hikari algae wafers in the tank every morning for the pleco. I'm not entirely sure what the ghost knife is eating as he's fairly shy, but I give the tank 2-3 HBH shrimp pellets daily and frozen bloodworms every couple weeks.
All in all, the ghost knife looks and acts fine aside from this bizarre worm-like thread coming from the underside of his jaw. I have not treated for anything yet.
Sorry for such a long post, and thanks for reading thus far. Any ideas or replies will be appreciated. This guy is my favorite fish in the tank.
Please bear with me as I try to list everything that might help diagnose the problem.
The black ghost knife is 3 to 4 years old (6 in long), in a tank that's been active for almost 10 years. The last problem I've had with the tank was a bad case of ick about 5 years back, and haven't had any fish die in at least 9 months.
The details: 45ish gal bowfront freshwater community tank. Tank mates include 2 cories, 2 clown loach, 1 common pleco (11 in long), 12 various tetras, and 4 hatchet fish. Everything is pretty mature and too large for the ghost knife to eat. It seems a little crowded to me, but everyone has been getting along great for so long, I haven't worried much about it. No new additions in the last year.
Used my last API freshwater test kit a month ago and everything was perfect. I'll need to hit the LFS tomorrow to make sure my water parameters are still good.
The last water change was about 3 weeks ago, where I replaced about 15 gal. I vacuum the gravel substrate every water change, which occurs every 3-4 weeks.
Temperature is kept at 78 degrees F. I cannot remember (or tell from looking) what type of filter I have for the tank, but it uses a single bio-wheel and it's rated for a larger tank than I have. Filter hasn't been changed in a long time though, and that's something I need to replace for sure.
The tank isn't exposed to any direct sunlight, the only windows in the room being on either side of the same wall the tank is against. I have the tank lights on a timer so that they are on from 7:30am until 10pm.
The fish get an appropriate amount (as container directs - that they are able to eat within a couple minutes) of TetraMin tropical flakes in the morning and evening. I drop 1-2 Hikari algae wafers in the tank every morning for the pleco. I'm not entirely sure what the ghost knife is eating as he's fairly shy, but I give the tank 2-3 HBH shrimp pellets daily and frozen bloodworms every couple weeks.
All in all, the ghost knife looks and acts fine aside from this bizarre worm-like thread coming from the underside of his jaw. I have not treated for anything yet.
Sorry for such a long post, and thanks for reading thus far. Any ideas or replies will be appreciated. This guy is my favorite fish in the tank.
