JD with horns?

[JTRG05]

My Jack Dempsey has developed horns!?

Just behind his eyes are two elevated bumps that can be described as horns. My ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, pH, dH, and so forth is perfect. There's no evidence of any fungus, bacteria or parasites in any of the fish. Everything acts and appears very healthy (even the JD acts perfectly normal) He is a little older than a year now so I'd hope its nothing age related. I know that males develop a bump on their head but like this as well?

Is this common or is this serious problem? Could it be a tumor?

I don't have a good enough camera to upload a picture atm.

 

[Loves severums]

a pic will help.

 

[Toby_H]

Having raised many Dempseys and having seen a handful of deformities in them... it doesn't sound like anything I've come across...

Share pictures when you can and hopefully then it will make sense...

 

[reallybigfish]

Is this right behind the eyes and above the start of the gill plates? I have only seen this on malnourished fish that came in from shipment. They usually have it from being thin/malnourished for too long.

 

[gnuisance]

regardless of what it is I bet a good staple diet and frequent water changes will be helpful.

 

[JTRG05]

I'm getting frustrated as my camera isn't good enough to be able to capture the "horns" in or out of the tank as they aren't popping out significantly enough. They are behind the eyes above the gill plate as reallybigfish said.

I feed him once, sometimes twice a day with Hikari pellets, supplementing him with brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, blood worms, river shrimp, beef heart and occassional ground beef once every 3 days. Peas are given now and then to aid digestion. He eats from my hand so I know how much he eats and doesn't compared to the other fish.

I do 25% water changes bi-weekly, siphoning the gravel once a week, change the filter once a month. I check my parameters once every 3 days and they are never off, Ammonia and nitrites barely detectable, nitrates around 10 ppm due to elevated nitrate levels in my water (using the liquid solution, not the strips).

I've tried to feed him different kinds of food for a varied diet, should I feed him a more basic diet or introduce more veggies? He's always had them, I noticed them when I bought him from my LFS, but they seem to be getting more significant.

 

[Kcoastsurfguy]

I've raised a few JD's and have never seen this before, maybe more frequent water changes just to see if anything may get better. Sounds like the diet is good although I personally have never heard of anyone feeding ground beef to a JD. I dont know if theres anything in ground beef that would provide them with any added nutrients as they wouldnt eat that in the wild but I could be mistaken

 

[JTRG05]

I've raised a few JD's and have never seen this before, maybe more frequent water changes just to see if anything may get better. Sounds like the diet is good although I personally have never heard of anyone feeding ground beef to a JD. I dont know if theres anything in ground beef that would provide them with any added nutrients as they wouldnt eat that in the wild but I could be mistaken

The ground beef just kinda is a treat, I work in a Meat Dept so I can get beef on occassion. Its free of antibiotics, hormones, uhh I feel like I'm selling it at work. Should be the same as the heart meat just slightly less protein since its not tough cardiac muscle.

I'll try 25% every other day and see what happens I guess, it doesn't seem to be impacting his health, but rather be safe than sorry.

 

[Kcoastsurfguy]

The ground beef just kinda is a treat, I work in a Meat Dept so I can get beef on occassion. Its free of antibiotics, hormones, uhh I feel like I'm selling it at work. Should be the same as the heart meat just slightly less protein since its not tough cardiac muscle.

I'll try 25% every other day and see what happens I guess, it doesn't seem to be impacting his health, but rather be safe than sorry.

Cool sounds like a good treat then

Good Luck I hope he/she gets better

 

[kevbc03]

Try and get a pic!

I wouldn't worry about it too much, like ^they said before, a good staple diet plus weekly water changes = great things!

Good luck!