need Help diagnosing Oscar, plz plz

[amazonfriend]

Need Your Help! My Oscar has a mass on her head near her nostral. It is a mass of pinkish color tissue growing outward. It has been there about 8 weeks. I posted online did not get much info. I tired what was suggested.
in a hospital tank, treated w/ high marine salt and milofix. I dabbed w/ peroxide then again after 10 days and no improvement. the mass has grown and grown. It has been suggested to be cancer or a tumor. I can't give up on my fish. Please take a look....
Had my oscar 4 years, I want to help her get better!

 

[GTbEaSt]

Dam bro, I never seen that. I have no clue. Def. gotta take care of it soon. good luck.

 

[knifegill]

Yes, it looks to be a tumor. Find a decent vet and they will usually do the surgery for you.

 

[amazonfriend]

thanks for the info.
I checked w/ my lfs a few times, I have the name of the local vet that sees fish.
.... wonder what that would cost ?!?

Any Other Suggestions or Thoughts?

the fish has a good appitite.

 

[ballist3k]

i dunno how gutsy you are? and maybe this may sound stupid? but go to your library and look up fish disease and problems book, i have this book that showed how to perform surgery on your fish....lol im guessing it was a pre vet book. Personally i would try myself but because i feel comfortable with that kinda stuff.

 

[knifegill]

If you're going to try it yourself, definitely get your hands on a few dead Oscars first and practice the procedure. You'll need to know where the local nerves are and how to make which cuts in what order for minimal scarring and trauma. You'll also likely need to determine the tissue of origin for the tumor. Hopefully it's just nasal tissue but if it's a gland or something deeper, you'll need to adapt the procedure for complete removal of the affected tissue. Probably something worth letting a vet do, IMO. Wouldn't hurt to watch the whole thing for a learning experience.

 

[Lupin]

Knifegill is right. Ask your local vet what to do. Consult him first though for your consultancy fees, etc and show him the pics (if the consultancy fees are not that expensive for you to pay). See what his thoughts are.

Don't bother adding Melafix anymore. Stick to just salt.

 

[amazonfriend]

Thank You Very Much for your suggestions!!

I will call the vet when I get a quiet moment at work... and nobody is around. They will think I have fallen off my rocker calling the vet for my fish.

The surgery is beyond my critter-caring knowledge.

I will let know what the vet says.

 

[Lupin]

LOL! Don't let them bother you. There are vets specializing more on koi and goldfish than tropicals but can still avail services for tropicals if they think they have the capability to do so.

I've done tumor removal for my own goldfish but it's not in a critical area preferably the nasal points. It's just near the dorsal area.

 

[amazonfriend]

I heard back from the vet. He didn't help too much, basically bring in the fish. $50 walk in the door + biopsy + removing it.
Ugh.

It can be one of several things (viral, neoplasia (cancerous), bacterial-mycobacterial, ect..). The best thing for Splash would be to have it removed and biopsied to see what it is. Salt is definitively a good route but I don’t think that it would do much for the growth. Once we know what it is we can have an action plan.


Jose Biascoechea, DVM