Large blister on upside down catfish

[mizner13]

My upside down catfish is sick. It looks like a blister or something. I’ve attached a picture. Does anyone know what I should do or what ailment this is? Are there any treatments or should I just mercifully put him down?
Please let me know. I haven’t quarantined him either. I don’t want to add extra stress if I don’t have too.
I tested the water conditions and everything is in the normal range. No other fish are sick.

[naturalart]

I can't tell, is the blister on its side? or is it on its back? Your pics are a little hard to read.

[mizner13]

Both. He has one really big blister on his side. Then a smaller one on his back, and a third on the opposite side. I took another picture today of the biggest blister. Do you think its a gas bubble?

[naturalart]

never seen this before. The only thing I've read is that it could be caused by excess nitrogen. But that doesn't look like your problem. You do perform water changes I presume? And if so, how often to you do them? The only other possibility I can think of is cancer. But if the bubbles are filled with water or gas, then not sure. Maybe someone else has had this experience?

[mizner13]

I haven't touched or popped the blisters so I'm not positive if its air, gas or solid. They look like air. He is in a 150G tank. There are very few fish in it, and a lot of live plants, so the tank mostly takes care of itself. I do maybe 2-3 inches of water change a month. When we saw he was sick, we did a cleaning of the filter too. He was fine one day, then had the blisters the next. They came on suddenly. He's been like for about a week now.
He does seem to swim okay, so I'd think this means its not gas. My guess would be fluid filled. Think it would help to put him in a separate tank, treat with antibiotics and pop the blisters?
(I'm limited on treatment options in the big tank cause I have snails and the live plants)

[Jools]

I have seen this before as a reaction to heater burns. Now, I've been wrong about heater burns before - but is it worth considering if the catfish hides (overnight) near the heater?

Jools

[mizner13]

That's a good suggestion Jools. But I can rule this out. I have no heater in the tank. Its a 150G and I live in Florida. If anything, the water gets a little too hot, all on its own. (mostly due to the plant lights) So I've been going heaterless for years now.

[naturalart]

couple things come to mind. 1) if you don't already, keeping regular notes on your tank is really helpful. Then you know when you've introduced something new into the tank. 2) Did you introduce any native plants, gravel or animals into your tank?

[FerocactusLatispinus]

When I saw the first image, my first thought was parasites, but that's obviously not it, not in such a short time. I agree it is likely a tumor. If it is a blister, I highly recommend not rupturing it, as that would expose a huge area of tissue, and I can almost guarantee it would become infected (but not if the water was pretty much sterile of diseases). They are definitely unsightly but if they don't interfere with the fish's normal swimming or eating habits, at least your fish will be comfortable for the most part. I can't imagine they would cause any harm if they were tumors, at least until they would affect internal organs if they did spread. These are just my thoughts, anyway.

I wish you the best, and I'm confident there are some here that have encountered your fish's same problem that can help you out! It'll all work out!

[mizner13]

There's been nothing new added to the tank. No new plants or fish. So it would have been something that can naturally grow in the tank without an external contributor. If its cancer or tumors, can this infect the other fish?

[naturalart]

As long as the fish is acting normally and eating normally; I would just maintain good perimeters for an extended period. Catfish, and in particular Syno's have strong powers of healing. Maybe increase more live and/or frozen foods. If after an period nothing changes, I might consider isolating (quarantining) in a mild saline dip just to see if a slight change in salinity changes anything. my 2¢.

[Viktor Jarikov]

Neither have I ever seen this, nor do I see any red flags, except looks like we don't know water parameters. What are NH3, NO2, NO3, pH (and how are they measured), and temp?

"I tested the water conditions and everything is in the normal range." - elaborate please with numbers.

This contains lots of pointers in reporting and analyzing health problems http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forum ... -posting-) I'd recommend also to look through other stickies in this forum.

[mizner13]

I'll test the water again and post the results. The fish is still alive and no one else is sick. He isn't as pale white anymore. But the blisters are all still there. I've been keeping the lights off.

[Supercorygirl]

I've had something similar happen to a few corydoras. Looked like a gas bubble and turned out to be I was feeding them to high a protein diet. At the time I was feeding straight NLS thera community flakes, I switched them to a spirulina/veggie flake as a staple with a bit of the theta flakes mixed in and haven't gotten them back. What I had to do was up my WC,cut back their feeding, added Epsom salts ( must be Epsom and not actual salt), melafix and extra aeration. In a 150G probably wouldn't work but if you could isolate him would have a better chance especially in cutting back food intake. It was Ian Fuller who had identified what was going on with my corys. Can't say that's what happen to your syno for certain but can't hurt to try.

[Viktor Jarikov]

Interesting. Thanks for sharing. I'd never thought. I wonder if this can be related to an allergic food reaction.

[apistomaster]

I have seen smaller blisters on a fin which appeared to be very similar.
Nearly all of those I've seen were on a Corydoras. I do not know the cause nor cure but I suspected a virus was the culprit. My affected fish never acted sick. It has never seemed to be contagious. These blisters would often spontaneously disappear but in your case, I doubt it will go away and the fish will be dead soon.

Your Synodontis may have an entirely unrelated problem for all I know but the resemblance to the more limited blisters I've observed is why I'm responding.

[mizner13]

Thanks for all the suggestions. We did try adding in extra aeration and cutting back on the lighting. And there are plenty of live plants in the tank, so he has greens for his diet. Yes, we do primary feed the fish tropical flakes, but I never see him eat them. There are several fish in the tank that I never see eat. So I assume they eat the plants. (I've had him for 3yrs, so he was thriving, somehow)

I wanted to follow-up in case others have this problem and are looking for a solution. He passed away yesterday. So he survived with those blisters for five weeks-ish. Oddly, the blisters were decreasing in size and his color was better. But who knows what the damage looked like internally. I'm not well versed enough for fish autopsies.

[bekateen]

Mizner 13,
Sorry that you couldn't save it. Now that it's dead, can you try cutting into the blisters to determine if they are solid, air filled, fluid (water or puss) filled, or filled with parasites, then share with us what you find?

[mizner13]

His body has already been released for burial. No autopsy was authorized by his family members. j/k When I noticed him I was in a rush and had just enough time to remove his body before I left for work. I didn't even think of dissection and now he's gone. Sorry.