PlanetCatfish.com

Hi all,

I wanted to see if forum members had seen this growth on their zebras which is right of the eye.

I did inspect and it does seem to be rigid, and doesn’t feel like fungus and hopefully not bacterial.

1. Temperature 84 F
2. ph 7.0
3. GH and KH are low / TDS is 90-110. it is about 46 coming out of the tap and adding Seachem Replenish
4. No issues with Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrites

See attached pictures.

Those look dramatic, but are they abnormal? Check out this photo:
https://www.planetcatfish.com/common/im ... e_id=24156

Is that what you're seeing?

Best,
Eric

roanjeje537 sent me the pics and asked the same question. There are no bumps like the ones on his fish in the pic eric posted. I had to enlarge the pic to see them clearly and when I enlarged enough to try examining them the resolution was too low and the image was a blur.

The bumps were most definitely further up the head of the fish and behind the eyes. Most zebras have those two item a (I do not know what they are a called) that stick up lower down on the front of head.

My two guesses were possibly an encased parasite. But roanjeje537 said they were very hard. So, I felt that was an unlikely explanation. But it might be something genetic causing bone bumps and I asked if he had seen them on any of the other fish. Here is what he told me. "Hopefully it is a genetic anomaly. The fish eats well and much larger than the bunch. Other fish look normal and do not have this trait or issue."

I also said I had never seen this before and I have seen quite a few zebras over the years.

The fact it is symmetrical hints to me it's very unlikely to be parasitic cysts. I agree genetic abnormality. Unlike snubnosed individuals it's difficult to say too much. Whereas the head is usually formed of flatish plates but whose to say an abnormality could result in them developing a shape malformation.