Hi, everyone! Little Polycarp seems as happy as can be - but, just tonight, I noticed she has what seems like another deformity in her tail. I don't know what it is - have never seen or heard of anything like it. Basically, you see a largish white spot on the outside of her tail, near the base. It takes some careful looking to see that this spot is 3D. It's flattish, like a plug. The inside of the plug grows to a point, poking out from the inside of her tail. It's almost as though she jammed something through it - but there's no blood and no signs of infection that I can see. She's eating well and seems asymptomatic. It could be a foreign object, but doesn't look like it - much more as though her skin is growing that way. It doesn't look fungusy or fuzzy at all. What on earth can this be?!

Details - she is a 2-inch fish alone in a 20 gallon tank with eclipse hood and filter. Mostly bare bottom, mix of live and plastic plants. Her temp is 74 Fahrenheit, her ph about 7.6, and there is no ammonia or nitrites; nitrates about 10. Not sure if the tank is cycled - it seems to be, but I've only had her about 2 weeks. Will be calling Sal at the House of Fins tomorrow, but, if anyone here has any ideas, I'd be glad to hear them. TIA!

I have no idea what it could be. Please let us know what you find out.

If it were my fish, I'd be inclined to use a q-tip with peroxide on it, and swab it and see what happens.

Good luck, and I am interested to hear what you learn

Jessica

How weird… I have never heard of anything like that. Did she have it when you got her? Has it grown or changed at all? Yes, please tell us what it is. I cant imagine!

The first anchor worm on a very healthy and otherwise immune fish?

Daryl, that's what the store thought, too, when I called them. But it just doesn't look like anchor worm - as I said to them on the phone, it's about the shape of the little thing you'd put a golf ball on to hit it with - in other words, a good bit fatter and more tapered than an anchor worm, and I don't see any black parts at all. The anchor worms I've seen, both in life and in pictures, look more like yellowish thread with darker areas at the mouth, near the fish's body. But I suppose it might be one anyway?

I'm going to try a little salt and hope it doesn't stress out the plants too much. The anubias, which had been looking poorly, has finally started to grow, and the other two are growing well. Ive got a java fern which is sprouting lots of little babies and a clump of anacharis floating around the top of the tank. I don't think the basic 1 tablespoon/five gallon dose would hurt any of them, would it?

I'll also try and call the store again tomorrow. Thanks for your help and suggestions, and I'll definitely let everyone know what, if anything, I find out.

I've had an idea, through looking around on the web - could this be lymphocystis? (aka cauliflower disease?) It fits the description pretty well. I have added the 4 tablespoons of salt to the water, as of last night, and I'm watching. The flat plug part seems a little smaller, but otherwise the lump is the same. From what I've read, lympocystis is sort of like chicken pox in human children - uncomfortable and ugly to look at, but ultimately no big deal. So I'm not going to treat any further (with quick cure, for example, which I've found very harsh) until I see that it's necessary. Will keep you posted.

Just an update - the dangling part on the inside of her tail is gone (what a relief!), and she's left with two or three little white dots, like embroidery, where the 'plug' used to be. She's still actiing fine. I couldn't get a good pic of this thing (she's pretty small, and I don't have a digital camera), but lymphocystis seems to fit better than anything else. For that reason, I don't think I'm going to add another fish to the tank, though I was tempted by a lovely gold fantail in the store where she came from. I understand lymphocystis is highly contagious, and she'll be a carrier all her life, but it's not fatal.

Another note - I had been aiming for a calico fantail, but think I got a telescope again. If she is a telescope, she's younger than I thought. Is it true telescopes are more delicate than moors or fantials or orandas?