I am about to cry....my calico, Ripley, has developed a large lump on his left side. It is about 2cm wide, appearing to be pushing the scales out. I cannot take a pic at this time. I keep a close eye on my fish and believe this developed within the last 24 hours. Could this be a tumor? I received my medi-gold in the mail today, and attempted to feed him, but he has not eaten. He just kind of hovers in the water. Params:

ammonia 0
Ph between 6.0 & 6.4
nitrites 0
nitrates 10
20gal tank, running app. 5 1/2 months
Penguin 150 HOB filter
25-30% water change every week
1 fish, app. 2 1/2 inches (was housed with Spencer, a 2" fantail, but Spenc has been in QT since last Sat. for dropsy)
Prime water conditioner added at every water change
no meds yet; only medi-gold (uneaten)
no new fish added
feed peas, pro-gold, spirulina flakes, and frozen bloodworms & brine shrimp as a treat
*Only unusual appearance is the large lump on his left side, right behind his gill
*Unusual behavior is 'hovering' in the tank; may swim from one spot to the next, but hovers in between.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! My mom wondered if maybe my local water could be instigating these illnesses; she suggests boiling first, then standing for 24 hrs, then adding water conditioner before water changes. Or trying bottled water instead of tap water. Would either one of these help?

Thanks.

Jenny while your mom is being thoughtful I don't think that would do any good. Why does she think it is bad?

What brought on the other fish's dropsy, do you know? This may be important. While dropsy itself isn't contagious, what causes it can be so knowing that will help to direct treatment.

Can you get a picture of this lump? Using photobucket.com to upload it and then link us will help. It is free.

Sorry to say right now those are the only things I can think of to do. Post back soon and we'll go from there.

Hi Laurie. I don't know; I have had a few different sich fish lately, and I believe she thinks maybe the water could be a possible source. She is trying to be helpful. She knows how much I love my pets and only wants to help.

As far as Spencer's dropsy, I am not sure. He was treated for a mild case of ich about the end of December, and recovered quickly. My water params have always been great- I am very anal about the care & maintenance of my tanks. No other fish, just the two of them in the 20gal until Spenc went into quarantine. They have both always been hearty eaters. Only thing I can think of is he may have been fighting a mild case of sbd before the dropsy. He would occasionally do flips when diving for the food, but had no problems swimming to the bottom.

Unfortunately, I cannot post pics at this time. I have to borrow my mom's digi cam for pics; not sure when I can get the camera. I will try in the next day or two.

I will keep you posted. And I will be praying for him. Thanks for your help!

Ok, thanks for the additional info.

I do have a couple more questions......about the ich. How long did you treat them and with what?
With the SBD, did you fast and feed peas at all?

While your water params seem to be right on, once we know the tap's ph we can confirm that. So no issue there.
Of course there is always a possibility of water problems but if you are drinking the water with no problem then it should be fine.
That is so sweet of her trying to help you. She must be a wonderful woman.

Oh one more thing, is there any chance this could be from trauma? Like him being slammed around the tank by the other fish or bumping into something?

Update...it's strange, it's similar to this post- White Blister, blister or pimple-oozing. Today, the lump seems to have gone down a bit, and it appears to have a bit of a whitish substance coming from it. He is swimming around a bit more, and I gave him some soaked Medi-gold, which he is eating. Yeah! So should I treat with Maracyn 1 & 2, assuming it is a bacterial infection? I will do whatever is necessary to get him healthy again.

Spencer was the one with the ick; he is the one in QT now for dropsy. (See that post for an update.) I left him in the main tank, and put a heater in, raising it up to 78* and adding aquarium salt. I gathered info here from other posts on how to treat them. The ick went away within a few days, but I continued to salt the tank for 2 more weeks. He only had 3 spots on him, I caught it early. (I always do a visual 'inspection' of all my fish when the light goes on, when I feed them, and again before the lights go out. I told you I was anal! LOL) He was fed peas about 5 days straight. (I remember a member posting that he would be in a weakened state, so to continue feeding. He got one pea in the AM, another in the PM.) Now, he gets a pea in the AM and he is on Medi-gold, since yesterday.

Yes, I love my mom so much. She knows how much my pets mean to me. (I also have three female cats.) I have no children, so I am focused on my furry & aquatic 'kids.' She means well!

I really don't believe any trauma could have occured. The fish stay together most of the time, but they are both young and I have never seen them fight or anything. I have a feeling it may be a cyst, like that other member wrote of in his post.

Anyway, thanks for all of your help and your quick responses. I would love your advice as far as the Maracyn, or anything you think may be helpful. You are a dear!

Jenny, your dedication makes me smile. I too am fanatic when it comes to my animals.

If it were me what I would do is just feed the Medigold for now. I would forgo the peas for now, so that he gets as much med food as possible. (it is hard to feed them enough to get the proper amount of antibotic into them, hince not filling them up on anything else).
If that seems to be working then I would use only that. If in a few days you don't feel it is healing enough then I would start one of the Maracyns. But I try to use them as last resort, since they mess up the cycle. Clean water will be your best bet right now.

Keep us updated.

Laurie, thanks for the quick response. Well, I believe the Medigold is working good. (Yepper, that's the only thing I have been feeding him.) His lump is about 1/3 the original size! He is swimming around more now, and feeding like he normally does. You can see the scales poking out where the lump is, but other than that, he is looking alot better. I am definitely a firm believer in that Medigold! That Rick sure knows his stuff.

So should I keep him on it for the full 2 weeks as others have recommended? That would probably be wise. I will let you know how he progresses! Thank you so much!

Yeah I would keep him on it that long. Just as with antibotics for us, not finishing the full course can make the bacteria resistant the next time.
So glad to hear it is working well.

Great-I will definitely keep him on it for the full duration! As of this morning, the lump is practically gone. A few scales are still poking out a bit above the lump, but getting better every day. I am so happy! He is such a beautiful fantail and a joy to have.

Must run; water change day! I will keep you posted. THANKS AGAIN!!!

Hi Jenny,sorry to hear that you're having problems with Spencer,but it sounds like you jumped in with the medicated food quick enough to be helping him.
Normally,anytime that you see a lump form over that quick amount of time,it usually is bacterial.Once that lump "pops" and oozes,it becomes an ulcer,which can go to a bad place rather quickly.It is more important than ever to keep those params as pristene as possible,in order to keep that ulcer from getting any worse.
Does your ph always read between 6.0 and 6.4?Have you ever tested it straight out of the tap?That number is considered quite low and on the verge of a ph crash,so I would definitely look into that.
I would also look into a bigger size filter for your 20 as I personally don't feel that the Penguin 150 is strong enough to do what needs to be done. I would also increase your water changes to 50%,using temp matched ,treated water,as the more they grow,the more ammonia/waste they'll produce. Do you do a gravel vac everytime you do a water change?

Hi Sharon! Yes, the Medi-gold arrived just in time, and he is getting better day by day. The lump is all but gone now.

Okay, I just tested the Ph straight from the tap, and it is reading 7.6
Wow, that's a big difference. Yeah, my Ph is usually in the mid 6's out of the tank. Why such a drastic difference? Is this bad for my fish? And is there anything I should be doing differently to help?

Yeah, I figured I would need to upgrade my filter soon. I always gravel vac real good every time I do a water change. I will probly thin out the gravel eventually too. Easier to maintain then! Both of my fish are growing pretty fast, especially since putting them on Progold. I only feed once a day. And I just put a better, bigger airstone in their tank too.

I do have a question; I have been heating the tank since treating for ick back in December, because my apartment stays really cool. It stays on average of 76*. Is this okay for them until summer? It was about 60 - 62* average before I put the heater in.

Thanks for your input! I really appreciate it.

The nitrogen cycle itself lowers the pH of the water. The more minerals that are dissolved in your water, the easier it will be to get the pH to remain stable.

Goldfish can tolerate a wide range of pH levels, but they can't tolerate pH fluctuations. Even a stable pH below 7.0 could be an issue as well. A pH crash can occur when an unstable pH gets too low- it can drop quickly and drastically, and this can kill your fish.

There are a few things you can do to help this situation. I'm sure the experts know more, but this will get you started.

- Check your pH daily until you get it stable. That way, if it does crash, you'll know.
- Leave a glass of tap water out overnight, then check the pH the next day. It could be that the pH of the tap water drops on its own, if the water is soft enough.

A lot of people fill a media bag with crushed coral and put that in the filter to help keep the pH up. There are also things you can add to your tank that increase the kh and gh that would help the water hold its pH. I don't have any experience with those, myself, though.

Hi Zelanie! Well, I have to admit, the whole topic of Ph and its affect on fish is overwhelming. I will sit the glass of water out over night tonight, and test it tomorrow after work. But I am still not sure what to do. (I am a bit confused.) You are saying that my average Ph read of about 6.2 - 6.4 is too low? I guess I never realized how important it was. I will post tomorrow with the results, and probly with a million more questions.

*Okay... out of curiousity, I just tested my Ph. Bear in mind I just did my weekly water change on Saturday. (About 40% of the water.) The read is 7.2 What the heck?!? I don't understand why it would fluctuate like that?

This whole Ph thing is really confusing me...

I'm just learning about the pH thing myself. I find it one of the scariest aspects of water chemistry, because doing nothing could be fatal, and some treatments can be fatal as well. Goldfish really like a stable pH, and changes, even changes for the better, can be hard on them if they're done too quickly. According to daryl in this thread, ideal pH is a stable pH between 7.2 and 8.6, and she's much more of an expert on these things than I am. You're pretty significantly out of that range, so that bears looking into.

Edit- Oh, with your pH moving around so much, do you have a test for hardness (KH and GH)? They can be hard to find, but can help see if that's part of your problem.

Zelanie...okay I have read of these Kh and Gh tests here before...I believe I may have seen the tests at a lfs. I will check tomorrow after work. Thanks for the tip!

Okay...the latest Ph test results...
glass of water left out last night- 7.5
tank water today- 7.2

Hmm...it seems that my Ph is steadily dropping each day that goes by. That is wierd! What would cause that? And also, with the ideal range being 7.2 to 8.6, does that mean it is alright for the number to vary within those numbers during the week, to be stable? Or does it HAVE to remain the same number to be stable? I think I am slowly starting to understand. I hope. I hope I am making sense.

Your patience and words of wisdom are much appreciated by not just me, but my fish too! Thank you!

I think the goal is to avoid having the pH fluctuate more than 0.2. If you have a stability problem, I think that's usually caused by a low KH, GH, or both. We'll know more if you can find the tests.

Update! Okay, I tested the tank water today...Ph is stable at 7.2. That's good news!
Also, I was able to find the KH/GH test kit at a lfs today. Woohoo! I read the booklet (twice), did the tests, and here are the results:
KH (carbon hardness) is 60
GH (general hardness) is 180

I went back to that thread you mentioned, and according to what Daryl posted, these readings are ok. Not necessarily perfect, but not bad either. Am I correct? I think I may finally be starting to understand a little better. I still don't know why my Ph dipped so low last Wed.. I wonder if that could've been a one-time thing? I will definitely be testing daily for at least a while, to keep a close eye on things.

I really appreciate your help, Zelanie. I only want the best for my little darlings. Ripley looks and acts pretty much normal now. He will remain on the Medi-gold thru next Tuesday. That makes 2 weeks of it, and I think it will be safe to take him off it.

I want to move Spencer back into the tank too, as his dropsy is gone. My concern is that he is showing all the signs of SBD. I am afraid it may be permanent. I am a little worried about it, but am prepared to do whatever it takes to make him comfortable.

Anyway, before I ramble too much, if you could be so kind as to let me know what you think, I would be grateful. Thanks again!

Well, your KH is double mine. Yours is low enough that you could potentially have issues if you don't keep an eye on the PH, but if you're watching it hopefully you can avoid issues with waterchanges.

Best of luck, and I ohpe that SBD doesn't end up being permanent!

Hi Jenny.Glad to hear that thjings are looking up for Ripley.As for Spencer,can you give us an update on behavior/water params,etc? As for SB syptoms,I think alot of times when fish are on Medi-gold,because of the amount of food needed to treat correctly,that they do tend to get a bit constipated because of it. Have you tried feeding him a bit of soft cooked pea with the shell peeled off?

Zelanie...I will definitely be keeping a close eye on things from here on out. Thank you for all of your help! And good luck with your fishies as well.

Sharon...Spencer is back to normal, except for the symptoms of SBD. Water params:
ammonia 0
Ph 7.0
nitrites 0
nitrates 10

He becomes more active when I approach the Qtank, sometimes spinning in quick little circles. Last night when I turned the light out, I stood there and watched him for a few minutes. He started swimming around, sometimes on one side, then he would get sucked into the current of bubbles from the airstone and be thrown to the top of the water. Then he would swim around a bit, as before. Every so often he gets flipped upside down while swimming and it takes him a minute to right himself again. Sounds like SBD; am I right?

Before he went in the Qtank, both goldys were fed peas 2x a week. Since being on the Medigold, I have stopped that so he eats a fair share of the food. I guess that didn't help matters. Maybe I should feed a pea in the AM, then the Medi gold at night. What do you think? That would probly help. I'll start tomorrow morning.

After routine water changes are done on Saturday morning, I would like to move Spencer back to the main tank. Do you think that would be alright? He has been in the Qtank for almost two weeks now. I know he misses his buddy.

Any input would be great. Thanks!

How many days has he been on the medigold now?

It is recommended to not feed anything execpt the medicated food for at least 10-14 days. After that you can stop the med foods. Basically using med food just like antibotics in us, you don't want to build up a resistance to the meds.
I am glad to hear he is doing better.

Well,your params are reading great there anyway.Be sure to keep Nitrates under 20ppms,as that sometimes aggravates the "Floaty Problems" A while back,I had a similar experience with a fish on Medi-Gold,so I talked to Rick at the Goldfish Connection,and he did say that if it got to the point where the fish was getting constipated and floaty,then I could throw an occasional pea in there without affecting their meds.I gave med food twice a day,and in the middle of the day fed a pea or two,until she stopped floating,and that seemed to do the trick. I think I did that for 2 days,and she was back to normal. Definately don't stop the two feedings of Medi-Gold until Thursday(That will be 14 days right?) You have been feeding med. food now for twice a day ,right? Just making sure that you understood,as I wasn't sure with how you worded it above.

Hi Laurie! Spencer has been on Medigold for 14 days, as of today. Just finished the second round of M1 & 2 for dropsy, which is completely gone. (Ripley was the one this thread was started for; he has been on Medigold for 10 days as of today, for the ulcer.) I was wondering if it would be safe to move Spencer back into the main tank with Ripley tomorrow? Both fish seem to be back to normal now. I know this is confusing! I just want to make sure it's okay to stop feeding Medigold to both fish as of tomorrow, and get our routine 'back to normal.' Did I just repeat myself?!? hehe

Sharon- I fed a pea to him as soon as I got home from work today. But I have only been feeding the Medigold once a day. I guess I just figured since I always feed my fish only once a day, I should do the same with that food too. Was that a bad choice? Now I feel like I goofed up bad. But today makes 14 straight days on the Medigold, for Spencer. Would it still be safe to stop feeding it to him?

Also, I read a thread here that suggested using formaldehyde to sterilize tanks and equipment after a fish has been in a Qtank. Where do I find that? I will need to give that tank a good cleaning, and I am not too comfortable with using a bleach solution! I am not sure what to do.

Sorry if this is confusing, ladies. I am trying not to be! More guidance, please?