FishProfiles.com Message Forums

i have a female sword tail for around 6 months, with no helath problems in the tank. but i just looked at her (the first time in awhile) and...

her head is like "crowning" liek a goldfish will do, but on the side of her head she has a yellowish around/pill shaped under her skin, by the head. also by the tail where it is visually clear, it is yellow too like the head,

are these cancer?

It may be a tumor, it may be a parasite. In either case, it is not a good thing.

__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

under the skin paracite? yea but the not good thing is not good.

is there anything to do? salt/meds?

Yes its entirely possible, hybrid species of platys and swordtails are extremely susceptible to melanomas and invasive aggressive cancers and tumours.The reason for these melanomas is due to the enhancement of the macromelanophore gene caused by deficiency of modifier genes which leads to melanosis and finally to aggressive and invasive tumours.Thusly the specimens bred or hybridised specifically for increases in speckled colouration or darker colouration by increasing dermal levals of melanin pigment are far more susceptible to cancer. In some hybrids it is impossible to create multigenerational breeding programmes because the fish often die of cancer before breeding age, and a large amount of specimens will be hormonally crippled by the cancer and unable to breed. Diagnosis is easy with visible tumours but sometimes other symptoms include dramatic weight loss or gain, and often people will confuse the radical weight gain caused by cancer to be a result of selective breeding for shape. I look after my girlfriends sunset platies and they are terribly affected by it, and of course I will eventually have to euthanise them when their suffering becomes intolerable. Not a nice situation to be in , and its one of the many reasons I dont encourage selective breeding or hybridisation.


You should check into the parasite issue though, as frankly its the only thing you can do about it, the cancers are of course incurable, but any injury or parasitation may cause the increased cellular regeneration of the fish during healing to give rise in errors in cell replication and increase the likelyhood of cancer in a fish species already highly susceptible.

Bloody selective breeding again innit?

Last edited by longhairedgit at 08-Oct-2005 08:58

I had to euthanize a female betta, because she had a tumor. The thing grew to about the size of a marble and looked like it was filled with clear liquid. Her entire body swelled up. She did not seem to be that troubled by it, was eating good, but I felt it would be cruel to continue.
Now I have a second female betta with the same thing, but it has not gotter as large - yet! This time, I want to take the fish to the vet and see if they can put it (a slide of the tumor)under the mircoscope. I think it may have been caused by our water, but only a biopsy can tell me for sure.
I am sorry to hear about your fish. There really isn't much you can do if it is a tumor.

The thing grew to about the size of a marble and looked like it was filled with clear liquid.

It does not sound like a tumor to me, but rather a pus-filled abscess caused by a bacterial infection. Tumors are hard, solid masses of cells (which is how you can distinguish them from other growths).

---

I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

It could be either. Cancers often grow in areas that have high regenerative rates like the liver. This obviously would affect the urinary system and that can lead to unnatural amounts of salts , sugars and other toxins, and this in turn can lead to fluid retention and swelling. Cancer can also lead to suppression of the immune system, therefore leaving the way open for bacterial and viral infections. The causative agent cannot be established without a pathology report, and thats why its particularly important for people housing large communities to get them done. Im certainly not saying that it wasnt bacteria that caused the swelling, it could even have been worms, but I guess its too late to know.

The nature of tumours and cancers can be hugely variable, from dermal lesions to the entire replication of organs.Some cancers are so extreme as to be able to produce partial clones of the host, therefore meaning that a given organism may have a partial replicant within its body, really science fiction stuff.Some cancers only partially replicate organ function and the seepage of all manner of bodily fluids is possible.Cancer can, when genetically incompatible with its own host,(dont forget that some cancers alter the genetic structure of cells and can give rise to shapes , partial organs and chemicals totally incompatible with the host) produce a massive white cell reaction,this can in turn produce pockets of pus and massive inflammation, as the host attemps to reject the "alien" tissue..

Last edited by longhairedgit at 12-Oct-2005 08:21