Black Skirt Tetra Mouth Growth

GLAB

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New to Forum but have kept freshwater tanks on and off since I was 10 and am now 63 years old. I have a 30 gallon tank that I restarted 4 months ago. My first fish were four Black Skirt Tetra's due to their hardiness. The tank initial cycling went very well and I have since added Galaxy Danio's, Otocinclus, Lamchop Rasbora's, Corydoras. All fish are healthy and active showing no signs of stress or issues.

One of the Black Tetras recently developed a growth in its mouth. The other 3 Black Tetras are healthy and active. The growth is slowly getting worse and he is now beginning to hide in the rear of the tank until feeding time. He eats well despite the obvious sore in its mouth. I feed twice a day and suspect he will slowly get worse until he can not eat. Not sure how to handle the choice of how to treat, or ultimately decide if the pain is worse than the cure when the time comes. I welcome any ideas on how to help this fish.

Getting a photo of a moving fish is tough, attached is about the best I have gotten so far. When I can see a bit into his mouth it looks white. It does not appear to be a parasite ??
Black_Tetra_Mouth_Growth.jpg
 
It's either a bacterial infection or a tumour.
If it grew over a few days it's probably bacterial.
If it grew over a month it's a tumour, there's no cure for a tumour.
 
It's either a bacterial infection or a tumour.
If it grew over a few days it's probably bacterial.
If it grew over a month it's a tumour, there's no cure for a tumour.
Thank you very much for a straightforward analysis. I suspect a tumour given the slower development cycle. He acts extremely healthy despite the growth, and eats well. Not looking forward to putting him down if that becomes necessary.
 
I wanted to close out on my Black Skirt Tetra's mouth growth. He has healed although he has a definite Jawbone disfigurement where the sore was. I am now suspecting that he broke his jaw and during the healing process developed the sore. He continued to eat and did not get much worse. Eventually he began looking better and better with no treatments. Now he looks healed although it is apparent at the jawline his mouth is not aligned properly. Broken Jaw ? The 4 Black Skirts I have are quite aggressive toward each other and maybe he clocked himself on a rock or something ?
healed broken jaw.jpg

Here is the best picture of him today after healing.
 
Thanks ! I was extremely relieved when he started getting better. So HAPPY NOW :kana:
 
It's unlikely to be a broken jaw. It was probably a minor infection that took a long time to heal. Now the fish has something to talk about at parties.
Dude, what happened to your jaw? A shark attacked me :)

Anyway, good to hear it's ok. :)
 

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