Swollen Gill Area In Fire Eel?

[simonas]

My fire eel which is about 20 inches has a noticeable lump on the size of his head, it encompasses all the gill and near surrounding area. from the side the swollen area is lighter looking

I added a load of sand yesterday could that have irritated something, I am worried as it is a large lump and he does appear a little subdued although still as greedy as always

 

[simonas]

anyone?

 

[WILDER]

Has the lump just suddenly appeared.
What colour is the lump.
Any redness to the lump.
is the lump hard or soft looking like filled with fluid.
Is the lump beneath the skin.
Does the lump look like a cauliflower.


Any sign of flicking and rubbing, darting, erratic swimming, excess mucas.
Do the gills look pale with excess slime or red and inflamed.

 

[indigoj]

can you get a pic?

 

[simonas]

Has the lump just suddenly appeared.
What colour is the lump.
Any redness to the lump.
is the lump hard or soft looking like filled with fluid.
Is the lump beneath the skin.
Does the lump look like a cauliflower.


Any sign of flicking and rubbing, darting, erratic swimming, excess mucas.
Do the gills look pale with excess slime or red and inflamed.

I;m glad you;ve popped up Wilder

I think the lump ha suddenly appeared but I cannot be totally sure of that, its just been really noticeable since sunday and I know that I moved a lot of sand into the tank on Sunday
The lump is sking colour if you catch my drift however the area where the lump is appears lighter?
I can't see redness to the lump but its altered the red line on that area
The lump is under the skin and hard question to answerbut the texture, maybe fluid like?
It doesn;t look like a cauliflower, its very smooth?

There is no sign of flicking,rubbing,darting,erratic swimming and excessive mucus, the only change in behaviour is its less lively, it normally comes straight out of tube when top opened for food, now it stays in tube but takes food whenput near its mouth
I;ve just remembered saturday it was ver y lively when i was feeing the ray and it was nicking all the food from the ray and eating like a pig, that was the day before the sand?
I can;t see inside the gills so can;t comment on them and it doesn;t appear to breathing any more than usual?

cheers Wilder hope you have some advice cos you did a great job of advising me on my royal plec about a year ago

 

[WILDER]

All you can do is issolate and try a bacterial med.
Lumps can be bacterial, caused by parasites, viral, tumours.

Let me know how you get on.
Get you some info to lumps and bumps.

http/badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/article25.html

 

[simonas]

well I;m gutted cos he has died this morning. just taken him out, taken some pics and you can see the area over gill etc where something is different under the skin
'm devastated cos he is my favourite fish he was active friendly, took food from my hand and in 7 days took a sharp decline

 

[WILDER]

Bless him. R.I.P.

Once bacterial infectins advance there hard to cure with over the counter meds.. You really need antibiotics in isolation.

Can we take a look at the pics.

 

[simonas]

Bless him. R.I.P.

Once bacterial infectins advance there hard to cure with over the counter meds.. You really need antibiotics in isolation.

Can we take a look at the pics.

cheers Wilder

what causes a bacterial infection? I only ask as my water quality has been better last few weeks since I have had the ray as I;ve been well ontop of changes and keeping filter maintained?

just putting pics on photobucket now

 

[indigoj]

Oh no, gutted for you.

 

[simonas]

here we go pics taken when i took him out the tank

the lump seemed to have gone down a fair bit, and it was the lump that was the first indicator that he had a problem
Ilooked in the gills and the one without lump seemd fine, the poorly gill was allswollen and looked blocked?

 

[indigoj]

Could have been an abcess? Maybe it burst and septacaemia set in or just the swelling stopped him eating?

 

[simonas]

Could have been an abcess? Maybe it burst and septacaemia set in or just the swelling stopped him eating?

he eat till the day before he died and he ws always a huge eater anyway, the abcess sounds like a possiblity, its always the best fish that gets these problems it seems to me

 

[indigoj]

Yes, always the favourites - tamest, most active ah the joys of fish keeping

Guess you can never know for sure but reckon without readily available antibiotics there is little we can do whe things like this happen. You know it wasn't water. Just rotten luck.

 

[WILDER]

Never seen an eel like him before.

Bless him. R.I.P.

Most infections and other health problems are opportunistic; meaning they will most often show themselves only on already weakened fish.

Bacteria can also gain entry throw cuts and wounds, dirty tanks.
Bacteria lives in the background of your tank.
Weak immune system throw stress will cause desease.