# beat up tern, has two growths along w/ chin scrapes



## primetime3wise (Sep 28, 2003)

i'm curious as to if anyone has ever seen anything like this on their p's? this tern is the runt and beat up compared to all my other terns and two piraya in my tank.

he has alot of scrapes and loose, hanging flesh around his snout, above and below. even more noticeably, as you can tell from the pics, he has two growths, on his dorsal side. one is quite sizable, the other much smaller. the scrapes and little peices of flesh are def. from freaking out when i approached. probably the same reason for the growths.

you guys think it would be ok to remove the growths? again, my only logical explanation for them is from hurting himself when i would get too close to the tank.


----------



## XSPhoto (Sep 26, 2007)

Damn, Good luck with that. Never heard or seen anything like that before.


----------



## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

id move him to a hospital tank or at least an airrated bucket and seperate him from the shoal

do you have any things like an egg crate divider, lava rock, branchy driftwood or anything else that he could be scraping on? or just make the tank with nothing he can scratch on

also are there anthings on his side (pretty center) or is that just a camera effect)

sorry but no clue what the growths could be oher then mayby a parisite


----------



## primetime3wise (Sep 28, 2003)

up close looks like just a growth of dead skin, not a parasite, maybe, outside chance its a fungus, but don't look like one either.

trying to up the temp and added salt to see what happens, considering removing it.


----------



## XSPhoto (Sep 26, 2007)

Not saying that this is at all a good idea, but it's just what I'd prob end up doing:

I'd move it to an Htank w/ nothing in it except water from the orig tank, cut off the growths, salt the tank over a period of a couple days, and hope to hell that he recovers well.


----------



## primetime3wise (Sep 28, 2003)

XSPhoto said:


> Not saying that this is at all a good idea, but it's just what I'd prob end up doing:
> 
> I'd move it to an Htank w/ nothing in it except water from the orig tank, cut off the growths, salt the tank over a period of a couple days, and hope to hell that he recovers well.


i just did exactly that. it was so gross and i felt bad for him while doing it...it started to bleed a little, not too much though, and he made out like a grunt or something similiar. i got most of the small one, and about 75%-80% of the large one. i couldn't get all the large one as it was too embedded in his skin and i was afraid he would have bleed alot more.

he's in a hospital tank, seems ok, i up'd the temp to 82 and tossed in some salt, we'll see how he does, seems ok right now. might add something to help it heal.

i'm no doctor or surgeon, but i am pretty sure it was just a growth, looked like mostly dead skin up close, thanks to that i think it helped it from not bleeding too much...poor circulation in dead skin.


----------



## piranawick (Dec 1, 2004)

Thats weird man I've never seen anything like that before


----------



## primetime3wise (Sep 28, 2003)

seems ok, he's whipping around the hospital tank like nothing happened. i think he should be fine as long as it doesn't get infected, somehow.

i just tossed in some melafix as well for the open wound. will dose for a week. he looks better, that thing was unsightly.

that growth was fairly soft and east to snip off, if it was a tumor it would have been much harder, right? anyone?


----------



## primetime3wise (Sep 28, 2003)

oh crap, i think he has a bacterial infection now, that i guess is what i could have expected from a "hack" surgery. it could also be a fungus now, even the original growth has me thinking that was a fungus of some sort, possibly, but if it bled like i said...prolly just a growth? regardless, i up'd the temp to 82 or so, using salt, along with both melafix and pimafix.

almost looks like boils on his skin surface now, so i'm hoping the pimafix will cure the internal infection, if that is what is also going on.

i also, tossed him back with the 4 other terns and they seem to be schoaling fine, as far as piranhas go, tolerating each other.


----------



## kilicar (Nov 3, 2006)

My P had that growth it was very small and the LFS said he would take it off for me with a knife so I guess you did the right thing. I ended up exchanging him because I just had it for a few days.


----------



## pirayaman (Nov 3, 2007)

primetime3wise said:


> Not saying that this is at all a good idea, but it's just what I'd prob end up doing:
> 
> I'd move it to an Htank w/ nothing in it except water from the orig tank, cut off the growths, salt the tank over a period of a couple days, and hope to hell that he recovers well.


i just did exactly that. it was so gross and i felt bad for him while doing it...it started to bleed a little, not too much though, and he made out like a grunt or something similiar. i got most of the small one, and about 75%-80% of the large one. i couldn't get all the large one as it was too embedded in his skin and i was afraid he would have bleed alot more.

he's in a hospital tank, seems ok, i up'd the temp to 82 and tossed in some salt, we'll see how he does, seems ok right now. might add something to help it heal.

i'm no doctor or surgeon, but i am pretty sure it was just a growth, looked like mostly dead skin up close, thanks to that i think it helped it from not bleeding too much...poor circulation in dead skin.
[/quote]

ok this is just sooooooooooooo crazy


----------



## rbp 4 135 (Mar 2, 2004)

You put it back with the rest of the shoal? I would remove it before it's lastest infection spreads to the rest of them and you end up with a whole tank of ailed fish. As for the growth thing i have no idea


----------

