High Tide Aquatics

Cardinal growth on left Gill

I have a very healthy tank overall, been running with practically no intervention other than water changes / Kalk+2 supplements for close to a year now. Corals all look good, Shrimp looking great and fish too. Except for my one Cardinal that has developed some kind of "growth" on it's left gill. It seems to be a soft growth and is just slightly inside the gill.

I've added / changed nothing in the past few months so not sure it's anything I introduced. Anyone got any ideas? I have a QT ready to go, but what would I even dose for / with?

Thanks.
 

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Is it scratching or acting unusual at all?
Can't tell from picture at all.

Gill Flukes comes to mind? Fish lice?
But really no idea.
 
My cardinal had a growth on it at one point too. It wasn't near the gill though. If it's the same thing mine had then it being by the gill could be just coincidence. It grew pretty big and then after a week or two it went away. I didn't do anything; just let it heal itself. I'll see if I can dig up a picture.
 
As long as it eats it will live
I have a copperband butterfly with same louse parasite.
It’s been more than 6 months
But sadly
I think it will be dead within the next 6 months
 
Not sure this picture is better or worse than the first! He is actually eating just fine, no erratic behavior / scratching. The growth does appear to be soft, moves with "breathing" etc.

I looked up the Louse Parasite and it's like to some Alien movie thing!
 

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Yes, sadly, not joking about fish lice.
And the fun one that replaces the fish's tongue. Freaky.

With the latest picture...
Does not really look like a parasite.
It does not look "cottony" like I would expect with the more common fungal infections.
Wild guess, but it seems a bit more like a slight injury that has a excess mucus.

** I really suggest putting it in QT **
Even if you do not know what it is yet, it keeps it from spreading.
It allows you to take better pictures and keep track of it better.
You can treat with antibiotics and antifungals just in case if you want.
But I would not treat with poisons like Formalin/Copper/etc until you have a better idea what it is.

If you do that, while fish is in net, see if it can manually removed.
My hawkfish came with some small parasite, and I managed to remove it with sharp tweezers.
After a long QT, it was fine, and still around many years later.
 
Had a Melanarus with something similar. I pulled the fish out and scrapped the growth off. Was some kind of parasite. Fish was fine afterwards.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Sounds like a plan. Will try to catch her .... any ideas on how that might go? She feeds really well and is always first in the open water, so I'll try snag her then I guess. I've had success with Iodine in the past also, but will see if this comes off with tweezers.
 
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