Hello everyone,

My little comet fish is called Teabag, about three days ago i noticed two lumps on my his head :( I'm worried cause the lumps have just appeared and are noticeable. I have had teabag for about five months now and i won him at a fair. He lives in a nice spacious tank with a filter hes fed every other day and seems to be acting normal but im still concerned.

If anyone knows anything good or bad please tell me and tell me how i can help the little guy.

i have added a piture of him with his lumps.

thankyou xx

mmm that is quite pronounced isn't it. Could you help us out with tank dimensions, what filter you have, other inhabitants there are and do you have water test results for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate??

Cheers
JON

Hi Jon,

Sorry i didn't reply asap, computer was not working.
Teabag lives in a 24 liter tank, there are no other fishes its just him, he also has two plants for oxygen and a decoration to swim in and out of. The tank is from pets at home shop. my mum ask there advice they reckon tank is two small and he is growing but his skin isn't the only thing is i cant afford bigger tank and the one we bought was the recommended one :( where can i purchase water tests that might be of some use?

Thanks :)

Hi Jon,

Sorry i didn't reply asap, computer was not working.
Teabag lives in a 24 liter tank, there are no other fishes its just him, he also has two plants for oxygen and a decoration to swim in and out of. The tank is from pets at home shop. my mum ask there advice they reckon tank is two small and he is growing but his skin isn't the only thing is i cant afford bigger tank and the one we bought was the recommended one :( where can i purchase water tests that might be of some use?

Thanks :)

Hi again everyone,

Please if anyone knowes anything about a fish growing lumps on there head please let me know i really wanna help my fish if possiable :(

xx

The lumps are more than likely a bacterial infection. Unfortunately the tank he is in is too small for him and poor water quality is the most likely cause of his symptoms. He does need a much bigger home to recover properly and do well as you can see from this article, but if you can't afford a bigger tank right away you can temporarily house him in a big food-safe storage crate like the Really Useful Boxes sold by Staples. You can get an 80 litre one for about £12-£15 or so, add a small internal filter like this and put the sponge from his existing filter in it.

The greater volume of water will help as it will dilute the toxins until the filter catches up. You'll need to monitor the levels of ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH in his water and any time ammonia or nitrite are reading above 0 do a partial water change to reduce them. This test kit is what we recommend, but any liquid based kit is fine - don't get test strips though as they aren't very accurate. This article explains about how to deal with ammonia and nitrite in the tank.

More water volume, clean water and a better filter may be all he needs, but if you try that and he's no better we can recommend some medicine to help.