Sick Chiclid - Never Seen This Sore Before! Help Needed

[Elvis4ever]

Hello All

I have a full grown male frontosa chiclid (I call him Elvis). Off and On for the past year he has developed a white sore on his right cheek. At first I thought it was the ick but it is the only spot and it grows larger (and can get quite big and sore looking) than any ick I have seen. Then after a couple of weeks it usually disappears only to reappear later. Ick treatment has no effect.

He does not seem to be in any distress but it is an ugly sore that I want to make sure does not make him more sick...  Does anyone have any thoughts?

cheers,

Michael

[KLKelly]

How are your water parameters - ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, kh, gh, ph on a weekly basis?  How much water changes do you do a week?  Does his getting better coincide with happier water or a different diet?

Is the spot fuzzy or just look like a white pitting?  I suspect you should be reading up on hole in the head disease but I don't know cichlid specific diseases.  If it is HITH make sure you get him on a good diet, keep the water very happy and start feeding a metro based food such as metro-meds from fish sempai.

If you do a search on it MarkW I believe posted a link to an in depth article on HITH.

[Elvis4ever]

I took a look at HITH on the web. It may be a case but the location of the mark is not exactly where the article stated it should be. As well, he had this once before for a few days/week and then it went away. This time it has been there for a couple of weeks. HITH does not seem to come and go.

It is not fuzzy (aka cotton wool) and I am not sure what pitting is. It does appear to grow from inside to out but I could be wrong on this. His appetite is normal and his behaviour is normal as well. Diet and water conditions have not made any changes.

I am attaching a couple of pictures of Elvis. I hope they help.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[bitterman]

You say full grown, How big is it? Frontosa can get to 18"+

What size tank is it in? What tankmates?

Frontosa are a powerful fish and can be easily spooked especially when dark. Are you sure it is not flashing and hitting the end of the tank, a rock etc? Could be knowing off a few scales and that might be the white spot you are seeing. I have moonlight on my frontosa tanks to decrease this from happening.

Bruce

[Elvis4ever]

Thanks for the replies...

Frontosa is in a 125G wide tank with a pleco and 4 smaller africans. Elvis is about 12-14 inches and is about 9 years old.

Unfortunately it is a growth as it protrudes out from the head. As of this weekend, it seems to be getting smaller (about 1/2 the size it was). I still have not treated him with anything particular, so why does it come and go? I am at a loss on this one!

[bitterman]

9 years, its young have another 15 years or so

Are you using epson salt and sea salt(has trace elements that might be missing fro your fish) in your water? Also you might want to post on boards like:

www.cyphos.com
www.frontosa.com

What are you feeding it? Maybe its missing something from its diet?

Bruce