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Swordtail cancer?


Minanora
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Well, I had been noticing Mims tail starting to get more black in it. It used to be transparent. It's now got black streaks and on one side there's a large black mass. I'm thinking she has cancer.

Is there anything I can do for her?

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I have a video available upon request.

Also, is she suffering?

She eats fine, but swimming is getting harder.

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@Hobbit what do you do with your fish that have melanomas?

For data, Mim started developing this issue a few weeks ago. She's almost 1 year old. Black swordtail. Trying to decide if I'm going to keep breeding them to lessen the gene occurrence or just hard-stop breeding this line. I can't stand the thought of someone buying my fish only to be heartbroken when they develop a tumor.

 @H.K.Luterman also, seems like the fish don't have to have black fins. Mim did not have black on her fins.

 

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It could be a benign growth or cancerous growth's   Maracyn2 the active ingredient is minocycline has proven effective at sinking some types of growth's  I would do a course of maracyn2 in food118901079_Screenshot_20220510-0140392.png.91dc77683c644e6d893a4710e306bbfb.png

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  • 2 weeks later...

So far no change in the growth. Her behavior is the same as always. I am leaning towards no longer breeding this line. Which makes me sad because they are beautiful fish. But healthy fish are more important. I can't raise these fish up for over a year to ensure they don't have tumors before selling them. So it's for the best.

Maybe I'll keep two or three females from what I have right now and see how they age. If they survive without tumors then maybe I'll start the line up again.

I'm just heartbroken. I hope she's not suffering.

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Sorry to hear she not improving if her behaviour normal and she eating ok I would add a small amount of aquarium salt 1 table spoon for 5 gallons at that level it shouldn't harm your plants and monitor her for now if she start to deteriorate and her quality of life is affected then I would consider humanely euthanize her with clove oil that a decision only you can make and you will no when the time is right

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Oh no! I’m so sorry to hear you might have to stop breeding this line.

For my first set of fish that developed melanomas, I did euthanize them with clove oil. I just didn’t feel right bringing them to the fish store to sell. However, the next time I went to sell fish, I asked the owner about it and he said he’d be happy to take them and give them away for free to people who have turtle tanks. I preferred that to euthanizing them, so any others that developed a tumor have gone to the fish store with everyone else.

I did decide to stop breeding the line that was growing tumors, though.

Is it just this one fish growing a tumor, or have any others shown suspicious black streaking on their tails? There’s always the possibility it’s just the one fish, in which case you could try to get a different female to replace her.

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On 5/25/2022 at 9:03 PM, Hobbit said:

Oh no! I’m so sorry to hear you might have to stop breeding this line.

For my first set of fish that developed melanomas, I did euthanize them with clove oil. I just didn’t feel right bringing them to the fish store to sell. However, the next time I went to sell fish, I asked the owner about it and he said he’d be happy to take them and give them away for free to people who have turtle tanks. I preferred that to euthanizing them, so any others that developed a tumor have gone to the fish store with everyone else.

I did decide to stop breeding the line that was growing tumors, though.

Is it just this one fish growing a tumor, or have any others shown suspicious black streaking on their tails? There’s always the possibility it’s just the one fish, in which case you could try to get a different female to replace her.

It's just the one. Madame Mim. None of her fry have had this happen. I have one brood that's almost three months old now. The only unusual thing that's happened with them is that one of them went totally cream colored with transparent fins. Until last Thursday, she's starting to get black mottling on her body. but I just started feeding them the easy fry food on a regular rotation as of two weeks ago, so that may be a factor. The spots are fine and only in one area of her body, they don't look raised. I'm going to hold onto these guys for another month to see any changes.

Mim just had more babies while we were on vacation as well.

 

Good idea about the turtle food. Sad but still. I couldn't euthanize all of those babies, it'd break my heart.

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I sat and watched the babies early yesterday morning with my cup of tea. I watched them for a long time. Sadly there is one of the oldest fry that already has two small growths on her side. She's more matte black than the rest of the brood.

I'm so sad. Mim is going to keep having babies for the next 4-6 months, even if I move her from the 75.

If she was your fish. Would you want to euthanize her earlier to stop making more of them? This is my first time weighing these things, so I'm going through everything in my head. Trying to sort out what's best.

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If you have room to keep any babies that develop tumors (ideally with males/females separate), feel free to just let her have her fry. If you don’t have room, I agree with @Colu that it would be easiest on you, and probably the fish, if you put her in a tank with some predators. ❤️

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