Lump on Spotted Congo Puffer (Tetraodon Schoutedeni) Jaw

[Landon]

• pH - 7.2
• Nitrates - 40ppm 
• Hardness - 150ppm
• Nitrite - 0
• Ammonia - 0
• KH/Buffer- 80ppm
• Water Temperature - 75º 

I'm noticing a lump on my puffer's jaw that wasn't there before. It looks like swelling just on her right side, but her behavior and eating is otherwise normal. Is this anything to be concerned about? 

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[Fish Folk]

Tagging @mountaintoppufferkeeper for experience with various Puffers.

I've experienced a number of growths on various species of fish over the years. Some seem to act like one-off tumors. They grow, but that's about it. Others seem to be more aggressive, growing deeper, broadly, etc.

Here is a link to a brief summary of tumorous growth on fish from a veterinary site.

[mountaintoppufferkeeper]

Thanks @Fish Folk

@Landon I just feed as normal an monitor behavior. If the puffer behavior changes then I start considering what is best for the fish. Puffers are very tough in my personal experience and seem to recover from many things. 

The closest I have had to that photo was in one of my hairy puffer colonys. The swelling was on the bottom right jaw and just appeared one day in 2021 around 3 years after arrival. The growth went away on its own at some point and the colony of 3 is still going strong today.

That group has been together since 2018 and this has been the only growth to date in any puffer I have kept so far.

There was no change in behavior with that growth and it was more like an abscess. It looked crazy enough that I photographed it.

The only thing i adjusted after this was more varied of a diet and more vitachem on snails/ other food items whenever possible. All the puffers including the colony of spotted congos get vitamins one way or another to hopefully keep their diet more balanced and get them all the vitamins and minerals they might need. 

[Landon]

Thank you @mountaintoppufferkeeper and @Fish Folk! It's amazing to have you both as a resource. That growth on this hairy puffer looks very similar!

This may be coinciding with a lack of diversity in her diet. I have been slacking on my snail breeding since I've had scuds outcompeting them for food in my snail tank. She lives with a large colony of cherry shrimp, but I think she is too slow to catch one very often. So it's mostly just been bloodworms. 

Just placed an order for some more snails to try and rebuild their population (and attempting to get rid of the scuds). I'm also going to try out the vita chem. I'll post here if anything changes! 

[Landon]

Just posting an update - the lump is getting larger, but her eating and behaviors are still the same. I’ve been giving her a couple snails and Vita Chem everyday. 

 

Edited June 28, 2023 by Landon