Black mass on diamond goby gill

TheDragonsReef · Feb 21, 2021

Hey everyone, I've posted on a few groups on Facebook and haven't gotten an answer. My sand sifting goby started growing a black mass out of his gill area. I've never seen anything like this. He's still eating and sifting sand fine but the growth has suddenly rapidly increased in size over the last week. It's almost transparent up close and appears to be soft and squishy and not a solid mass. It first appeared about a month ago and I've had him for about 2-3 months. He doesn't appear to have anything lodged in his mouth or gills. Please help, I have no idea how to treat this.

Alexreefer · Feb 21, 2021

Woahh

Never seen that before. #reefsquad? Bring the cavalry because this is very interesting

ScottR · Feb 21, 2021

@Jay Hemdal any idea?

Alexreefer · Feb 21, 2021

Could be a sort of tumor? I've read about some sort of iodine treatment. But let's get some more brains in here first

TheDragonsReef · Feb 21, 2021

Alexreefer said:
Could be a sort of tumor? I've read about some sort of iodine treatment. But let's get some more brains in here first

I was thinking this as far as it being a tumor or fish cancer or something ‍but I wouldnt even know how to treat that

Jay Hemdal · Feb 22, 2021

Thyroid tumors (goiter) develop in some fish, but usually in older fish, and they grow slower. It could be an aneurysm I suppose, but either way, there isn't any treatment, sorry.

Jay

N.Sreefer · Feb 22, 2021

Looks like a xenoma imo

Jay Hemdal · Feb 22, 2021

N.Sreefer said:
Looks like a xenoma imo

Could be, but I've never seen a fish with just one really large one like that. It also seems too soft based on the OPs description.

Jay

N.Sreefer · Feb 22, 2021

Jay Hemdal said:
Could be, but I've never seen a fish with just one really large one like that. It also seems too soft based on the OPs description.

Jay

Im certainly no expert on fish biology so i could be wrong i just remember doing a lab in school where the specimen had a xenoma that caused hypertrophy to the gill tissue, it looked very similar. But thats just a guess.

TheDragonsReef · Feb 22, 2021

N.Sreefer said:
Looks like a xenoma imo

If it is, is there a treatment and is it contagious at all?

TheDragonsReef · Feb 22, 2021

Jay Hemdal said:
Thyroid tumors (goiter) develop in some fish, but usually in older fish, and they grow slower. It could be an aneurysm I suppose, but either way, there isn't any treatment, sorry.

Jay

That's a shame, I wasn't very hopeful I'd be able to save him but I figured it's still worth asking. Thanks for your input

Juju2773 · Mar 10, 2024

TheDragonsReef said:
Hey everyone, I've posted on a few groups on Facebook and haven't gotten an answer. My sand sifting goby started growing a black mass out of his gill area. I've never seen anything like this. He's still eating and sifting sand fine but the growth has suddenly rapidly increased in size over the last week. It's almost transparent up close and appears to be soft and squishy and not a solid mass. It first appeared about a month ago and I've had him for about 2-3 months. He doesn't appear to have anything lodged in his mouth or gills. Please help, I have no idea how to treat this.

Hi, I know it’s been a long time since your post, but did you find out what it was? Did he die soon after or did it go away? I noticed my diamond goby has one side of his gills a bit larger than the other so I looked closely and saw his gills inside are black in that side. He eats normally and sifts sand like normal otherwise. It would be impossible to catch him so I’m hoping maybe it’s something that goes away on its own. I did notice he also has a little string of debris that looks like some algae sticking out of the top edge of his gill. I’m thinking maybe it wrapped around the gill somehow and stopped blood flow or something. It won’t come off and has been there for awhile. It’s just a guess but it’s strange. His gill looks like your picture… just not that big yet