Hi everyone

we've had our Oscar for about a year now. When we first had him he suffered an Ich infection which we treated using the advice here on OFL (sadly, we lost several Clown loaches and a catfish in the process).

The Oscar recovered fine, but a few months later we noticed a small growth on the edge of one of his gills: less than a mm in size, translucent but with a whitish centre. It didn't seem to cause him any discomfort, but we have been keeping an eye on it since...

It's been fine for 6 months, but has seemed to grow in the last few weeks: it is now about 2mm, slightly fleshy and irregularly shaped. It's still not affecting his appetite or behaviour, and all levels in the tank are as normal - but we wanted advice as to what it might be...

We've taken a few photos - sorry they're large and a little blurred, but perhaps someone can suggest what it might be? We've read that Ich can lie dormant in a cyst - and wondered if we're about to have another outbreak...?

I have had a good look through my health book and the only thing that looks similar to your fish's condition is caused by the "lymphocystis virus" unfortunately this is transmissible to other fish. Treatment involves cutting this growth out which is obviously something an expert would have to do. If this condition is left for too long, there isn't any alternative apart from humanely destroying the fish. But please get a second opinion from somebody who is trained to recognise these type of diseases.

The only thing I can suggest is to try and find a veterinarian who specialises in fish. It could be nothing more than a harmless growth, however what I have said is the closest I could find to what was in your photographs.

I've something like that on an unfortunate convict cichlid, except it was much larger. The owner ended up just cutting it off and the convict was fine. If you don't want to do the work yourself, I would advise locating a vet as OFL has suggested.

-Art

sorry snakesentwined, i have no knowledge about it,
during my boyhood, when fishes in the pond had that
wart (kulogo in local word here) fishes were no longer
sold in the market anymore.

we do sanitized the pond by draining, applied tones of
tobacco leaves to poison the bacteria causing it before
using the ponds for another fish cropping.

the noob i am i really cant see any difference... although a interesting topic...

just focus on the left side gill, near the base of
pectorial fin, you will find a white spot (wart) that
if not properly attended to will harm the fish.

ohhhh ok ok got it