Loaches Online Forum

Betsy, one of my big fat yoyos, has developed a lump. sorry for the bad photo, but you should be able to see the lump just behind the pectoral fin.



does anybody know what may have happened?

this link shows how fat betsy and bertha were when they arrived at Emma's shop.

http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php ... ght=bertha

they have certainly lost a lot of weight since then, so one thing i am wondering is whether there was a lump for a long time, just hidden by fat, or whether it has formed more recently

thanks for any suggestions

Is it slightly red at the bottom? Is she behaving any differently?

How long have you noticed the lump? Is it growing/shrinking?

Done anything different to the tank lately?

there's been no changes to the tank at all, except i transfered a garra over about 6 weeks ago maybe. he had been in Q since June. Behaviour is the same as normal. there is no redness on the lump that i can see.

something that only betsy does, is current surfing. i have a small internal canister pointing in a similar direction to one of the spray bars, and she will go up to the spray bar and float, nose first, in the direction of the surrent down to the bottom of the tank. its quite strange, and none of the other loaches have done this.

i only noticed the lump fairly recently, i must confess.

if she had knocked herself on a bit of wood, i would think there would have been redness

sound like she's a surfer.

It's hard to say what the lump may be caused by. Is the other yoyo also slimming down?

If not, there may be some draining of nutrients caused by the growth...I'll have to look into it more.

I would say they have lost weight partly because of tank size and partly because of flow, a couple of my Dads Yoyo's are proper tubs of lard but when they moved into my tank for a short while they had a bit more space but because of the flow were constantly on the move and they lost a lot of weight and were slim and fit looking just like mine.

They went back to my Dads tank about 7 months ago and the have started to get fat again because they just sit on the bogwood and don't swim.

Personally I would be tempted to keep an eye on it for now, as it is very difficult to make any definitive conclusion

the other fat yoyo has also slimmed right down to more normal proportions, so i am hoping it wont be draining of nutrients. i will keep an eye on both the lump and the weight of her.

i think they have lost weight for the reasons Mad Duff says. there is no telling what sort of tank they lived in before someone returned them to emma's shop, or what sort of food they had.

thank you both for advising. i am really hoping it isnt anything too bad. i will have a good dig around books and do some surfing too later

Mark, if your Dad also has loaches, is it him that inspired you to keep fish, or did your wonderfull collection get him started?

helen nightingale wrote:Mark, if your Dad also has loaches, is it him that inspired you to keep fish, or did your wonderfull collection get him started?

He had packed in keeping fish about 16 years ago and he decided to start again after I started to collect loaches

About a year ago, one of my larger clown loaches had a similar looking lump about a centimetre up from where Betsy has hers. I was really concerned at the time but I kept a close eye on it to make sure it didn't change and it eventually vanished. So I think the best thing is just keep a close eye on it to make sure it's not changing in any way.

Emma

i am not panicking so much now, thanks

it did occur to me that the lump is on her blind side, so maybe she knocked herself in her haste to gobble lobster eggs, or get rid of the rostrata stuck to her side

i will let you know if anything changes

i think the lump has gone down a bit now, but she is not right. she seems lethargic, and is lying sideways more than normal. there is one bit of wood she used to rest behind. now she seems to be lying there looking more tense than resting, or lying in other spots. she will still come out for food, but not as boisterous as normal.

Is it still in exactly the same place or does it seem to have migrated at all? Have you noticed any other lumps along the tissues adjacent to the abdominal cavity?

i dont think it has moved or any more lumps have appeared. she was behaving normally a couple of days ago, and there wes no signs then. now its slightly harder to give her a good check, as there's less opportunities for a right good look as she does a swim-past. hopefully she's be out and about at the front of the tank at tea-time.