Juvenile C. pyrrhogaster with a lump/growth.

[Chinadog]

One of my juvenile pyrrhos has had a strange lump since he morphed last year. At first i thought it was a deformity as it never got any bigger, so decided to leave him alone as he seemed otherwise healthy. Now he's bigger I can see the lump is full of fluid of some sort and has started getting bigger over the last week or so. Has anyone seen anything similar in the past or know what it could be? One more thing, the lump seems bigger if he spends time in the water and smaller if he's been on land for a while.
Thanks in advance for any input!

 

[Azhael]

Never seen anything like it but it seems clear that it is related to water retention. Perhaps a weird intestine portion that becomes filled with fluid? No idea....

 

[Chinadog]

No I've never seen anything like it either. I searched the forums and archives and drew a blank. It still doesn't seem to be bothering him, so I guess I'll just keep an eye on him and make sure he isn't suffering.

 

[geron]

The only other lump I have seen like this was on an axolotl (So probably not the case for yours). It turned out to be a cyst.

 

[sde]

I have never seen this either, but it is very strange. Tumor maybe? I am not sure, but at least he doesn't seem to have a problem with it. Hopefully it will go away. It is getting bigger though, so, water retention like Azhael said might be true, though I don't know why that would occur or where in the intestines it would occur.
Keep us updated on him please, I would like to see how this will play out.

-Seth

 

[Chinadog]

Thanks for the suggestions guys, when he first morphed it looked like a spinal deformity but it's definitely related to water retention. The other day I put him in a bare bottom tank and shone a torch on him from below, I could clearly see it was just fluid and not tissue of any kind. I'm hoping the lump stays small as he gets bigger and becomes less prominent. I'm quite happy to raise and keep him if he's not in pain or struggling in any way, but obviously not breed from him.
I will update with more photos as he grows or if anything changes.

 

[Niels D]

I've seen something like this with Parameson sp which were more than 30 years old. All of them had these"fluid breaches" at both sides though, but they didn't affect their behaviour and apparantly their health according to the owner, which had them for such a long time. I've seen pictures of these lump with other animals of great age, but always on both sides.

 

[Chinadog]

Unfortunately things have deteriorated for this little guy over the last week. I noticed the lumps getting bigger on Tuesday and by Thursday another lump had appeared on his throat. Although he was still eating, he was gradually losing weight so I decided euthanasia was the best thing to do. I guess he must have had some kind of birth defect. I only raised a few babies so I was quite attached to each of them, not a nice thing to have to do at all.

 

[Azhael]

Sorry you had to go through that...it sucks but such are the ways of nature. Out of hundreds of embryos, not all of them are viable or fit. For what is worth i think you did the right thing even though it clearly wasn´t easy for you.

 

[Chinadog]

Thanks for the kind words Azhael, I suppose eight survivors from ten eggs is a way higher survival rate than in the wild.