Fish cancer???

[cichlidfreak]

Can fish get cancer? I can't seem to find any answers on the only other site I really go to... Thought maybe you'd know more on that... One of my oscars is half the size of the other one and the exact same age, Baby has a larger gill than the other and he can only open half his mouth as well. At firsth I thought it was like a stress stroke or something, but it is ever so slowly growing, which makes me think like a sist or tumor maybe. There fish Veterinarian's but they are hard to find and $$$, Plus the only thing they could do is cut it off and cuz it is on his gill I don't think they could even do that. Anyways if anyone has any clues as to what this flared gill could be please post!

[cichlidfreak]

Well I beleive it is confirmed someone on the fish site I go to said looks like a tumor, cancerous... Now we face the hard part... we don't want to just get rid of him as we had him for two years and that's like throwing away your cat for spitting up a hairball on the rug. My husband also lost his mom to cancer and you can see it in his eyes when we discuss baby and what to do that it brings that up in him. (though he would NEVER admitt to that) Now we have toi prepare ourselves that he will go at one time or another, I know he is just a fish but we love him a ton as he and the other oscar were the first fish we got and they are the reason we got into cichlids and have 5 tanks! well Just filling anyone in who wanted to know!

(I just wanted to add, dude I absolutely love this smiley)lol

[latergatorj]

I am sorry. :-( to hear that you've confirmed your diagnosis of cancer in your fish. You obviously love him/her.

Something to worry about, I'm afraid, and this may or may not be true (I'm just not sure, but it is something I've heard), but there are some types of fish cancers that are 'contagious' to their companion fish.

Because of this, (sadly) If I have a fish that has something that I can't fix... like cancer, I typically put my fish out of its misery so it doesn't pass on its illness to my unaffected fish. I know this sounds repulsive, and it is, I just haven't seen any way around this short of making an isolation tank.

Ps. I like that smilie too.

[cichlidfreak]

We could do that but I do frequent a cichlid site and I WILL check on that... however the thought of splitting the two oscars up breaks my heart. We got them the same day and they have never been without each other. When we move them to a new tank they will lay on the bottom in a corner snuggled so close you can barly tell there are two fish!
Anyways the point is that any fish will get depressed if raised on it's own, so how do you think baby would feel? Also the people I chatted with said as long as he seems happy (wich he does) and he can still eat then he os ok.
My husband lost his mother to cancer and I think thats why he really does not want to just get rid of him We have had him for 2 years and...well...
This BITES!!!!
Thanx though