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Tumor in Koi and other pond fish |
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Tumors happen in fish just like in other
humans and other animals. Most of the time they are cancer. Some times in
females they will become egg impacted and are mistaken for cancer. In a good
majority of female fish that become egg impacted they eggs are reabsorbed - but
not always.
I thought my female fish below was egg
impacted. But once I did surgery on her I found she was full of cancer
inside.
The pictures below are quite graphic and if
you have a weak stomach now might be the time to hit the "back" button.
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Summer
of 2003 |
 In
the late summer of 2003 I noticed this
gorgeous platinum Ogon getting fat. It
was a little late in the season for her to
be getting eggs. This would be the
first spawn for this 18 inch year old beauty
so I really did not think too much of it to
begin with. The picture was taken with my
underwater video cam.
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Late
December |
By
late December she continued to grow in size
and began to pinecone. Pine coning is
when the scales stand out on the fish
thereby looking like a pine cone.
I began to suspect she either was egg
impacted or had a tumor. |
 I
used oil of clove for anesthetic, 5 drops
per gallon of water, and was prepared to
stitch her back up should it turn out she
was just egg impacted.
Note the blood in between the scales and the
general reddish appearance along with the
dissented belly. |
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 First
cut shows yellowish fluid that had filled
the abdominal cavity. I was pretty
sure there would be no way to save this
beautiful fish now. |
 A
scalpel was used to make the cut from the
pectoral fins back to the anal opening.
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 The
yellow mass is the tumor. |
Photos
show that the tumor had encased
all the organs in the abdomen, the gall
bladder, the liver, and the intestinal track
I realized at this point there was no way to
save this fish because removing all the
tumor from these vital organs would be very
tricky indeed, even for them most
experienced surgeons.
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 You
can see the swim bladder in the empty
abdominal cavity. Note all the loose
skin from the very large area the tumor
occupied.
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