my lovely parrot fish

Question
hello karen,
i have a sick parrot fish please help???
he has a large lump on one side of his body near his back fin which has a whiteish line along it,he has been hidding in his house for 4 weeks upside down.he is very un-stable,he has been eating.
ive treated him for anti slime velvet unsucessfully,and also swim bladder.i have just purchased yet more chemicals in hope of his improvement(anti crustacean parasite).
please help as im getting desperate.
many thanks chris.  

Answer
Dear Christine,
I wonder if your Parrot fish does indeed have swim bladder disorder. A condition which can cause fish to flip upside down and lose sometimes all equilibrium. This can be caused by an incorrect diet or too much dry food that swells in the fish's gut and presses against the swim bladder. But it can also be due to bacterial infections or even a mal-formed swim bladder to begin with. Since this has been going on for a whole month now I wouldn't suspect bacterial infections to be as likely. Although the lump on the side concerns me. What I fear most about the lump is it could be a tumor, maybe a tumor that is affecting his swim bladder. The fact that he has been eating is a good indicator that all is not lost though. And it may not even be a tumor. Diagnosing fish lumps and bumps is very difficult. Especially the location that your Parrot fish's lump is at.

I would try holding back on medications for now. I don't think he has velvet parasites. Velvet appears as if the fish has been coated in gold/whitish powder and as far as I know, it doesn't usually affect just one area. What would really help is to have a clear picture of your parrot. You can't really send pictures through allexperts but you can put links to your photos on a photo website such as "Photobucket.com" or some other source. But that's only if you want to.

For swim bladder treatment you can use the least invasive treatment first. This is feeding your Parrot a thawed and de-shelled green pea which can help clear any blockages in the fish's digestive system that may be affecting the swim bladder. Also, make sure in case there might be poor water quality to try doing 30-50% water changes everyday to every-other day.

How large is this tank? Is there any bullies or potential bullies in with your Parrot? Parrot fish are easily bullied by other fish and will respond when scared by hiding in a complete vertical position with their head or tail pointing down while up against an object or inside a  cave. Parrot fish can also behave this way if they dont have -any- tankmates. They don't feel secure enough to come out from their hiding places normally. In this case what's called "Dither fish" can be used. Dither fish are small to large active and bold schooling fish whom are added to tanks with shy cichlids such as your parrot. The best dithers could be Black skirt tetras, Swordtails, Danios, small barbs such as rosy or gold (avoid tigers) or maybe even more of the same type of fish. Remember to keep dither fish in moderate sized schools.

I don't like to make any diagnoses just yet. But try the least invasive treatment first. Make sure there aren't any fish that is intimidating or bullying the parrot. Or if he is alone, it may be that he is feeling shy and scared. Is he completely upsidedown or vertical with his nose or tail pointed down? This could be considered upside down too.
Try feeding him peas and make many partial water changes to try to further help him.

Once we have ruled these factors out. It will help us narrow down the possible causes of your Parrot's illness/strange behavior.

Please feel free to give me updates on your parrotfish or if you have anymore concerns, feel free to write.

Best of luck!
Karen~