Banded Cat Shark Goiter- Help

[BoniB]

My son has a banded cat shark, he's about 6 months old and recently has developed a lump under his chin. His main diet has been smelts and Mysis shrimp. Water parameters are good and other fish in the tank are doing well.

Any help would be greatly appreciated on what would cause this and is it curable? I'm a novice at the SW hobby but from my research I think this is a goiter and found that this is not uncommon amongst sharks and can be caused by lack of iodine/ proper diet. I went to (3) LFS and not one of them recommend iodine supplements. One guys says soak squid in garlic, one guy says soak food in Selcon.


Thanks,
-John

 

[pfan151]

My son has a banded cat shark, he's about 6 months old and recently has developed a lump under his chin. His main diet has been smelts and Mysis shrimp. Water parameters are good and other fish in the tank are doing well.

Any help would be greatly appreciated on what would cause this and is it curable? I'm a novice at the SW hobby but from my research I think this is a goiter and found that this is not uncommon amongst sharks and can be caused by lack of iodine/ proper diet. I went to (3) LFS and not one of them recommend iodine supplements. One guys says soak squid in garlic, one guy says soak food in Selcon.


Thanks,
-John

Mazuri makes vitamin supplements for sharks. I used those years ago when I kept epaulettes and leopard sharks in my pond. I think I was even able to order them with extra iodine. This was about 10 years ago but I would imagine they still make them. They were expensive though. I think about $100 but there were a few hundred pills per jug. The pills are big. You'd probably have to break them into small pieces and stuff it inside his food.