# lymphocystis or something else?



## scrivz (Dec 2, 2008)

Howdy, y'all. I've got a fish health issue that has me scratching my head. I've tried searching through old lymphocystis posts in here and I'm no closer to having an answer than I was before, so here goes.

My salvini, affectionately named Willis, has always had these strange small knobby, wart-like growths at the base of his tail. I've never thought anything about it, since they were small and didn't seem to cause him any distress. I always wondered if it was lymphocystis or some other viral thing, but they never seemed to change in any way, and if it is lympho it's much less severe than any pic I've found on the interweb. Well lately I noticed a spot on the fin of Ramus, my oscar. I don't even know for sure if they're related, but they look similar. They're in different areas--Ramus's is on his pectoral fin and is mid-fin, while Willis's is on the caudal peduncle, not the caudal fin itself.

When I noticed the lump/wart/growth on Ramus's pectoral fin, I checked over the rest of his fins, as well as Willis's fins. Willis didn't have any more lumps than before, but the ones he has now look different. They are reddish (had always been darkish before) and almost look ulcerated. See pics below.

My only thought is that Willis has been harboring the lymphocystis virus the entire time I've had him and has just now become infective. If that's the case, to the best of my understanding, there is not a thing I can do about it. If I had a microscope, I'd try to do the pathology study, but I'm not shelling out hundreds of dollars at the moment, as it does not appear to be life-threatening. Both fishes have great appetites and are as active as ever. They're otherwise healthy; Ramus struggles with a bit of extremely minor idiopathic HITH from time to time but otherwise hasn't ever had a health issue that I can remember. Willis has had the lumps on his caudal peduncle forever, but has never been diseased in any other way.

Tank is 75g. Parameters for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates are consistently 0, 0, <10, respectively. Nitrates made it as high as 20 ppm once, but it was over a year ago; otherwise it's pristine water. Diet is a mix of high quality pellets (HBG+, Omega One, NLS) with treats of shrimp, nightcrawlers, and prepared mealworms, and occasional supplementation with boyd's vitachem. The only other fish in the tank are two giant danios, which have been in there for a while. No feeders, though about 6 GDs got eaten when they were orginally introduced a while back, but they were properly quarantined before going in the big tank. Filtration is a Marineland C-360, a Rena XP3, an Emperor 400, and two sponge filters. There are two live plants in the tank that were bleached and QTed before going in the big tank. If there's anything I left out, ask away.

Pics.

Willis:




























Ramus:



















Sorry the pics aren't great; the lesions are pretty small and difficult to photograph.

Thanks in advance for any insight or opinions.


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## Robin (Sep 18, 2002)

Hi

Sounds like you take good care of your fish. Unfortunately they can still get the lymphocystis virus and as you know from reading about it there's not much you can do. Even though your water parameters check out you might still try upping the frequency of your partial water changes to 2-3x a week for the next month or so and increase the water movement. I've got a couple of goldfish who have/had the same thing and I found their symptoms improved with the increased water changes. 
As far as determining whether or not this is a virus--I don't know what you could do other than have one of the nodules examined by a vet. You might try a course of antibiotics--Kanamycin is a good one that treats a wide range of ailments--just to see if there's any improvement.

The good thing about lymphocystis is that fish can get over it without any treatment other than providing a stable stress free home. It is contagious though so I wouldn't add any more fish to this tank or move any of these fish to another tank.

Robin


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## scrivz (Dec 2, 2008)

Thanks for the response, Robin. So does it look like lymphocystis to you? I've never seen a confirmed case in person, I've just seen pics on the web.

I'm going to hold off on hitting the tank with antibiotics unless things get worse or start to look more bacterial in origin; my QT/hospital tank can't handle both of these fish and at this point it's not worth nuking my biofilter or buying enough antibiotics to properly dose a 75g tank. If things get worse I may reconsider.

Maybe I'll give the increased water changes a try. Thanks again.


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## Robin (Sep 18, 2002)

I can't see enough from the pictures to say what it is.

I hear what you're saying about the antibiotics. Unfortunately unless you want to take one of the fish or a sample of one of the bumps to a vet then the only way to deterimine if it IS lymphocystis is by treating the fish for something eles and seeing if works. Not the greatest method, I know.

You've quite a lot of filtration on the tank but you may still want to add a jet down low to increase water movement.

Robin


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