MINOR SURGERY

[something_fishy]

Hi all, here's the scoop on one of my green severums.

I noticed about a week ago that the smaller of the two severums had a white scar-like spot on its head. I assumed it was a battle mark or he caught himself on a rock of something of the sorts. As the week went on, I noticed that it was peeling and pieces of skin were hanging off. My first thought was hole in the head disease, until I saw this cauliflower-like rubbery mass protruding from the scar. Now I was certain it was Lymphocystis. So, I did some research and came up with a solution.
Since Lymphoscystis is a true virus and a very small virus, it can be treated with conventional medicines. This virus is so small it doesn't even have its own dna, instead it has an rna(Ribonucleic Acid). It attached itself onto a healthy cell and injects its carbon copy into the host cell and literally "becomes" it.
You could easily associate Lymphosystis with a common human condition called "fat cysts", the only difference is that the fish will eventually die from it.

You could give it any one of the medications from your lfs or you could try a more radical procedure like this:
-prepare a small quarantine tank for the sick fish
-place the fish in the tank and put heavy doses of Melafix (antibacterial)
-set aside a small bottle cap full of Melafix with a couple of cotton q-tips
-also set aside a sterilized razor blade(boil it for 5 minutes)

Take a cloth and thoroughly soak it in the quarantine solution. Place the fish in the cloth and wrap it except for the exposed part. VERY GENTLY scrape the affected area off, it will come off as one piece along with scales. It will leave a small white hole. Now apply the antibacterial with the swabs directly to the wound. Place the patient back in the quarantine tank. Manually apply the antibacterial to the wound for 5 days and moniter the patients condition(sluggishness and disorientation are normal for the first day). Keep the tank unlit with no toys or plants. Once the area starts to heal over, place the patient in the community tank in a breeding chamber for a few days before releasing into the community.

This procedure is radical but insures that you totally wipe out the virus from the source. Not recommended for nervous individuals.
This procedure is taken from an Aquatic Medical book.

This worked for my severum, and now he is doing fine.
Hope this helps anybody with the same problem.
Cheers

[reefrunner69]

Very informative!! It is much better thn the scrape it with your fingernail method that I have used IME, it is not fatal and will usually go away all on it's own in time. Usually a couple of months. I suspect the symptoms from the fish are from the heavy doses of melafix, rather than the minor surgery, as stated before, I have simply scraped it with a fingernail and gone on about my business, I've never lost a fish to lympho...but I like the posted method much better than mine 25 Kudos!!