Lymphocystis again?

[UntimelyLord]

About a year ago I had lymphocystis come up in my school of skirt tetras because their "head honcho" tetra died and they were stressing figuring out who should be the new boss. With time and a few extra water changes the lymphocystis went away, and I figured I was done with it as long as fish were not stressed. Now it seems to be coming back, and there are no stressors as far as I can tell. Ammonia and nitrite are zero, nitrate is 20-30. Tank is low tech planted 30 gallon with 9 skirt tetras, a dwarf gourami, and amano shrimp. Temp is 77°F, pH is 7.8 as it has always been. Filter is Fluval HOB with 350+ gph. The white skirt tetras seem to be the only ones affected, and I've read that they can have a weakened immune system compared to the wild-colored type. Is there anything I can do for them? I know lymphocystis is viral so there isn't really a treatment for it, but it seems weird that it has come back with no apparent changes or stressors. Ideas? Picture is of worst affected fish.

 

[Andy Sager]

Lymphocystis is a virus not a bacteria or fungus and there are no cures for it that I know of at the present time. What you witnessed was a remission ( for a lack of a better word) of the bug but since it is always present in the fish in the tank now, it can pop up at the slightest stress the fish can go under. Prevention is the only way to "treat" the virus. The next best thing is to remove the fuzz off the fish in question and place the fish in a medicated tank to help heal the wound. If you get it early enough, you may get the part of the fuzz containing the viral material.

Sadly, if you want to be sure it is GONE, you would need to euthanize all the fish and sterilize the tank. THEN, you would be wise to be extremely careful where you get your fish from in the hopes that they are not carrying the virus themselves. (This is a more drastic step but if the outbreaks become more frequent, it may be the better option. )

Hope this helps

 

[UntimelyLord]

Yeah, that's what I thought. Thank you for the reply. The lumps are within the flesh itself so not really something I can remove. I'll probably end up just waiting until the current stock dies off naturally before trying to sanitize and start over.

 

[Andy Sager]

If it is inside the fish, it is not Lymphocystis. Lymph appears as a a grey colored fuzz ball usually on the edge of a fin ( but not always only on a fin).Follow this link to see pics of and info about Lymph. FA181/FA181: Lymphocystis Disease in Fish
Make sure you are diagnosing correctly.

 

[UntimelyLord]

Thank you for the link. It does mention lymphocystis in internal structures but that seems to be less common. When the problem first came up I did suspect glugea/microsporidia for which the treatment is also to get rid of fish and sanitize everything. But the lumps went away for a while and I was unable to find any info on something that caused lumps that were contagious but could be fought off by the fish's immune system besides lymphocystis. Hmm. Frustrating.

 

[Andy Sager]

Thank you for the link. It does mention lymphocystis in internal structures but that seems to be less common. When the problem first came up I did suspect glugea/microsporidia for which the treatment is also to get rid of fish and sanitize everything. But the lumps went away for a while and I was unable to find any info on something that caused lumps that were contagious but could be fought off by the fish's immune system besides lymphocystis. Hmm. Frustrating.

There is no doubt that disease identification in tropical fish can make even the sanest person go crazy insane. However, proper identification is the major key to curing the problem. There will come a time when you will have to decide if the cost of treatment/prevention is better than replacing the fish or system. That's a judgement call on your part. I have had customers spend a lot of money ( against my advice) on medications to save a $5.00 fish. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. So, as I said, it's a judgement call on your part.

Things that make bumps that come and go: Internal parasites. In some cases, the parasite builds a pocket within the fish that shows up as a bump that will disappear when the parasite matures and goes to a non internal stage. At that point, the fish's immune system can attack the pocket to dissolve it and it goes away. In some cases, it's not going to hurt the fish but the bigger issue is that you now have an active parasite in your tank and unless you have some form of sterilization going, other fish may become infected.
Cysts: An irritation, injury or bacteria can cause a cyst to form which your fish may or may not be able to resolve on it's own.

Hope this helps