White lump on lip and white spots on tail

[Ajno]

Ok can anyone tell me what this is? I have 2 possibly 3 fish with this problem. All eat well, tank is 55 gallons and only 3 4-5 inch ranchu. They were moved from the main tank after noticing the lumps. This has been ongoing for quite a while. At first I did a wait and see approach when only one fish had symptoms. I have tried salt .3,PP bath,tetracycline,and triple sulfa. So hopefully someone can ID this for me. Thanks in advance


and the tail pics are hard to get clear ones

[Sabine]

I'm pretty sure those are Myxobolus nodules. The location in the caudal fin is also typical. Got the same photos from years back when a few of my goldies had them (sucked them also from their gills and identified them under the microscope, which my vet later confirmed).
http://www.rz.uni-karlsruhe.de/~dc20...res/Abb_08.jpg

[afnaveils]

Nodular diseases

Caused by: various parasites, such as Ichthyosporidium, Nosema, Myxobolus, and Henneguya, and the fungus Dermocystidium.

Symptoms: Smooth yellowish-white cysts on the body, fins, gills, internal organs, or in muscle. They can vary in size from a few mm to a centimeter across, and can be spherical, oval, or irregular in shape. Each cyst contains thousands of parasitic spores.

Occurrences: These parasites do little harm, unless heavily infested in the gills or on smaller fish.

Treatment/Control: unfortunately, there is no reliable treatment for this type of disease.

[Sabine]

I managed to get these from my fish (a ranchu had them on his wen, a bubbleeye in his gills, and a fantail in her caudal fin). I used a dropper to suck up a cyst:
My ranchu looked like dusted with powdered sugar at one point when the disease was at its worst.

[Ajno]

Thanks for the ID guys. I guess keep them away from the others is my best bet then.

[Sabine]

I think it helped somewhat that I tried to keep the tanks as clean as possible (no gravel), and I installed a UV unit. The spores are resistant to anything you want to throw at them, freezing, boiling, and drying them up for 30 years + won't kill the spores. Neither will bleach or vinegar...
Only when the spores break open to release the buggers those can be killed by UV.

[Ajno]

That means that pretty much all of my fish have been exposed except for the new one from Paul. So I am assuming not all of them will show symptoms. The ones showing symptoms were isolated. I'll look into a UV.

[Ajno]

Originally Posted by Sabine

I think it helped somewhat that I tried to keep the tanks as clean as possible (no gravel), and I installed a UV unit. The spores are resistant to anything you want to throw at them, freezing, boiling, and drying them up for 30 years + won't kill the spores. Neither will bleach or vinegar...
Only when the spores break open to release the buggers those can be killed by UV.

So I shouldn't reuse the tank they are in? If I add a uv would it keep anyone else from getting this?

[Sabine]

Honestly, I can't tell you. Reading on the web, it is often suggested to kill all fish and start new. Something I didn't want to even consider. After all, there is no guarantee that the next fish you buy doesn't have them again. My affected fish were all lfs and Walmart buys.
Aside from the UV (that I used for maybe 2 years, but the fish were without UV outside in the summer, and the tanks ran without fish in the meantime), I decided to ignore the problem until a fish took a turn for the worse which usually meant dropsy. I never cut a fish open to check for internal cysts, I should have but just couldn't.
The 3 ranchu offspring I still have seem to be free of myxos.
I believe that this parasite is widespread, just not often diagnosed. You've got a sharp eye, and obviously take a very close look at your fish. You may want to check the gills too for cysts.

[Ajno]

Originally Posted by Sabine

You've got a sharp eye, and obviously take a very close look at your fish. You may want to check the gills too for cysts.

Haha this has been going on a lot longer than I want to admit. The first fish had these and she died almost 2 years ago. No one else showed symptoms until 4-5 months ago. The first fish acted healthy eating,spawning, everything. Just one day I found her dead in the tank. No warning. So fast forward 1+ years and now two are showing lumps. Eat act fine. I have a possibly 3rd one. This one's a calico so its really hard to see the spots on the tail but I think I see some. I'd hate to kill all of them except for the newbie whose qt'ed, we are talking a lot of money. Crap I was going to ugrade to a 180 but now I'm not sure, since everyone's been exposed. Gives me a damn headache.