Lymphocystis dilemma

[FSM]

My green terror, the first fish I bought, almost 3 years old now, recently developed lymphocystis, I don't know why or how, because no new fish have been introduced in the past year. There are two other fish in the tank, a crenicichla menezesi and a polypterus delhezi. They are totally disease free as far as I have seen.

What can I do? I've read contradictory information on the internet - some say it will resolve itself eventually, but then others say it will kill the fish. Even if it does fade away over time, it could potentially return; the fish will always be infected. It wouldn't be ethical to sell either of the other two fish, when they could be potentially infected also. And, I'll need to break this tank down in 2 years when I finish highschool so I can't just keep them all until they die naturally; what do I do with the GT then? Kill it? I would really hate to have to do that. This fish is very important to me.

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fortunately I have a new external flash so all my picture of lympho terror are really sharp...

 

[Modest_Man]

1) Lymph is not curable.
2) It's highly contagious.

With that being said I've never seen a fish actually die of lymph. It's unsightly, yes, but is not fatal in and of itself.

Have you changed anything up where the fish could be stressed more than normal causing the lymph to come out of remission?

If it were me, I would add no other fish to the tank; get the tank its own cleaning tools and nets, and be super careful not to cross contaminate with your other tanks (if you have them). If this is your only tank continue on as normal.

Given a stress free environment it's quite possible for it to go into remission and never been seen again and your fish can live a long and healthy life.

I wouldn't worry about two years down the road until you get there, many things could happen between now and then.

Are you 100% positive that it's lymph? I can see the few small spots but the lymph I've seen has been almost cauliflower like in appearance on the fins, but it was in advanced stages.

 

[FSM]

I definitely won't be adding any more fish to the tank (the pike would be gone already due to increasing aggression over the past few months; the GT has split fins pretty regularly now which might be the cause of the appearance of the lymph), and I have a separate water changing hose for each of my 3 main tanks.

I'm not positive it is lymph but I don't know of any other disease which fit the description. Initially there was one single lump and I didn't think anything of it. After several weeks it began progressing to the rest of the fins but it hasn't changed much in the past week or two.

 

[VRWC]

Had to deal with it before and euthanized all the fish that had it.

As Jamie said, its not curable and at best, will go in remission in a stress free environment. If it gets bad, you can catch the fish and pop it off with your fingers or use an exacto and cut it off. Its more unpleasant to look at than anything.

 

[FSM]

Did you have to euthanise the whole tank? I should probably move the other two fish but I don't have a spare tank available right now.

 

[Modest_Man]

The whole tank has been exposed, no way around it. Either keep them together, split them into their own tanks, or euthanize. Don't add any fish you think has been in contact with lymph into another tank with healthy fish.

 

[thor meeki]

Have you ever heard of the redox potential in aquariums, via uv sterilizer.
It may help keep the lymph in remission.

I had something similar back last winter, except it was my polypterus delhezi.
Little jelly looking cystis.
I would scrape them off, then do quarantine treatments with melafix.
They came back with in a month.
This went on like three times, then I stumbled across an article during my search for an answer.
It got me thinking, maybe it could help.(surely it couldn't hurt)
So I bought a uv sterilizer for that tank. (I think it's 18 watts, for my 125gal)
That was in january that I added the uv, & haven't had a relapse since.

It could just be a coincidence that I haven't had a relapse, or maybe not.
Either way that uv isn't going anywhere

Here is a link to the article, you decide if it's worth a shot. http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/AquariumUVSterilization.html

 

[Sab_Fan]

I had a juvie carpintis with lympho . . . I qt'd him for several weeks (months?) and it eventually "went away" . . . I recall treating the tank with acriflavine (or maybe it was just JPL) occasionally . . .

 

[NOLAGT]

From what it says on this site it usually starts at the edges of the fins. Are you talking about that spot on the back tail in the middle?