Severum ich or something else?

[Jglenn213]

Did a monthly filter clean with my routine water change today and notice some white balls on my severum. Is this ich or something else? It's only on one side of her near her tail. The only reason I ask is because they spots aren't small and grain of salt like. No ammonia or nitrite. Nitrate stays less than 5 ppm. None of the other tankmates have any yet. No new additions to the tank. Thanks in advance

 

[Gourami Swami]

Could be viral, bacterial, or fungal infection.
If it is viral, it will probably cure/recede itself given time and very clean water. Similar to warts on humans, it will eventually go into recession.
It also could be a bacterial/fungal infection. Hard to say which from the picture although I would lean toward bacterial. For this, you would treat with melafix/pimafix and remove carbon from the filter during treatment.

 

[jonclark96]

It looks like lymph to me.

 

[Rocksor]

Looks like lymphocytis, I would isolate the fish to prevent it from spreading. There's no cure except for the fish's own immune system. Just wait it out to pass.

 

[FishBeast]

Looks like lymphocytis, I would isolate the fish to prevent it from spreading. There's no cure except for the fish's own immune system. Just wait it out to pass.

Agree with lymphocystis. My WC H. notatus had a similar spot on the face. I should have isolated but didn't... Went away in a week with daily 75% WC. Nobody else in the tank got it.

 

[ahud]

The biggest issue is you do not know which of your stock carry it and which do it. Lymp does not always show visible signs. I dealt with this on two occasions a few years back. If I remember correctly, it spreads easily, not all fish show signs, and there is no cure. So even if tank mates do not have the white growths on them, they likely still carry the virus.

I ended up culling my fish at that time because I did not want to spread the virus on to anyone else when I decided to sell fry/fish.

At the time, I had a few Cryptohero species that actually got those white pimples around their gills and mouths and lost a few of them.

 

[jonclark96]

Yeah, lymph pretty much sucks.

I have it in my 180 community tank, and while the symptoms can be controlled, it never goes away. I'll go months without seeing anything, then a fish or two will get the lumps (usually when one of the pairs in the tank is spawning and the other fish are stressed). I haven't lost a fish to it in a long time, but in my experience, if a fish is stressed enough to show symptoms, and continues to have high stress, things go down hill quickly.

It especially sucks because while I'd really like to change the stock in the tank, I don't have the heart to cull some large, adult fish, and I'm not willing to pass it along to someone else.

 

[Jglenn213]

Thanks for all the replies everyone. I believe this same fish has had these spots before but I just assumed it was ich and treated the tank for that. It was 7 or so months ago. Same looking white spots but they were not as big. I guess I should have known because they didn't look crystalline like salt.

 

[ahud]

If you have more than one tank, I would cull and bleach the tank/decor and start over. If this is your only tank, then it is not really a huge concern. You just can't trade stock out. The last thing you want to do is pass around fish that you know for a fact have lymp.

Some people are of the opinion that Lymph is more common than we think. I don't know how prevalent the virus is in local fish stores. Ever since dealing with it myself, I have not shopped at local fish stores.

I wanted to buy some dither fish this weekend. Your thread has me thinking if its worth the risk!

 

[Jglenn213]

None of my fish are from local stores unfortunately. All came from breeders. Doesn't mean they aren't still susceptible though. I don't have another tank large enough to move stock. Can't bring myself to euthanize them unless they get bad and potentially stop eating for something.. Good thing I was done with my stocking on this tank.