Wierd growth on Acei's dorsal fin! Help!

[Smitty114]

I posted about this growth a while back but it was smaller then, and noone seemed to know what exactly it was. But it has kept growing and I'm starting to get concerned. The fish still swims and eats fine, but obviously has something wrong and now seems to be breathing harder. The growth is now starting to grow on his anal fin as well. It almost seems as if I could cut the growth off, it's a big swelling on the dorsal (pink in color) and looks like a fluffy cauliflower-like growth. Is it some sort of cyst?

All tank parameters are fine and all other fish are completely healthy. In fact there is a divider in the tank now and we have about 10 fry that are now over an inch long.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, I don't want to lose this fish!

 

[diane6]

My cichlid had the exact same growth. It swam fine, ate fine, then I found it dead about a month or two after the growth appeared. Never found out what it was

 

[GoldLenny]

Is there some fin rot issue also going on?

Look at the photos on this LONG page.
http://web.archive.org/web/20051015043929/http://www.fishpalace.org/disease.html

Since you mentioned "cauliflower", pay particular attention to this...
http://web.archive.org/web/20051015043929/http://www.fishpalace.org/disease.html#Lymphocystis

Viral infection that causes cells to become megaloblastic, thus forming small tumors (bumps or growths), often along the lateral line or the pedicle, where the fin meets the body. The tumors sometimes take on the appearence of tiny cauliflowers, thus the name

 

[blue2fyre]

I had a female msobo with a similar growth on one of her fins. She grew and ate fine, she was perfectly normal then just died one day. I'm still not sure what could have been done. I treated with salt but it didn't seem to help. After that I wasn't sure what to treat with and she seemed fine so I let it be.

 

[Smitty114]

Is there some fin rot issue also going on?

Look at the photos on this LONG page.
http://web.archive.org/web/20051015043929/http://www.fishpalace.org/disease.html

Since you mentioned "cauliflower", pay particular attention to this...
http://web.archive.org/web/20051015043929/http://www.fishpalace.org/disease.html#Lymphocystis

It seems like it's the lymphocystis. Everything I've read about it seems to point to what this is. Sadly there seems to be no cure for this disease, other than recommended frequent water changes.

 

[GoldLenny]

Yeah. It's viral based so not much we can do to fight off a virus... even in humans, it took a long time to come up with some anti-viral treatments and/or vaccines.

Making living arrangements as best as possible with plenty of clean fresh water and a stress free environment seems to help the fish fight back the virus.

Here's an article written by a Vet School. http://www.vet.uga.edu/VPP/clerk/Kurkjian/index.php

And another by a Ph.D.
http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/management/Lawler_Lymphocystis.html

 

[Cerianthus]

Would you want to tempt in removal if this is growth? I cant clearly tell if this is tumor from the pic.

 

[GoldLenny]

Would you want to tempt in removal if this is growth? I cant clearly tell if this is tumor from the pic.

I don't think this type of viral related cyst will really be *cured* by removal. There are some cysts that can be drained (aspirated) using a hypodermic needle but those are usually benign cysts that are just filled with fluid. Some veterinarians do this type of procedure, usually on bigger fish like goldfish and koi. You could check with your local veterinarian or vet school to see if they can help.

This type of lymphocystis growth, if I recall correctly, actually has tissue, blood vessels, etc. growing in the cyst so you can't just cut the thing off or aspirate it.

Stress seems to be an issue that causes these kinds of viral growths to appear. I know that with Koi and goldfish, they can get waxy type growths on them from one of several strains of Koi Pox or Koi Herpes Virus. I kind of analogize these things to being like the fever blisters or cold sores that us humans can get (for the ones that might be carrying the Herpes Simplex Virus 1... HSV2 is primarily the sexual version) when our lips get burned or chapped and the virus lives in the nerve endings so when the nerves get irritated, the virus goes into overdrive.

I think this is why the experts recommend fresh clean water and a stress free environment and hopefully the virus will go back into submission.

 

[Cerianthus]

With an assumption that this is external growth, it can be removed as per case, not that it will cure.

Although could be cyst but I am inclined to think this is tumor, not something you can use needle to remove fluid.

Even if this was viral infection, there are few different cases of viral infection on fish and lot more undiscovered as of yet.
Since pics are so blur, this can be symptoms of other bacterial/parasitic infection as well.

Stress free environment is not necessarily a clean water but stable condition thus minimize the loss of energy trying to cope with contant changing water condition, sometimes created via constant and/or massive water changes..

i personally encontered such symptoms on numerous occassins which were out of my control as newly arrived fish from certain regions tend to develop such symptoms more oftern than other areas. Perhaps pollution is one of major contributing factors. Such external growth can be reomved as they grow and did not cause sudden death of affected fish. I just could not bear looking at fish with such growth. I alwyas removed such growth early.
I do not recall losing fish when tumors are removed early rather than wait until it may be too late to remove as such procedure may require more than what I can provide.

One will need few things to perform removal of tumor. Should look into it before tempting. This is with an assumption that it is tumor, not just a sac filled with a bodily fluid.
If one does not feel comfortable with such procedure, I would not recommend.

Hope all goes well.

 

[blue2fyre]

I don't think mbuna are capable of living in a stress free environment lol. Even when alone they are super jumpy to any movement outside the tank.
Just a thought.
I would never be comfortable removing a mass like this just because I have no experience with this type of thing. What I would do is just keep him comfortable with nice clean water and see what happens.