Help ID'ing fish parasite...please!

[ShelbyJK500]

Need some help identifying a parasite/growth on my blueface I have in QT. This started out really small, I thought it was a tear on the spine near the lower portion of the gill, from shipping or handling. However, it has grown. It now looks almost like an egg sac. It almost appears to have some sort of a darkness inside the "sac", I guess it could be shadowing too.

I need some help from you experts! Hopefully someone can point me in the right direction so I know what I can use to treat it. I started a very low dose of copper tonight. My understanding is that copper works for most external parasites, which this appears to be.

You can also see a second "growth" on the pelvic fin just below where the growth on the gill is located. The third picture shows it the best. The blueface eats like a pig twice a day. I just noticed some flashing (i think it's called) tonight for the first time. Maybe this issue is starting to effect him?

Input...please!

In this photo, you can see the lower growth really well.

 

[jagermeister]

Maybe Lymphocystis?

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/lymphfaqs.htm

 

[ShelbyJK500]

Maybe Lymphocystis?

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/lymphfaqs.htm

Thanks for the link and input! LOT to read on that link, looks like a possibility though.

Bluface is still eating like a pig, but is swimming strangely and flashing still. Could this be reaction to the copper. I have no idea how they might (angelfish) react to copper. I know they need a lower dose then tangs, so I started with 1/3 the normal dose yesterday and increased it to 1/2 a dose.

 

[Wicked Color]

Copper is cumulative, you need to test and get the ppm right.

 

[bsharpe]

Contact Heather at Elite Reef, she is really good with fish doctoring. Tell her Betsy said for you to call.

 

[Kieth71]

Its Lymphocystis..it prob wont go away until you have moved him to the display but you can remove it manually with your fingers usually.Its pretty harmless other then when it grows near the mouth where it can hinder eating HTH -Kieth

 

[ShelbyJK500]

Copper is cumulative, you need to test and get the ppm right.

Thanks for the heads up! I had heard that, and as such dosed VERY conservatively added with the fact that Angels are known not to do as well as tangs with copper. My first dose was about 1/3 the recommended dose. My second dose was smaller yet which cumulatively got me to about 1/2 the recommended dose.

Contact Heather at Elite Reef, she is really good with fish doctoring. Tell her Betsy said for you to call.

My better half actually went by there for me (work gets in the way of everything). Heather wasn't there, but Mike mentioned the same thing...possibly Lymphocystis.

 

[ShelbyJK500]

Its Lymphocystis..it prob wont go away until you have moved him to the display but you can remove it manually with your fingers usually.Its pretty harmless other then when it grows near the mouth where it can hinder eating HTH -Kieth

Thanks a ton for confirming Keith. I've heard this through about three sources now. Here is my remaining/current issue;

Being completely new to fish disease/issues, I probably freaked out since this is my favorite fish (tied with majestic angel) and since I just lost the Achilles (2nd favorite). So, in freaking out I started copper treatment. Since doing so over the past 48 hours, the Angel is flashing/scratching himself on the PVC constantly. To the point I think its going to injure itself. It's also showing a lot of flickering and head jerking. I read up on all this stuff. I read mention of gill flukes causing the strange swimming behavior. It's flashing mostly along the side of its face and by the gills. Which is why I started thinking flukes. I'm not sure how much of this is going on while I'm not at home. The last two nights it starts halfway into his feeding. He eats a good amount of Elite Cuisine and then starts this behavior, not eating anymore??

HOWEVER, could this just be a negative reaction to the copper since Angels aren't fond of it?? Getting several confirmations on the Lymphocystis, I figured I better back off on the copper. I did about a 1/3 tank water change tonight and hope the swimming/flashing issues subside. Any thoughts/input are much appreciated.

 

[Wicked Color]

I think lympho is herpes, and cannot be cured, it just flares up and becomes visible when the fish gets stressed out, and appears to go away when things settle down.
The fish pros will correct me if I am wrong.
Also copper is like chemo for cancer, poisoning everything in the system trying to kill a single inhabitant, its toxic to every living thing on the planet, the only factor that dictates death is concentration~

 

[ShelbyJK500]

I think lympho is herpes, and cannot be cured.

That's my exact understanding. This is why I am backing away from copper treatment as im starting to wonder if I didn't create the issues with my otherwise healthy Angel?!? I'm hoping he will start recovering from the flashing/scratching/twitching soon!

 

[Kieth71]

You can back off the copper if you want to although as long as you have the copper where it should be i doubt that it is causing any issues.The head shaking sounds like flukes.Angels are very prone to haveing them and 2 treatments of prazipro will take care of that._Kieth

 

[ShelbyJK500]

You can back off the copper if you want to although as long as you have the copper where it should be i doubt that it is causing any issues.The head shaking sounds like flukes.Angels are very prone to haveing them and 2 treatments of prazipro will take care of that._Kieth

Well, what do you think started the constant flashing/scratching?? He's starting to do a number on himself and I'm getting worried. It basically all started when I began the copper treatment. Though, the odd thing is he goes nuts halfway through his feeding at night (frozen Elite food), did it again tonight. Gets to the disturbing point where I turn off the lights to help calm it down.

I ended up doing about an 80% water change to get the copper out of the tank for the most part. I then did a full dose of prazi in case it is flukes? Anyone with input?!? I'm getting concerned...he's already created some skin issues around his head.

 

[Wicked Color]

feed just a few bites each time.

 

[ShelbyJK500]

*Frustrating update* - Looks like Marine Velvet has set in. The right side of the blueface was looking white, which I though he was scratching the crap out of that side to the point of discoloration. With a flashlight I was looking tonight and when he turned head on, I saw the "velvet" covering his side. It's blotchy in some areas. From everything I've read tonight I suspect it is velvet and NOT ich, could be wrong, but that's my take. Don't have any good pics at the moment. Condition changed rapidly since yesterday. Would not eat this morning and the velvet is now apparent. The flashing/scratching continues, and respiration is higher.

SO, back to copper, with full dosing this time. Everything said velvet is FAST acting/spreading and you have to move quick to have any hope of saving the fish. So with the conditions changing so fast, I decided to act fast. Here we go....

 

[Wicked Color]

Good luck, I have a copper test kit if you need one.

 

[cdrewferd]

Good luck Evan. Hope you can get him straightened out as he's a beautiful fish.

 

[ShelbyJK500]

Good luck, I have a copper test kit if you need one.

Thanks for the offer. I picked one up when I got the copper. I bought it to have on hand, didn't think I was gonna need it so fast!

Good luck Evan. Hope you can get him straightened out as he's a beautiful fish.

Thanks Drew, I hope so too. He was doing horrible today so I had to add more copper to a full dose, close to 2.5ppm, which I didn't want to do since it's an angel. Anyhow, he was covered with "velvet" today and this evening he was doing really bad. I ended up doing a freshwater dip to try and get many of the trophants (sp?) off of him, then completely emptied his tank, rinsed it and started all over. I did this based on alot of reading I had done. Many people do the freshwater dip which provides quick relief but when the fish is put back into the tank it's just reinfested. So I took all the infested water out. We'll see, he looked much better about 30 minutes after the dip. I thought he wasn't gonna make it past the dip though, he was laying flat in the freshwater. Fingers crossed...

 

[Craigar]

When doing a freshwater dip use tge net and keep him swimming around don't just let them lay there

 

[ShelbyJK500]

Sad news again. I'm a fish killer apparently.

The top two fish on my list haven't made it. I truly didn't think I would have losses this soon, though the Achilles was a crap shoot. The QT/hospital tanks have been working great so I'm truly bummed about the failure with these two fish.

When doing a freshwater dip use tge net and keep him swimming around don't just let them lay there

Now you tell me! Nah, I tried, but the guy just didn't want anything to do with swimming in the freshwater. I did notice a ton of the "velvet" began shedding off, especially when he went back into the new DT water. Although, that could have been from the handling? Thanks for the well wishes guys, not giving up yet. Round 2....

 

[scchase]

Velvet is nasty Ive never in 20 years saved a fish that had more than a minor case of it