copperband butterfly with disease (good pics) please help id

[jedheuer]

Hi There,

I got a copperband butter fly a little over two weeks ago. Shortly after I got him he developed strange warty like white and black bumps on the edges of his fins. Mostly on his pectoral fins but none on his main body. He is eating well on mysis and black worms and garlic and selcon. I treated the QT with 1 tsp of Prazipro 5 days ago and it is getting worse still. I thought it was an external parasite.

Question is what is this disease and how to treat? Also there are a few anthias in there with him that do not have a trace of it on them. Are they safe to put in the display tank before I continue treating the CBB?

Thanks in advance!

 

[RBU1]

Interesting...

Is the fish eating? Almost looks like Lymph with carbon dust on it....

 

[Chris27]

It's hard to say, bacterial or fungal....the fins don't look frayed or bloody, so maybe a fungal treatment is in order, the meds are easy on the fish and won't take out a bio-filter so it wouldn't be a bad idea to give it a shot before moving to an antibiotic.

 

[jedheuer]

Interesting...

Is the fish eating? Almost looks like Lymph with carbon dust on it....

Yes fish is eating well.

 

[jedheuer]

It's hard to say, bacterial or fungal....the fins don't look frayed or bloody, so maybe a fungal treatment is in order, the meds are easy on the fish and won't take out a bio-filter so it wouldn't be a bad idea to give it a shot before moving to an antibiotic.

Yes fins were not frayed or wounded at all. What do you recommend for fungal treatment?

 

[RBU1]

If the fish is eating and acting normal I would keep the water quality superb and monitor for a little while before treating for anything,

 

[jedheuer]

If the fish is eating and acting normal I would keep the water quality superb and monitor for a little while before treating for anything,

Will continue doing this.

Update is fish is still doing well, eating and seems to have leveled off on the bumps spreading. Going to minimize stress and keep him well fed.

My hunch is that the disease is Lymphocystis. Found some pics on other threads that looked similar. Also found this info from other thread:

Lymphocystis is a common infectious virus hosted by freshwater and saltwater fishes which causes cells to enlarge many times their normal size. It is usually found on the fish skin and fins. After residing on its host for 4 weeks or more, the Lymphocystis cells rupture or fall off the host, spreading the infected cells in the water. The cells then either lie dormant or reattach to another host via a break in the skin or fins, or in the gills.

The good news is:

* We can identify this disease fairly readily.
* Death from the virus itself is rare.

The bad news is Lymphocystis, at the present time:

* Has no cure.
* Appears to be contagious, spreading to other fish of the same or closely related species.
* The virus enters the fish's body through openings (injuries) in the fins, skin and gills.
* Spreads fairly rapidly on the affected fish.
* Death is usually caused by secondary bacterial or fungal infection.

Garlic has no effect on Lymphocystis or any other fish disease but good nutrition more often than not will cause a fish to survive Lymphocystis. There is anecdotal evidence that garlic affects fish appetite but there is no real scientific evidence of this.

Anybody agree or disagree with the diagnosis? Also should I keep the anthias in QT as well. It says above that it will spread to fish of same or closley related species. I have no other butterflys so Im thinking I would be safe to add the anthias to the display??

 

[Blitzburggirl]

Well, how is the fish?

 

[jedheuer]

Update: The fish is doing very well. I put him in the display last weekend. As of today he is swimming around eating well on mysis and frozen black worms. All trace of the disease is gone. I believe it was lymphocyctis brought on by shipping stress. I left him in the QT until all the cysts were off. The prazipro treatment didn't help with the cysts but did help with what I think was a fluke on his side. I didn't treat with anything else, just left the disease run its course. There were a few chunks of the black cysts left on him but they looked withered like they were dead. My Scarlett shrimps went to town on him and I think sped up the healing process picking off the remainder of the cysts and the damaged flesh around the cyst sites. Anyways I am glad he made it and hope he continues to do well.

 

[RBU1]

Great to hear

 

[Blitzburggirl]

Wow! Interesting Congratulations!! I would have been concerned about putting him in the display that quickly.. but then again I'm anal retentive.. LMAO

 

[jedheuer]

Yea, I was a little nervous about it but it appeared that the disease had run its course. Also everything I read said that the virus spreads to other fish of the same species or close to it. I had no other butterfly's so that eased my mind a bit. I also wanted the cleaners to do their work on him which ended up helping with the recovery. All in all he was in QT for a about 6 weeks.