Single Large White Spot

[djmatthewblack]

One of my gourami's has had this large spot for about 2 weeks now. It kind of looked like a pimple at first but now it has made the area sore and torn looking. I have him isolated and I am treated with Mardel, which is chelated copper sulfate. Suppose to be anti-fungal/anti parasite.

I feel bad for letting it go this long untreated. I will probably raise the water temp tomorrow.

[PhishPhreek]

http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/information/Diseases.htm

Lymphocystis
Symptoms: Nodular white swellings (cauliflower) on fins or body.

Lymphocystis is a virus and, being a virus, affects the cells of the fish. It usually manifests itself as abnormally large white lumps (cauliflower) on the fins or other parts of the body. It can be infectious, but is usually not fatal. Unfortunately, there is no cure. Fortunately, this is a rare disease.
There are two suggested treatments. One treatment is to remove and destroy the infected fish as soon as possible. The other treatment is to simply separate the infected fish for several months and hope for remission, which usually does occur.

Glugea and Henneguya
Symptoms: Similar to Lymphocystis, the fish will have nodular white swellings on fins or body.

Glugea and Henneguya are sporozoans that form large cysts on the fish's body and release spores. Luckily, these diseases are very rare. The fish bloat up, with tumor like protrusions, and eventually die.
No cure, as of yet. It is best to destroy the infected fish before the spores can spread.

[Complexity]

This link is to a thread with a lot of excellent pictures of fish diseases (so much so that some of the pictures are difficult to look at). It's originally in Spanish, but the link includes a google translation into English which works well. It takes a while to load. Pictures are found on pages 1 and 2 of the thread.

http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.drpez.net%2Fpanel%2Fshowthread.php%3Ft%3D167187&sl=es&tl=en&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

[Complexity]

Another translated thread from the same site. This one has some very good pics of what they think is Glugea and Henneguya. It might help you to compare what's in the pictures with what you're seeing on your fish.

http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.drpez.net%2Fpanel%2Fshowthread.php%3Ft%3D331289&sl=es&tl=en&hl=&ie=UTF-8

[djmatthewblack]

It's hard for me to say if it is glugea or lymph, but the white spot has gotten much smaller and the area is healing up. More importantly, it didn't spread to anyone in the main tank. I don't know what it is, but the Mardel worked well. Sometimes I guess you just get lucky in guessing on a treatment. Thank you for the help.