Lumpy Clown

[Mental1]

I have probably a 3/4 year old naked clown who developed this funny spot near her fin/gill. It looked all white and fungally so I have had her in a QT tank now with prozipro for 28 days. Should have killed any potential parasite and during its whole cycle. All of the white fungally stuff is gone but the lump is still there though and I am wondering what to do next. I am cleaning the prozipro out of the tank with water changes and carbon.

There is nothing there but a lump, the skin is normal color, there is no lesion nor cut, not even a mark. Just this lump. She is easting and acting fine and has all along. Poos are normal - no white stringy stuff -- just fine.

As I see it the options are:
1/ put her back in the dt
2/ treat with melafix
3/ treat with Jungle internal parasite

Any other thoughts? What would you do?

[b0bab0ey]

Hard to say w/o seeing a pic. Melafix is just snake oil IMO, and I haven't used any of Jungle's products since my f/w days. If I suspect something bacterial or fungal, I treat with Maracyn 1 & 2. Prazipro is supposedly only good for treating internal parasites/worms, like Flukes.

I def wouldn't put her back in the DT until you know for sure what you're dealing with here...

[Mental1]

Agreed -- just can't decide what to do next. Maracyn 2 is the antifungal and I don't see anything fungal. Wondering about some kind of antibacterial. I think I will just sit tight and keep feeding her good stuff for now. I can't get a decent picture for some reason! Too wiggly!

[MechEng99]

Fungal infections on reef fish are rare...it's more likely a bacterial infection. I'd treat with a broad spectrum antibiotic until you know if it's gram positive or gram negative. Pics would help.

[RegalAngel]

Do a search for Lymphocystis and see if it appears it could be that.

[Mental1]

I actually did that because that was my first assessment. But it doesn't fit the symptoms. Usually there is involvement of the fins and there are multiple spots. Neither of these occurred. I really am not sure what to do.

[b0bab0ey]

IMO, nothing you can do except keep her in QT and observe until you have some idea of what you might be dealing with here. Like someone said already, pics would help us help you.

[Mental1]

Here's a picture of where she started. The white is now gone and there is a lump. I have a really hard time getting a good picture but I will try and take one of what it looks like now.

[Mental1]

BTW -- that picture was taken after 1 week of prozipro so was reduced in size a little bit. It took a full 3 weeks for the white stuff to go away completely. The I decided to do another week to see if the lump would go away but it was unchanged.

[MrTuskfish]

I have probably a 3/4 year old naked clown who developed this funny spot near her fin/gill. It looked all white and fungally so I have had her in a QT tank now with prozipro for 28 days. Should have killed any potential parasite and during its whole cycle. All of the white fungally stuff is gone but the lump is still there though and I am wondering what to do next. I am cleaning the prozipro out of the tank with water changes and carbon.

There is nothing there but a lump, the skin is normal color, there is no lesion nor cut, not even a mark. Just this lump. She is easting and acting fine and has all along. Poos are normal - no white stringy stuff -- just fine.

As I see it the options are:
1/ put her back in the dt
2/ treat with melafix
3/ treat with Jungle internal parasite

Any other thoughts? What would you do?

I agree with RegalAngel above, may be Lymphocystis.
Prazi-Pro is a de-wormer; it won't kill " any potential parasite" . Given the initial symptoms, I have no idea why you used it.

[b0bab0ey]

When I first saw the pic, the first thing that popped into my head is, "that's an ulcer". Check out these two threads for more info:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1846660&highlight=ulcer

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1578180&highlight=ulcer

I don't think it's Brooklynella. But still, you might wanna read this thread:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=135372

So, IMO, the clownfish probably has an ulcer. Let's see if others chime in to agree or disagree. That might at least give you a consensus of what's wrong here.

[keving]

I would watch it; it may go down on its own. as long as its not getting bigger and the fish is eating and behaving "normally" you are better of not subjecting it to further meds

[Mental1]

Mr. Tuskfish: Just to be clear I think prozipro treats both internal and external parasites.

Prozipro: For use any time unwanted parasites are noticed or introduction is probable. Absorbed readily by all fish for effective control of disease conditions caused by common external and internal parasites. Offers rapid control of flukes, tapeworm, flatworm, and other internal parasites without negatively impacting your biological filtration.

I called and talked to the people at Fishy Pharmacy, described what was happening and she immediately suggested Prozipro because both of us felt that there was some kind of parasitic infection that had created a sore and the white stuff was a secondary fungal infection. There was a small red dot in the middle at one point. That's why I chose to use prozipro. She actually said 14 days and I decided to 28 days to cover the reproductive cycle period of many parasites.

b0bab0y -- thanks for the links -- too bad many of the pictures were no longer there. Glad I am not the only one struggling to get clown pics! Not convinced of the ulcer thing because prozipro would not have had an impact. However, she's not hosting anything so if that caused the problem initially the QT would affect that.

Keving -- when I got home last night I had a hard time seeing the lump let alone getting a picture. So I think it is going down on its own. I was very reluctant to do any more meds. But I am loading all her food with GVH...

I guess if it continues to shrink and go away then I put her back in the DT. If it shows up again then it is possibly an ulcer related to whatever she is hosting. I kind of doubt that though because of the spot where it was on her body....

[MrTuskfish]

Mr. Tuskfish: Just to be clear I think prozipro treats both internal and external parasites.

Prozipro: For use any time unwanted parasites are noticed or introduction is probable. Absorbed readily by all fish for effective control of disease conditions caused by common external and internal parasites. Offers rapid control of flukes, tapeworm, flatworm, and other internal parasites without negatively impacting your biological filtration.

I called and talked to the people at Fishy Pharmacy, described what was happening and she immediately suggested Prozipro because both of us felt that there was some kind of parasitic infection that had created a sore and the white stuff was a secondary fungal infection. There was a small red dot in the middle at one point. That's why I chose to use prozipro. She actually said 14 days and I decided to 28 days to cover the reproductive cycle period of many parasites.

b0bab0y -- thanks for the links -- too bad many of the pictures were no longer there. Glad I am not the only one struggling to get clown pics! Not convinced of the ulcer thing because prozipro would not have had an impact. However, she's not hosting anything so if that caused the problem initially the QT would affect that.

Keving -- when I got home last night I had a hard time seeing the lump let alone getting a picture. So I think it is going down on its own. I was very reluctant to do any more meds. But I am loading all her food with GVH...

I guess if it continues to shrink and go away then I put her back in the DT. If it shows up again then it is possibly an ulcer related to whatever she is hosting. I kind of doubt that though because of the spot where it was on her body....


Makes a lot of sense now. When I saw "any potential parasite"; I assumed ich, brook, velvet and similar parasites, which account for the majority of posts on this forum. Of course, Prazi won't touch them. My not reading closely enough, happens a lot. Calling the distributor is a good move. IMO, there are so many mfg and other sources that we fail to use enough.

[Mental1]

I really appreciated all of the folks who jumped in on this thread so I wanted to tell you the outcome. I kept the clown in the QT for a total of 6 weeks -- the last two weeks without meds. There was still a small lump but I thought it was shrinking so I put her back in the DT. A couple of days later the white fuzzy stuff was back on the lump and, as you can imagine, I was cursing. In the meantime I had a fuzzy lion get sick and had to set up a QT for him and I could not handle two QTs. So I just kept an eye on the clown. The white stuff kept going and I was not happy. Then one day I was looking at her and I thought -- wait a minute -- she looks different. Well the white fuzzy stuff and the lump is gone. So I don't know if she needed to push the rest of the stuff out of her system or what but she is now fine and swimming happily.

I was so delighted to have success!