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I’ve a female White Cloud Mountain Minnow with a very odd-looking growth on it’s nose. Actually, it appears to have grown out of it’s left nostril (and no, it's not snot). It’s roundish, off-white in color, seems solid, and has grown to about the same size as the WCMM’s eye. It does not look like any picture of parasites I’ve been able to find, or fungus I've seen. Sorry, pics not possible at the moment.

When it first presented, I isolated the fish and treated with an anti-fungal medication (believing it to be a fungus) for ten days. I then tried MelaFix and PimaFix. After six weeks in the hospital tank she was still eating and behaving normally. The growth had not increased in size since the first week, so I returned her to the community tank – where she is still alive and well.

Now, 3 months later, a second WCMM female has a small whitish growth coming out of her right nostril. Other than this growth, she appears fine. What is going on here? Has anybody ever seen or heard of something like this? The fish appear to be okay – the first has even spawned since this began.

The tank is a planted 40 gallon breeder (36 x 18 x 16 inches) with 8 WCMM, 5 Phantom Tetra, 4 adult and 10 juvenile Bronze Corys, and 1 American flagfish. It’s been up and running for 10 months. I am on well water. Water parameters are:
pH 7.7
GH 4
KH 5
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5 – 10
Temp. 76 F

I do a 35-40% water change every 7 to 10 days. What is this and should I be concerned? Thanks.

Wow - that is odd. What anti-fungal did you try before the melafix and pimafix?

It was Maracyn Plus. The instructions call for treatments on day 1, 3, and 5. I did two courses of this, but only one week of PimaFix and MelaFix. Is there something else I might try?

Can you try to get pictures? Does it have any pinky flesh color or appearance of veins? If so, it could be lymphocystis.

Does it look solid or does it "wave" when the fish is moving. I'm thinking if it waves, it could be excess slime or mucous coming from the nasal cavity. Or, it could be something like a columnaris infection.

Waterborne antibiotics aren't always the best for something that is internal. They are ok if it is on the surface, but if it is an infection deeper in, it may require oral meds.

You may want to try feeding them the new Jungle Anti-Bacteria Medicated Food. It should be more widely available now, if you are in the US. It was only available in Petsmart and Jungle claimed the end of this month it would be more widely distributed.

I'm also thinking about a heavy salt treatment in quarantine, wondering if it is parasite based. I don't know how tolerant white clouds are of salt, but many fish can withstand higher doses, provided it is taken up very gradually.

1 Tbsp of salt per gallon is considered a 0.3% solution. With goldfish we divide that into three and dose each one 12 hours apart. I would take a different route with the white clouds. If you put 1 Tbsp per gallon into a disposable glad container with holes poked into the lid, you can sink it and the salt will dissolve extremely slow. If you have a wide container where more salt can make contact with the water it will dissolve faster. If you pack it into a narrow container it will dissolve slower. I'd use a container that is capable of holding about 1-2 cups of water.

0.3% salt solution can kill a good many parasites.

The only thing is that you will want to watch your fish as the full amount is finally dissolving. I'm going to estimate that it would take about 5-6 days to fully dissolve. That's much slower than 3 doses of 0.1% over 36 hours. Gradually increasing salinity is the key to enabling fish to tolerate high doses.

If that doesn't work, then we can try to treat it as if it is lymphocystis. This is wart like and can be disfiguring. It is often referred to as cauliflower disease.

More recent research shows some slight promise with a particular drug. For more, read this from Koivet, Doc Johnson and note how he "changes his mind" with regards to whether it works. Most of what you read on it says it is untreatable. This may be changing.

http://www.koivet.com/html/articles/articles_details.php?article_id=96


Last edited by Cory_Di at 31-Jan-2005 09:59

Thanks Cory Di, I do believe you’ve nailed it as lymphocystis. It does have a slight pink color to it (but no veins that I can see) and appears solid. Wart-like and cauliflower is an accurate description of it. I checked out the website you linked and Googled a few others that had some pictures to compare with too.

I’m going to give the Neutral Acriflavine a try (hoping I can find it), as very close examination tonight looks like the lymphocystis might be having an effect on her mouth and eating. Plus I’d like to stop it on the second WCMM before it spreads. I’ll post with the results of that treatment.

Thanks again Cory_Di, you’re help is greatly appreciated.

Limpet - please do this in quarantine. YOu don't want to expose fish to Acriflavine unless necessary, especially if you have scaleless fish in there. Use the guidelines mentioned by Doc Johnson. It sounds like there is success, but it takes a long treatment. If it is by any chance bacterial, it will help as well.

Keep us posted on progress. It is always good to hear back, especially should you find shrinkage in a few weeks.