Hi,

I had a beautiful calico Oranda who died a few days ago - he was my first goldie (had him for a little over a year) and I was very sad to lose him. He had unusual growths that I could not diagnose ?papilloma?lymphoma

About 3 weeks ago the day I left for vacation I noticed 2 growths on his back about 2 cm diam, same color as body, clustered like wen but more opaque. I did a water change (pH 6.8, ammonia 0.2, nitrites 0) readjusted pH, and instructed the pet sitter to continue a salt bath. When I returned 2 weeks later, the growth was the same, he was less active, and there were red streaks on the growths so did another water change and started maracyn 2. Over the next few days he became even less active, refused to eat, and on Saturday I came home to find him lying on his back on the bottom of the tank; he died about 20 minutes later.

He had a similar growth about 7 months ago on his wen; I treated the same (including maracyn for some red streaks on fins); the growths regressed in a couple of weeks; but that time he had always acted fine. Also, I moved 3 months ago (an 8-hour drive); kept him in a 10-gal cooler with me in the truck.

Does anyone know what he had or what I should have done? Many thx for your help - sorry for the lengthy message :-)

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Tank size(How many Gals) and How long has it been running? 20 gallons, 1 yr

How often do you change the water and how much? weekly, 25%. over vacation he went 2 weeks

Filtration? whisper 40 gal

Ph Level has tended to be a bit low at water changes (6.8 or so) but I add buffer or pH up according to bottle directions and retest until it's around 7.2 or so.

Water additives/conditioners? Amquel and Stress Coat

What do you feed your fish? flakes + pellets + daily peas (he has had swim bladder problems before)

How many fish in the tank and there size? Spot (goldie) was about 6 in long; 2 guppies (about 1.5 in each) and 2 mystery snails

Any new fish added to the tank? no - guppies added inbetween episodes about 4-5 months ago

Did your fish's affected area look like the enclosed pic?
Here's what I have saved about Lymphocystis.


Lymphocystis is not easily transmittible. If none of the fish have had
open wounds since this condition popped up, then the most likely way
for them to become infected would be to have ingested something
containing the virus (live food, etc.). Theoretically it is possible
that bits of the affected fish's wound could have come off into the
water and another fish ingested it, but the liklihood of this is very
slim, so barring the presence of any symptoms I would assume the other
fish are clean and wouldn't treat as a precaution.

The spot is approximately the diameter of a dime, and sticks out by a
little more than an 1/8 inch.(see pics)

Treatment with acriflavine
www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=4748&Ne=40000&R=11568&Nao=9&N=2004+113521

It does look similar to what he had, but larger. I will try to treat with acriflavine if this happens again.

Thanks for your thoughts.