Tumor on my Tiger Pleco

[SuperWanda]

Hi - I am usually posting on the dog forum. Never knew there was a fish section - not very observant.

I have a picture here - not the clearest - but it shows some sort of tumor on my Tiger Pleco. This guy must be at least 15 years old so he's been around for awhile. Just wondering if anyone happens to know what this is or what causes it. It seems pretty slow growing and looks pinkish in color - kind of like human flesh.

[Sneaky]

Hi Wanda,
great picture. The disease your pleco has is called Lymphocystitus.
It is a disease that causes large, pink or whitish cauliflower like growths just as in your picture.
It is believed to be a viral disease, or genetically caused. There is no cure for this disease. Some fish can live a long time unaffected by it, other dies because of complications.

You could try treating with a broad spectrum antibiotic to rule out anything bacterial but my bet is on Lymphocystitus.
If you do want to try treating for it, you will need to isolate the fish in a quarantine tank, and treat with both gram positive and gram negative antibiotics. Id recommend a combination of Maracyn and Maracyn 2.
If you want to go one med or cant find those, go with Furan 2 or Triple Sulfa.
If you can only find one Maracyn, go with Maracyn 2.

[SuperWanda]

Thank you Sneaky - I couldn't find much information elsewhere about it.

[MyBirdIsEvil]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lymphocystis
http://www.tropicalresources.net/php...er_disease.php

There's some more info.

I'm not completely convinced that's what it is, mostly because of the type of fish, but I don't have any better suggestions.
It could, like you originally suggested, be some kind of tumor. It could have also been caused by some kind of irritant.

Either way I can't suggest any type of treatment because I'm not completely sure what it is.

[Sneaky]

Lymphocistitus can affect any kind of fish, and can also affect
tropical freshwater frogs and snails as well.
I think this is why a lot of scientists think it may be a viral issues.
Ive had it 3 times, once in a rainbowfish, once in a tetra, and once in a cory catfish.
Its becoming more common these days, probably due to the overmedication of commercially bred fish.
A fellow in my aquarium club has a Boesmani rainbowfish with this disease, to the extent where it has pretty much taken over the whole head and back of the fish. He is trying to treat it with a variety of meds, and having worked his way through every commercially available treatment, is now moving into
therapeutic and natural treatments. Nothing so far seems to be helping.
It seems very common in rainbowfish and tetras, less in other species,
sometimes it spreads to other fish, sometimes not.

I would always recommend an antiobiotic treatment first, just to rule out infections and anything bacterial, but if it doesnt respond to treatment it usually suggests it is lymphocistitus.

[MyBirdIsEvil]

I've read that it doesn't affect catfish, and that it rarely affects them, but I've never seen it on a catfish either way. (not saying it doesn't, that's just in my experience)

I guess it's kind of like NTD. Most common in tetras but can kill any fish.

I don't know about overmedication being the culprit, but because of overbreeding a lot of diseases are becoming much more common. Farming is one of the worst things because there's no selective breeding, they're just breeding for sheer number, but even with aquariumbred fish it's a problem.