Lymph or no?

Titleist · Sep 18, 2020

Been a while since I've had an issue, not sure if this is lymph or something else. Far away it appears as grey spots on only the fins at the moment, on closer look with pics it looks like there's something there sucking on the fins and causing the spots. On a powder blue I recently had in quarantine, the fish had a few grey spots on the fins that went away so from what I could see and could find I came to the conclusion it was lymph.

This look like lymph or something else to you guys? Only on the fins, newer addition, recently into DT. Quarantined with no visual signs and did no prophylactic treatments as it looked great for it's time in the QT.

MetaKnight101 · Sep 18, 2020

Are the grey spots flat? Do any of your other fish experience the same symptoms currently. Lymph looks a bit different in my opinion. It could either be flukes or just scratches. Though more pictures or a video would be nice.

Titleist · Sep 18, 2020

They appear as grey, pigment missing spots on fins. When looking at these pics closely though it looks like there's a fluke or something in the center or some solid pest in the middle of the spot. Not on any other fish at the moment, fish activity is fine and eats well. This pic alone took several burst shots just to get the poor clarity in this pic. It's a fast mover when the phone comes out. I sat there for 5 minutes with the phone a little more than a foot from the tank and I zoomed in. It still kept darting around so it obviously has excellent eyesight and isn't happy with the phone. Me is ok, phone not so much.

This is a mimic tang btw with the spots. Took about 3 days of being in the DT for this to show up.

SaltyT · Sep 18, 2020

Try a freshwater dip for diagnostic purposes to see if anything falls off your tang.

Titleist · Sep 18, 2020

Yah I'm prepping some RO now. I really hate to stress it again 3 days after hitting the DT, not to mention the rest of the tank when I have to fish it out but it's better than nothing. I'm gonna try and get a macro shot if I can get it to sit still long enough and see. Also though maybe battling with another fish but this is only on the fins.

Jay Hemdal · Sep 18, 2020

Yeah, not Lymphocystis. I don’t think it is flukes either. I’m wondering if it might be parasitic copepods? I’ve seen lesions like this on other fish that turned out to be argulus. That said, I’ve not seen these on tangs before.
Jay

Titleist · Oct 4, 2020

Dipping didn't do it. Seems to be in different places on the fins now, possibly bacterial?

Gonna try some Kanaplex and if that doesn't do it I'll just let it ride for a while longer and see if it clears up.

Jay Hemdal · Oct 4, 2020

Titleist said:
Dipping didn't do it. Seems to be in different places on the fins now, possibly bacterial?

Gonna try some Kanaplex and if that doesn't do it I'll just let it ride for a while longer and see if it clears up.

Are there more spots now, or just different locations? Yes, I think you should conisder an antibiotic treatment at this pont.

Jay

Titleist · Oct 4, 2020

Less, in different locations. Tissue still appears in good condition just the pigment is gone. Tissue where spots were now have pigment back. I was wondering if this is something that may happen during maturity color changes in the fins?

Jay Hemdal · Oct 4, 2020

Titleist said:
Less, in different locations. Tissue still appears in good condition just the pigment is gone. Tissue where spots were now have pigment back. I was wondering if this is something that may happen during maturity color changes in the fins?

No, that isn't normal. However, that doesn't mean that the issue is seriously abnormal either. I seem to recall seeing this before, years ago, but I just can't remember the outcome, or what I thought it was (too many fish, too many diseases!).
If the spots are resolving and getting fewer in overall number, you might want to just ride this out then, since it seems to be going in the right direction...

Jay