Secondary Infection with Lympho - possible parasites
 

Since I haven't received any responses over in the Betta Disease subforum, I figured I would post this here for some opinions. I'm not a great fish vet...

Housing
What size is your tank? 1 gal QT
What temperature is your tank? 80F
Does your tank have a filter? no
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? no
Is your tank heated? yes
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? none

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? NLS
How often do you feed your betta fish? 2x daily

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? 2x week
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 100%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Prime

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?

Ammonia: 0 ppm (just changed water last night)
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 0 ppm
pH: 6.5
GH: 3
KH: 2

Symptoms and Treatment - answered in paragraph below
How has your betta fish's appearance changed?
How has your betta fish's behavior changed?
When did you start noticing the symptoms?
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how?
Does your fish have any history of being ill?
How old is your fish (approximately)?

We diagnosed my male veiltail with lymphocystis a few months back. He has been in strict QT ever since. About a week ago I noticed he was acting lethargic and clamping. I come to find out his heater had failed on me. I got him a new one, but that did nothing to alleviate his lethargy and clamping. About 3 days ago I noticed he would periodically rub against the thermometer and oak leaves (I keep in all of my tanks for the tannins). I can see nothing visible on his body aside from the lympho infection.

I have on hand AQ salt and can salt his tank tonight. I'm worried that he either has a secondary parasite infection or what we had diagnosed as lympho was actually a parasite. Shortly after he was first diagnosed he went through 7 days of salt treatment that appeared to have no effect on the site. I have included a picture of his infection taken in March. His only history of disease is minor fin rot and tail biting. He is about a year old now.

Please advise. Thank you.

If it is lympho virus, I'm pretty sure that the best you can do is to up the water changes to at least every other day and then when it sloughs off, you might want to treat to prevent secondary bacterial infection.

A little AQ salt with each water change is a good idea but keep in mind that the salt never leaves the water so only add enough for 1 gallon at a time (assuming you're doing 100% water changes). If changing out 50% of the water, only add dose per 1/2 gallon etc...

What makes you think it's a parasite rather than lympho?

I'm thinking that it might be a parasite (or a secondary infection of a parasite) due to the clamping and occasional flashing. He is still eating, pooing, and flaring just fine. I will up the water changes and add salt for another 7 days to see what happens. Could the periodic bouts of flashing be him trying to rub the lympho lump off? It has grown since that picture. Unfortunately today is overcast so I can't get any good pictures of it.

One last thing: when he flashes it appears he focuses more on his head and upper body versus his abdomen and caudal peduncle where the infection site is.

If he is hitting the head area more than the body-it could be gill flukes or something irritating that...I don't use medications so I can't recommend anything-all I use is fresh crushed garlic in the food 3 times a day for 6 weeks. Just salt wouldn't do much for flukes....

Would Prazi (prizantiquel) work? I have a lot due to its helpfulness with QT-ing goldfish. I feed him NLS. Is the garlic in that enough or should I soak his food in garlic juice?

Garlic is something my house never lacks. It's my mother's favorite ingredient... along with wine!

Me and your mother would get along perfectly :)

Garlic is fast becoming my favorite ingredient now, too. The ticks are out in full force! Eat more garlic!!

I have garlic juice from a jar of sliced garlic, however it has phosphoric acid in it. Is this still safe to use?

I wouldn't take the chance. Just crush a few cloves of fresh garlic and let them steep in some room temp. water - if tap water, add a few drops of conditioner first. Then use that juice to soak your pellets in for at least 5 minutes before feeding.

OFL makes her own fish food with blanched spinach, fresh garlic, and raw shrimp. Mush up into a paste and freeze.

My fish loved loved loved this food. I really have to make some more soon.

Sad news. He refused food this morning. I tried Prazi Pro, but to no avail. He died some time during dinner. I've been very careful not to spread this disease to my others, but at least I'm armed with Prazi if I do start to see any signs. After my 14-year-old cat in April and now Poofer, I'm feeling down. Fighting for a life and losing twice in a row makes you pretty depressed.

I'm so sorry to hear that :( I know how it feels...this past summer/fall I lost my last few bettas (just old age fortunately) and my cat who was only 11 years old and somehow ended up with an inoperable eye tumor :( So I just want to let you know you have my condolences and I hope all of your other fish continue to do well.