Lympphocyctis in green bird wrasse?

[dgwyn]

I received a mature green bird wrasse that I now have in my tank that has a growth on it's long snout. When I read through this site, http://www.chucksaddiction.com/disease.html there's a picture of a wrasse that looks very similar to my fish, a picture of which is attached. The site suggests it's lymphocyctis virus, but all definitions suggest that it's white spots. What is this thing on it's "snout"? My water parameters are much better than that which it came from, and yet it's starting to grow, and is now hanging in its mouth. I'm afraid it will impact its eating ability. Please help!

[sihaya]

Viral infections can cause growths... um, if it were me, I'd just wait and see what happens for awhile.  Now that it's in a better environment, it might get better all on it's own.  You said you're not sure if it's affecting its eating ability... I'd definitely find that out.  See if it is eating.  If it's eating normally, then it might not be much to worry about for now.

[dgwyn]

Thanks for the reply. It is still a voracious eater. However, the "thing" is starting to grwo into its mouth. That's why I'm trying to find a way to solve the problem.

[Teric]

If Lymphocyctis is what I think it is, the growth looks like a pimple of some sort. I once had a bannerfish that had that kind of growth around its mouth area. Its one of those diseases where you have to let the fishes immune system overcome it. Either that, or take it out and manually scrape it off with a razor blade which I wouldn't recommend. But anyways it took about 3 weeks for it to go away.

[dgwyn]

Thanks for the reply. Unfortanately, this fish has had this affliction for many, many months. I've had the fish since June, which is when that picture was taken. It's gotten a bit bigger since then, not smaller, unfortunately.

[Teric]

According to my book "The Marine Fish Health & Feeding Handbook", it says that if exposed to copper it can incite the disease. This disease usually develops because of stress in the shipping and handling. Lymphocystis can last anywhere from a few weeks to a few months(depending on the fish of course). Looks like you have one of the rare cases because this says that Tangs and Wrasses are pretty resistant to this virus. The good news is, the book says this virus is not a fish killer. I guess the best thing to do is to let the virus run its course and leave it up to the fishes immune system. The other option also is to manually cut the tissue off but that might do more harm that good.

Do you have garlic or vitamins you can add with the food you feed? That might help out some.