Copperband with Lymphocytes

[LeanneP]

I've had a copperband in quarentine that I purchased about a week and a half ago. A few days ago I noticed a spot on his tail fin which I think is lymphocytes. I know it is a virus and there is no treatment. Has anyone had experience with this? I am just a little worried about putting him in the display tank eventually if this is something that could come back again and affect my other fish. I have never had any diseases in my tank so not sure if I want to introduce this and have my other fish catch it.

[asylumdown]

yes. My first copper-band had it. How are you QTing? Mine got worse and worse while it was in QT, but the fish was fine. The QT's water quality wasn't exactly perfect however.

It cleared up within a couple weeks of going in the big tank with good water. No other fish in the display have ever shown symptoms. IMO, if the fish is eating and there's no other confounding issues in the tank (parasites, aggression, etc.), it's not really something to worry about and should clear up on it's own.

[George]

Lympho, as it is a virus, can be contagious. If I were you, I would wait until lympho disappears completely before putting the fish into DT. Then again lympho is rarely fatal (unless it grows on some critical body parts like around mouth or gills). So if you really want to put the fish in DT with lympho then go ahead.
Also it sounds like your fish has only been in QT for less than 2 weeks. Not sure what you are quarantine her for. 2 weeks are too soon for many diseases.
Good luck!

[LeanneP]

I just bought the fish a week and a half ago. That is why the fish is in quarantine. I am not ready to put it in the DT yet. Good to hear that it seems to go away and not come back. The fish is eating and seems healthy otherwise. I will wait for the spot to go away before putting it back in.

[asylumdown]

If your water quality in the QT is on point and you can get the fish eating well, you shouldn't have to worry, you can wait till it clears up. Only reason I put mine in the DT was because I was pretty much cycling the QT tank with a CBB (not recommended), I had already done a tank transfer protocol on it, and had treated it with prazipro. It's not generally considered dangerous for healthy fish, so it seemed the lesser of two evils.

For my guy it was such a non-event It wouldn't stop me from buying another fish that had signs of it if they were otherwise healthy and eating well.

Unrelated, but if you can get your CBB eating clams on the half shell (I buy a several week supply from the fish market and just freeze them), it will live a long, fat, happy life. They're easy to train on to them in QT since they have no competition, and it gives them something to focus their need to constantly forage on. IMO that reduces their stress level, which can only help clear the lymphocystis up faster.

[LeanneP]

Thanks for the tip on clams. I'll try that.