PlanetCatfish.com

One of my little otocinclus, Dyson, seems to have some problems at the moment. I've had her about a year, she's grown a great deal since I got her-she's about 2 1/2 " long now. Over the past few days she seems to have developed a growth behind her eyes, on both sides. It doesn't look sore or bloody and she has been acting normally. However the growth seems to get noticeably bigger everyday! It is now about two milimetres on each side and looks a little bit like a cauliflower. It's not fungus or something that's attached to her-it's actually a part of Dyson. I'm a very worried about it but haven't been able to find any information anywhere! I have to admit I don't know a great deal about catfish, I keep fancy goldies, but I'm very attached to Dyson and would love to fix her. Please can you help?

Your oto is suffering from lymphocystis, a viral disease.
Not much you can do except to quarantine it and hope that the oto's immune system is strong enough to fight it.

Lordy. Where did it come from? Will it affect my goldies?

I had a platy with lymphocysitis. If the fish can survive thru it for the virus to run its course, the lump will go away on its own. There is no known suitable dependable treatment for this disease, some have reverted to having the lumps cut off....but they usually reoccur.

My platy fully recovered from her bout with it, it took approximately 6 months from the first sign of the disease to the end (which was really only a few weeks ago) when I noticed that her lumps were gone. This virus is contagious and is often transmitted thru scrapes in the skin of the healthy fish, therefore I agree that this fish should be quarantined until better. Lots of clean, fresh water will help your fish stay healthy while its immune system is down. My platy was very susceptible to fungal infections and columnaris while she had the cysts and I had to keep her water conditions pristine with weekly 50% water changes. I have now adapted that methodology for all my tanks since it works so well!

Good luck!

Ok, I'll put Dyson in my 20 gallon hospital tank. She'll not like that-she's a social sort of fish! Oh well, it'll be best for her in the long run. She seems very healthy in every other respect and so hopefully the prognosis will be good. Thanks so much for your help