White masses on body of albino channel cat

[bekateen]

Hi All,

A LFS near me is selling albino channel cats. Several of the fish are covered with relatively large white masses which appear to be embedded in the body. The spots look too big to be Ich, in my experience. The store has had these fish for several weeks; the fish had the bumps on arrival and still do. I don't know what treatments the fish have received, if any. Does anybody recognize this? Are they fish lice or mites?

Thanks, Eric

https://youtu.be/9lB2GdVLvnk

[Viktor Jarikov]

The lice I've encountered, if it was them, would move around, not stay in one spot. If not in a hurry, they move slowly, ~an inch in 10-30 sec, but can move much faster.

[bekateen]

Hi Victor,

Thanks for the input. Honestly, I don't stay in the fish store long enough to witness any movement, and I don't think the employees are paying much attention.

If these are lice, what is the preferred treatment? If they aren't lice, does anybody know what could cause such large bumps?

Thanks,
Eric

[bekateen]

I spoke to the LFS manager and he believes these are tumors. They appear to be on about 4-5 of the albinos in the tank, but none of the normally pigmented channel cats in the tank have any bumps. At this time, the manager said he's doing nothing to treat them because he believes they are not contagious, and they don't appear to be inhibiting the fish's behaviors.

[Bioaquatix]

They appear to be digenetic trematode. They occur in fish raised outdoors in ponds. Here in Florida fish farmers call them bird worms. It is part of the life cycle of the trematode and really has no effective cure. I think you might be able to kill the trematode with prazi but the cyst would then become necrotic. This would eventually lead to its death.

v

[bekateen]

Thanks, I'll pass that along to the LFS.