Sick Fish, Still Can't Find A Solution After Trying Two Medication

[coolfishguy12]

My German Blue Ram has had a cloudy eye and protruding white mass for some time now (see pictures). Two weeks ago I posted asking for help on the issue and decided to treat with herbal tonics (pimafix and melafix by API). After the recommended dosing I saw no change so I purchased some erythomycin antibiotic. The pictures below are from today after a full treatment of erythomycin, as you can see I still see no change. During this time I lost a female German blue ram to what I believe was dropsy, although the male doesn't show any signs of this.

Id really like to keep him but really don't know where to turn. The water parameters have been 0ppm ammonia, 0ppm nitrite, and normal levels of nitrates between water changes (10-30ppm). I've got him as well as two Amano shrimp in a 10 gallon tank. We moved three months ago and I think the issues have stemmed from stress caused by the move.

Any help or suggestions for treatment would be appreciated!!!!!

 

[Munroco]

Does he seem to be in distress? I could be that he  just swam into something and injured his eye rather than contracted a disease. I have a male apisto agassizi whos eye swelled up alarmingly. I watched him carefully and although it took quite a few weeks he recovered without any treatment. I'm pretty sure this is what happened to him, and although it looked awful, it didn't seem to bother him. Your fish appears to be in good health otherwise. I would just keep an eye on him.

 

[coolfishguy12]

What about the large mass on his side? I assumed it wasn't injury because of the fish I lost to dropsy a week ago.

 

[Munroco]

aaah sorry, I didn't spot that. It doesn't look like dropsy which is a more general bloating with scales typically sticking out. I'll leave it to others to advise on that, could be a parasite under the skin, but I'm just guessing.

 

[BiggTexx]

Appears to be a tumor of sorts.

 

[Byron]

I'm not going to suggest treatments as I have very limited experience and one has to be very cautious adding medications.  If this fish is in a QT, one can "experiment" with substances but not in a community tank unless the disease is fairly certain and the treatment is appropriate for this and the fish species.  I would expect that the treatments mentioned were ineffective for this issue, as you say they have been.
 
I have seen similar "growths," and in fact just euthanized a Lemon Tetra two days ago with something very much like this.  Without knowing exactly what it is, finding any effective treatment is hit and miss, and this can often cause considerable stress on the other healthy fish in the community tank.  In my experience, the few fish that have developed such tumours or whatever it is, never recover, and I see no point in prolonging a fish's life unnecessarily.  I am obviously concerned that it may be something that could spread.
 
Byron.

 

[Chad]

The problem I always have in diagnosing fish ailments is the commonality of symptoms across pathogens. So many diseases seem to produce the same or nearly identical visual cues. There is a virus called Lymphocystis that is pretty common and causes tumors. They often start out as lumps like shown and then get worse. As far as I am aware there is no cure but many fish fight and win the disease on their own. If it is this virus, or some other virus, or even a parasite, it can spread. 
 
I do recommend putting the fish in a quarantine tank to prevent spread to other fish. 
 
Beyond that I'm just not good enough to know which of the various things that can cause lumps this actually is. If a virus you just keep it healthy, if it's a bacterial infection you can use an antibiotic agent, if it's a parasite some antibiotics actually work as do copper treatments. 
 
As disease progresses it's easier to tell the root cause, until then it's best to isolate and monitor. 

 

[coolfishguy12]

Ok, I've been doing partial water changes every day until the Kanaplex arrived. It came in the mail yesterday, so I added the first dose last night.