Nodules on both side of face

[Bofadez]

Problem

1. Please explain the problems with your fish. When did you notice the problems and did anything unusual happen that you think started them?
Noticed the two bumps 1 day ago (8/5). Nothing unusual preceding.

2. Symptoms (i.e. turning dark, excess slime, not eating, clamped fins, flashing, darting, clamped gills, white/yellow/green poop, hiding, headstanding or tailstanding, white on tips of fins, rotting or fungus, blisters/white zits on fish, bloated, cloudy eyes, wounds).
Two blisters/zits. One on each side of the face near the mouth. No other symptoms. Feeding strong. Fecal matter normal. Behavior normal.

3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment.
In HT with salt of 1tbs/5g


Tank/Water

4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.
65G
2 juvinial discus (3")
3 pristila tetra
3 Serba tetra
5 Rummynose tetra
2 cardinal tetra
2 emerald cory
1 clown pleco (2.5-3")

Tank is planted

5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
30-50% based on nitrate level every 2-3 days

6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?
2 years
sand 2-3"

7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.
no
1

8. Parameters and water source;
municipal from RO plant and well

Note: Water Parameters are important in diagnosing problems within a tank. If you don't own test kits for the following information, you can purchase them, test your parameters and post this info as soon as possible.


- temp __83___

- ph _7.8____

- ammonia reading __0__

- nitrite reading __0__

- nitrate reading _5___

What type of water or combinations of water sources do you use? If it is an RO/tap/well water mix, please list percentages in the mix.

- well water ____

- municipal water __X__ See above

- RO water ____


9. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently.
no

10. Please tell us what you feed your fish and how often. This can be critical information for solving the problem so be as specific as you can.
Tetrasmart Flakes in the morning
The Lunchbox frozen bloodworms in the evening. Just switched over to Hikari frozen bloodworms (8/6)


11. Include any pictures or videos you have which shows the symptoms. If you can't add them to this post, please provide a link to them.
057a.jpg
028a.jpg
033a.jpg
046a.jpg
055a.jpg
056a.jpg
I am not sure what I'm dealing with. I have a plethora of meds that I can use if need be I just want to make sure I get it on my first attempt.

I had a ram that just recently passed with a similar condition but it was on the lateral line near the head. It started off as raised white nodule and then progressed to spread a bit and and turned into more of a lesion but never a fully open sore. I tried going the gentle route with salt pima and mela but no improvement by day 3. I then moved to furan2 and the fish stopped eating on day 2 and passed morning of day 4.

This has a similarity in color and initial size of node. I have not autopsied the dead ram yet but will more than likely take a biopsy of infected site if I think Im going to have to get a skin scrape from the discus.

Discus is in HT with 1tbs/5g salt. I am considering using just a general cure since im not sure what I'm dealing with but not sure which one to use that I have.
API General Cure (metro with prazi)
Tetra Lifeguard (1-chloro-2, 2, 5, 5-tetramethyl-4-imidazolidinone)
Tetracycline

I'm leaning towards the General Cure. If I hadn't just lost the ram I would go salt and water changes but I feel this might need something a little stronger.

[White Worm]

I would go with the general cure. It's 250mg of metro and 75mg of prazi per packet. 1 packet treats 10g.

[Bofadez]

Update
Didn't treat right away because nothing changed.
Is still eating and acting normal.
Smaller node turned slightly red 3 days ago.

Keeping 1tbs/5g salt in HT.
Started furan2 treatment and in 3rd day of treatment. No change in the bumps. Starting to think it might be lymphocystis. Picture looks close to the one on badman's site.

Will run course of furan2. Will consider tryng metro next after a break to see if the bumps respond it.

Not sure what to do with fish if nothing changes after both rounds of meds.

[Bofadez]

Well by end of day 3 started to notice difference and 6 days total bumps were gone. Still not sure what or why.

[jmf3460]

OP, zits or pimples are common discus problems. THey do not normally require medication, and are simply a water quality issue. Usually if your discus forms the pimple, it is a signal that water quality is off. if you put "pimple" in the SD search bar, you will find a ton of threads on it and they all boil down to water quality (ie, change more water)

[Bofadez]

I did that and found a multitude of causes as you stated. I didn't initially treat just in case it was a water quality issue. The discus was in HT for a week with no visable signs of improvement. It wasn't until the smaller spot started to redden that I decided to treat. F2, whether it was coincidence or not, made a difference. In 4 treatments they were gone and I contunued another 2 just in case.

We are never sure of causes unless we do a biopsy or autopsy. Even trying to evaluate based on pictures vs seeing person is tough for something like this. Based upon all the pictues I had looked at concering zits or pimples the only thing that came close was from badman's site which was undetermined. They remained clear with no white or puss. Only change or other sympton was reddening on the surface under the site.

My main concern was based on the history of the tank. I still havn't brought myself to autopsy my ram nor was I willing to scrape/biospy the pimple. So when clean water and salt failed I went to medication. In this case at least in my eyes worked.

This site is a trove of information and experience and I appreciate the advice and future advice.