Description

It is a viral disease of the skin tissue and fin tissue in saltwater fish and brackish water fish, less often in purely freshwater fish.

It usually manifests itself as abnormally large white lumps (cauliflower) on the fins or other parts of the body. It can be infectious, but is usually not fatal. Stress appears to be a trigger of nodular disease.

The disease is triggered by viruses that cause cells, primarily skin cells, to enlarge multiple times their normal size. The cysts are clearly palpable and cannot be stripped off. Internal organs are rarely affected.

Treatment

There is currently no known treatment for this disease, but fortunately this is a rare disease.

Aquarium keepers have reported success of treatment by carefully cutting off the affected parts of the fin with scissors and simultaneously improving conditions in the tank. Please note that treatments like this should only be performed by a qualified fish veterinarian!

You should separate the infected fish for several months and hope for remission, which usually does occur.

A varied diet with food that is rich in vitamins and analysis or improvement of the water quality have often been successful.