There is far less known about fish disease than about human disease. Diagnosing your own problem from looking up your symptoms on the internet is fraught with dangers (though many people are foolish enough to do so).
I agree that in human medicine this is a valid comment, (although it was not until I presented my doctor with a page printed form the Fibromyalgia website that they began to investigate my symptoms and diagnosed me with M.E!) but with regard to fish health, all I would say is that in some cases you have to start somewhere! As you rightly point out in my ' vets that will treat fish' post, most fish are not worth enough on a financial basis to warrant seeking veterinary treatment and the extra costs involved, but if you do not know if a disease
is treatable, do you euthanase anyway or do you at least
try to find out if your fishes lives can be saved?
There is no way for me to tell if my Phantoms are in fact infected with Lymphocystis but out of concern for their welfare and also due to a desire to learn about such things I consulted the internet, as well as the many informed and experienced people on this Forum.
As it turns out, I spoke to the shop I bought the fish from today and they still have all of that batch of Phantoms in permanent isolation 'out the back' and there they will stay. As for my own, they are deteriorating and I will most likely euthanase them.
I will still use the internet to research possible illness in my fish as I believe there is a place for it in diagnosing treatable illnesses and therefore allowing me to treat my fish and saving a lot of unnecessary euthanasia.
FC76