The Puffer Forum

My wife was vacuuming 2 days ago. She unplugged my Turg's heater to plug in the vacuum. Today I noticed my Turgidus not coming out for food. I looked closer and found a big white spot on his side. The temp was below 50F. My wife forgot to plug the heater back after vacuuming. I took him out of his tank and put him in a QT tank (shown below). The QT water was the same temp of his normal tank, and now I'm raising the temp with a heater. I didn't want to put him from a cold 50F to a ~76F.

His tank has been good and stable for many months until now. The cold temp caused him stress and weakened his immune system. I'm thinking about treating him for bacterial infection. Good plan? Any better ideas?

Let me know if you need a better picture.


20g main tank, 20g hospital tank with no tankmate
ammonia/nitrite zero
weekly 50% water change
raw shrimp and worms with snails when I can get them

Why did you move him? I'd put him back & just add Melafix for now. Get a Jager heater, they turn off when the water level gets low.

Any tank mates in the hospital tank, like a pleco?

I would say melafix and primafix would be a great start.

No tankmates at all. I will get some meds tomorrow because most LFS is closed at 8pm.

I thought his bacterial germs might get caught onto his decor and other stuff in his regular tank. I don't know much about diseases, but basic readings tells me to QT. Once I saw the white spot, I didn't jump online and did research. I got him out of there and into a hospital. Better to put him back now?

You need to learn more about QT. Put him back.

Alright so he is back in his normal tank and I started the Melafix treatment tonight. I hope everything will look right by next weekend.

Terrance wrote:Alright so he is back in his normal tank and I started the Melafix treatment tonight. I hope everything will look right by next weekend.

Does it seem fungal at all or anything? Does it seem to be spreading or anything like that?

Its not spreading. Its just a white spot. Its not fuzzy or growing any kind of layer.

Well that's a good sign at least! =]

Looks like a typical heater burn to me.

Rocker wrote:Looks like a typical heater burn to me.

Except for his heater was unplugged when this happened.

The white spot if smaller, but still present. No other signs on his body. He is eating well and still comes up to me when I come up to him. Been dosing Melafix as directed on the bottle since 5/18/12. Just did my weekly 50-60% water change for all my tanks today.

Kind of looks like a skin ulcer to me, there is a bacterial skin infection that can cause something a lot like it, I've seen GSP's with it. Melafix seems to be working though, keep it up.

Still say its a heater burn. Acquired before the heater was turned off.

Or the heater hadn't cooled, I have been burnt more than once in my time