Regular reader, but first post, so here goes...
PH- 8.1
AM - 0
Nitrate - 0
Nitrite - 0
Cal - 520
dKh - 11
Mag 1400
Salinity - 1.025
Temp - 79 F
210 gallon 1.5 year old setup transferred from long time 90 gal bow front (Only a mini cycle 1.5 years ago after transfer)
Mix of SPS, LPS, and inverts with 5 tangs, 2 clowns, 1 black Hawaiian trigger, and porcupine puffer
I regularly feed mysis, bloodworms, nori, and kale to the omnivores and silversides, shrimp, squid, mussels, and pellets to the porky and trigger
All other inhabitants are thriving and trouble free - Please see pics below...
Porky seems to have developed this blister on the left side of his mouth last week. This was followed by the open sore you see below the right eye. The open sore and blister seemed to get larger over past 7 days, until last night when i noticed the blistered area near the mouth had torn open. He seems to be acting normal and is not bothered or bullied by any other tank mates. I was advised by a fellow reefer to try a 2 minute freshwater dip last night, which i did after matching salinity and temperature. (He followed my hand right into a tupperware container) With nothing else to go on, the wounds appear to first appear as swelling or blisters, prior to tearing open. Now, both sites appear to be sloughing off this rotting skin, for lack of a better term, and the wounds look deep. What do you guys think? Whats my next best course of action? Thanks for reading - please advise.
Links to pics -
https://www.dropbox.com/s/k851txgx26g67 ... 8.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/c3db0n4cdzkdu ... 6.jpg?dl=0
Porky with blistered skin peeling?
Forum rules
Read this before posting!!
Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.
1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.
2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.
3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)
4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.
5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.
We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.
While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.
Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
Read this before posting!!
Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.
1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.
2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.
3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)
4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.
5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.
We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.
While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.
Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
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Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32773
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Filbert, the 12" T lineatus
Punkster, the 4" red T miurus
Mongo, the 4" A modestus
2 T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
Also kept:
lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Chicago
- Contact:
Re: Porky with blistered skin peeling?
I'm sorry, I don't have the app to open a drop box on my phone. Porky puffs are often attacked by a flesh eating disease. Do a search here for Vibro.
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
Re: Porky with blistered skin peeling?
Thanks again for the reply. Did a search and from the few pics I was able to view, it doesn't appear to look like vibrio. The freshwater dips every 24 hours or so seem to be causing inflammation to go down and dead skin to fall away. Blistered areas are now completely open, white, and the depth of a pencil tip. He hides most of the day in his cave, but seems otherwise normal. Unfortunately, he hasn't taken food in 3 days, but starvation still isn't a huge worry for this big fatty. Unless directed otherwise, I suppose I'll stay with the daily 2 minute FWD, continually offer food, and hope for recovery? Ill definitely keep you posted and upload more pics with any significant changes.
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Welch4
- Fahaka Puffer
- Posts: 698
- Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2014 5:22 pm
- Gender: Male
- My Puffers: 1 GSP
- Location (country): USA
- Location: Abington,MA
Re: Porky with blistered skin peeling?
That is a burr-fish not a porcupine puffer. Not as familiar with skin diseases but the same treatment should apply
Forget other advice about puffers you don't hear here - Pufferpunk
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Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32773
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Filbert, the 12" T lineatus
Punkster, the 4" red T miurus
Mongo, the 4" A modestus
2 T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
Also kept:
lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Chicago
- Contact:
Re: Porky with blistered skin peeling?
OK, back home on my computer now, so I can see the photos. Yes, a burrfish. It doesn't look the same as Vibro to me. Do you have it in QT? If you do, then you can treat more aggressively with antibiotics. I do agree to treat as you would vibro. IMO, unless it's an obvious parasitic problem, FW dips are doing nothing more than stressing the fish further.
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"