Bubble coming out of pea puffer gill

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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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pufferface
Puffer Fry
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Dec 26, 2018 9:27 pm
Location (country): USA

Bubble coming out of pea puffer gill

Post by pufferface »

1 male pea-puffer named Puffer-face/Buddy (real original, I know. Lol)

5 gallon tank

2 small led lights. One covered in blue vinyl to decrease light saturation. 12/12 cycle

Sand substrate

Lava rock/plastic plants decor

Tank mate 1 golden mystery snail

Tank is 2-1/2 years old. Cycled with fish food, java ferns (and snails who hitchhiked in) and established filter material from my local thrift store. Tank was set up and running for months before I introduced puffer-face

HOB filter (65gph)

Air driven submersible bio corner filter (40gph)

50% Water change every 10-14 days. Water is aged for 24 hours and conditioned with AmQuel plus. Heated to match tank water temps. Admittedly I have neglected water changes as of the last few months due to personal issues that have required me to be away from home frequently. So, roughly once monthly for the last few months.

Fed 6 days a week on defrosted blood worms and occasional snails gathered from a local fish stores plant tank.


PH 8.4

AMMONIA 0ppm

NITRITE 0

NITRATE 10

Approximately a week ago I noticed Puffer-face's belly looked a little sunken. I decided to treat the tank with API General Cure. Unfortunately I didn't do my research before treating and added meds directly to the tank as per API's instructions.
Treatments as follows:

API GC directly added to tank
48 hrs later 50% water change
48 hours later treated again with API GC
48 hours later 50% water change

Aprox. two days after last treatment I noticed that there was a "bubble" protruding from his left gil. Please see attached pic.

I continued API GC treatment for the next 3 days but this time soaking his blood worms in the dissolved medicine before feeding. He's always ravenous so he ate them with no hesitation.


He's eating with the same voracity and still very active and friendly but the bubble looks like it's getting bigger and his stomach is still has a sunken appearance.

Do you think it's gas bubble disease? If so, what can I do for my little guy? I've decreased his light cycle to 8 hours and changed his hob and air filter out for a small canister filter (105gph) with a spray nozzle to agitate surface.

Thanks for taking the time to read
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pufferface
Puffer Fry
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Dec 26, 2018 9:27 pm
Location (country): USA

Re: Bubble coming out of pea puffer gill

Post by pufferface »

He's now laying on the bottom gasping for air. I feel helpless! Should I try to pop it?
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Pufferpunk
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Gender: Female
My Puffers: Filbert, the 12" T lineatus
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Mongo, the 4" A modestus
2 T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
Also kept:
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Re: Bubble coming out of pea puffer gill

Post by Pufferpunk »

How's he doing today?
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!"
pufferface
Puffer Fry
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Dec 26, 2018 9:27 pm
Location (country): USA

Re: Bubble coming out of pea puffer gill

Post by pufferface »

Update on Puffer-face

I was running out of time to save him and decided to pop the bubble which is believed to be gas bubble disease.

I sterilized an Xacto blade and netted him close to the surface and just touched the tip of the blade to the bubble. The bubble deflated and he swam off to hide.

The next morning he still wasn't looking well. I left home to run some errands and when I returned several hours later he was swimming around some. I attempted to feed him but after eating one bloodworm he went back to hiding.

2 days after popping the bubble he's swimming around more and eating regularly. The bubble membrane is still apparent in his gill but his breathing is much better.

As of today he's still eating well but his belly is still sunken. I decided to wait a couple days to treat him for parasites since he's been through so much the last week.

I'll update this post as things change.
pufferface
Puffer Fry
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Dec 26, 2018 9:27 pm
Location (country): USA

Re: Bubble coming out of pea puffer gill

Post by pufferface »

Puffer-face is doing so much better! His little tummy is not as sunken after a couple treatments of General Cure (worms soaked this time)

I am so very happy he bounced back. To be completely honest I didn't have much hope at first. We're both very lucky he had a second chance.
User avatar
Pufferpunk
Queen Admin
Posts: 32764
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: Bubble coming out of pea puffer gill

Post by Pufferpunk »

:hyper:
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!"
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