GSP/Saba puff with fungal/cyst/parasite?

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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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Infinity8
Figure 8 Puffer
Posts: 121
Joined: Sat Oct 19, 2013 10:27 am
Gender: Female
My Puffers: GSP- Burd
???- Tiberius the Tugboat
F8- Bonk
Potato Puffer- TBD, arriving 12/1
Location (country): United States
Location: Eastern Shore, MD

GSP/Saba puff with fungal/cyst/parasite?

Post by Infinity8 »

Hi all (especially Pufferpunk- you’re kind of my fish keeping idol)

Parameters and such first.

55 gallon tank, one lone very large GSP or Saba puffer (unsure)
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate between 20-40 ppm (going to be doing a water change as soon as this posts)
1.005 SG

Feed schedule: a large shrimp or middle neck clam every 4 or 5 days. It’s been mostly shrimp lately
Water change schedule 30% weekly, with the occasional miss.
Tank has been cycled for a year. Only recent change is that we were out of town last week. Decor includes plastic soft plants, silks, and a large fake “log” piece.

I noticed a day or two ago Tiberius had developed a small bump/cyst on his back near his dorsal fin. Decided to hold off on dumping meds on it to see if it was an injury (he’s prone to jumping and hitting the lid when startled), or something else. My guess now is it’s either a parasite or opportunistic fungal/bacterial infection.

Image

Just fed him a shrimp dosed with Kanaplex and metro. Besides stepping up my water change game, any other thoughts on what I should do? His dorsal din seems to be catching fungus as well, and he might be getting another spot on his chin- tough to tell because he’s being a skittish bugger :?

Super appreciate your time and advice.

Update: just realized the high nitrates could be due to a laaaarge amount of dead algae I’m working on getting rid of. Ooof!
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Pufferpunk
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Re: GSP/Saba puff with fungal/cyst/parasite?

Post by Pufferpunk »

Def looks like a Saba to me. Is the circle raised or flat? Growing?
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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Infinity8
Figure 8 Puffer
Posts: 121
Joined: Sat Oct 19, 2013 10:27 am
Gender: Female
My Puffers: GSP- Burd
???- Tiberius the Tugboat
F8- Bonk
Potato Puffer- TBD, arriving 12/1
Location (country): United States
Location: Eastern Shore, MD

Re: GSP/Saba puff with fungal/cyst/parasite?

Post by Infinity8 »

Circle seems flat. Ring wasn’t there on Wednesday, but not sure if it’s growing. It started as kind of what looked like a pimple before coming to a head and flattening out Once I get home from work I’ll check it again.
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Pufferpunk
Queen Admin
Posts: 32771
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:
Contact Pufferpunk

Re: GSP/Saba puff with fungal/cyst/parasite?

Post by Pufferpunk »

How's it look 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!"
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User avatar
Infinity8
Figure 8 Puffer
Posts: 121
Joined: Sat Oct 19, 2013 10:27 am
Gender: Female
My Puffers: GSP- Burd
???- Tiberius the Tugboat
F8- Bonk
Potato Puffer- TBD, arriving 12/1
Location (country): United States
Location: Eastern Shore, MD

Re: GSP/Saba puff with fungal/cyst/parasite?

Post by Infinity8 »

Hey Pufferpunk! Thanks for asking

His spot has definitely changed.

Image

It’s filled in completely white now? About the size of a pencil eraser, almost like a slight impression on him

Not thinking worm anymore. Thankful to report the fuzzy bit by his dorsal fin has healed up. Husband thinks the edges seem irregular/shrinking now, but of course Tibby won’t hold still long enough for me to get a good close up.

Pleased to report I did a huge deep clean of his tank and filter yesterday, took out a TON of dead algae and his nitrates are down to 10 ppm. Nitrite and ammonia are holding steady at 0 ppm. I’ve been treating his food with Kanaplex, started Maracyn 2 yesterday. Still eating like a champ and active as ever.

Do you think it’s maybe just a healing injury? He’s stupid notorious for startling and bouncing off the glass hood.
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Pufferpunk
Queen Admin
Posts: 32771
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:
Contact Pufferpunk

Re: GSP/Saba puff with fungal/cyst/parasite?

Post by Pufferpunk »

Yes. looks like it's healing now. This pic looks like a saba but it's so hard to tell! Really, the best way is if his head ever turns yellow. And of course, saba grows much larger than GSP.
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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User avatar
Infinity8
Figure 8 Puffer
Posts: 121
Joined: Sat Oct 19, 2013 10:27 am
Gender: Female
My Puffers: GSP- Burd
???- Tiberius the Tugboat
F8- Bonk
Potato Puffer- TBD, arriving 12/1
Location (country): United States
Location: Eastern Shore, MD

Re: GSP/Saba puff with fungal/cyst/parasite?

Post by Infinity8 »

Quick update: spot is healing and getting smaller! 😊 very relieved! Thanks for the confirmation. I’m pretty sure he’s out of the woods now.
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User avatar
Pufferpunk
Queen Admin
Posts: 32771
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:
Contact Pufferpunk

Re: GSP/Saba puff with fungal/cyst/parasite?

Post by Pufferpunk »

Yay!
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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