Hi all,
First time here.
My figure 8 puffer is new to his 15 gal tank. I cycled it doing a fishless cycle and had everything ready to go. I brought him home and he seemed perfectly fine until about two days ago I noticed a blue spot on his side in front of his anal fin near his anus. I had no idea what it could possibly be. I checked my parameters:
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 15
pH 7.6
SG 1.004
Temp 79 deg f
He seemed to be fine otherwise, he ate his freeze dried krill happily, had no odd behaviors besides buzzing around his new tank. He is alone in the tank and I have been doing a weekly 50% water change, though only once since I just got him recently.
I tried on other forums with no response, so I just went for a melafix treatment just in case it was simple. He's been on that for a day now. Today though I got a better look while feeding him and the spot went from one, to about three small spots that look like one big one. They are slightly raised and look almost like tiny silicate balls. I have no idea what this is after searching for several hours so can anyone help? By the way the dot has stayed in the same area for three days so I'm hoping that rules out nematodes. Thank you.
Figure 8 Puffer Spot
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.
-
yunachin
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 1753
- Joined: Fri Nov 09, 2007 1:33 pm
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: 1x A. Meleagris (Golden)
2x Tetraodon nigroviridis
1x Tetraodon lineatus
1x A. hispidus
2x Takifugu Ocellatus
9x Tetraodon biocellatus
1x Canthigaster solandri
1x Diodon Holocanthus
2x A. nigropunctatus
1x Tetraodon miurus
1x Irrubesco - Location (country): USA
- Location: SC
Re: Figure 8 Puffer Spot
Is it raised up? It could possibly be a bite from another puffer. Was he in a tank with other puffers at the store?
Do you have a picture?
Do you have a picture?
E.Ridgeway
Re: Figure 8 Puffer Spot
Sadly, I can't get a picture of it. It is raised and from some angles it looks kinda like a skin flap, its just the blue color that has me weirded out. I had a puffer before this one and it had been bitten and it doesn't look like that to me because it is a little cluster more so than a circle.
-
yunachin
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 1753
- Joined: Fri Nov 09, 2007 1:33 pm
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: 1x A. Meleagris (Golden)
2x Tetraodon nigroviridis
1x Tetraodon lineatus
1x A. hispidus
2x Takifugu Ocellatus
9x Tetraodon biocellatus
1x Canthigaster solandri
1x Diodon Holocanthus
2x A. nigropunctatus
1x Tetraodon miurus
1x Irrubesco - Location (country): USA
- Location: SC
Re: Figure 8 Puffer Spot
Keep on with the Melafix treatment and see what that does. I really cannot think of what these spots can be. Perhaps someone else is familiar with them, though it's hard to get a good mental image. :S
E.Ridgeway
Re: Figure 8 Puffer Spot
Thats probably the best I can do. The small grayish area is what I'm talking about, but he's a pretty fast mover as he is still nervous in his new tank.
-
Troender
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 1843
- Joined: Sat Nov 25, 2006 8:04 pm
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: 1x GSP (Bolla), 1x m. something. Bought as a leiurus, maybe a turgidus (Tiger), 1x c. irrubesco (Tott(a) aka Houdini) 1x c. salivator (Jack the Ripper), 1x m. cochinchinensis (Hufflepuff - R.I.P.), 2x c. lorteti (Tommy and Tigern = Calvin and Hubbes), 1x m. suvatti (Koseklumpen), 1x m. palembangensis (Dragonfly), 2x t. biocellatus (Koken and Fiken).
- Location: Askim, Norway
Re: Figure 8 Puffer Spot
Read through this side, and see if anything sounds like your problem.
Inger Anne
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Just think how stupid the average person is, and then realize that half of them are even stupider! -George Carlin
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Just think how stupid the average person is, and then realize that half of them are even stupider! -George Carlin
Re: Figure 8 Puffer Spot
Well the spot moved to the other side and it's not really blue its more gray now. Any ideas?