Weird Looking Figure 8

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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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lexbubble
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Weird Looking Figure 8

Post by lexbubble »

I recently bought a figure 8 puffer and just noticed a slight lump on its side toward the rear left of his stomach. He's swimming around just fine and eats voraciously. That lump just looks weird though. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
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Re: Weird Looking Figure 8

Post by Jase »

can you get a picture of it?

EDIT:
and please answer the red questions above. thanks.
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Re: Weird Looking Figure 8

Post by Agnate »

Aye, we'll need pictures and the information requested at the top of the page before we can recommend much.
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Re: Weird Looking Figure 8

Post by Myaj »

Many of the puffers I've purchased had very lumpy stomachs, which were more noticable when they were skinny or hadn't eaten recently.

That said, my current figure 8, that I got from another member here, has nematodes that have gone dormant under his skin, and he's very lumpy. You don't see it if he stays fat and happy, but they are there.

I would quarentine this puffer at least for a few weeks, just in case it is something like nematodes, as they can be passed on to other fish.
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lexbubble
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Re: Weird Looking Figure 8

Post by lexbubble »

Sorry I didn't even read the bright red and pink box stating "Read this before posting!!". I was just anxious to post and get a reply. The tank is a 29 gal and used to be a cichlid tank (I have 3 other cichlid tanks and I've always loved puffers so I converted that one) so the pH is a little high for puffers but not too much. it's about 7.6. I don't check the ammonia, nitrite, nitrates, or salinity really. I do add salt. Aquarium salt. It's been up for over a year and but the other cichlids and rocks have been removed within the last two weeks. The tankmates are as follows : Figure 8 puffer, samurai puffer, green spotted puffer, a red claw crab, two crawfish, a pleco, three snails, and a jacobfreibergi (a cichlid). I feed them freeze dried krill once a day and I change approximately 20% of the water once a week. All my products are made my API. I use the stress zyme (bacteria) tap water conditioner, stress coat (to help with the stress of the water change or when I see nipped fins) and the aquarium salt I mentioned earlier. All are used as directed except the salt. I use a little more than recommended. The cichlid is not aggressive at all toward the puffers. The green spotted puffer has actually been amongst cichlids for more than a year and in the same tank with this cichlid for a while. BTW the F8 came with this lump. The guy at the fish store gave me the wrong one and the pet store is an hour away. Thanks for taking time to help me
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Re: Weird Looking Figure 8

Post by Pufferpunk »

Please see my response to your other thread.
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...

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