Hospital Help My Puffer

Oh no! Sick fish?! Come here and see if someone can help!
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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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popeye15
Puffer Fry
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Jan 09, 2009 4:30 pm

Hospital Help My Puffer

Post by popeye15 »

I have a porcupine puffer who appears to be ill in my tank. Two days ago I noticed that he had a white patch around his eye. This white puffy patch has spread to his whole face and belly. One of his eyes are cloudy while the other is fine. Here are the specifics of my tanks:

Water Parameters
pH: ok range
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Salinity: 1.025-1.025
Tank Size: 180
List of All Inhabitants: Picasso trigger, clown trigger, niger trigger, 2 foxface rabbits, 1 maroon clown, 1 cleaner wrasse, 1 princess parrot, 1 blueface angel, 1 yellow tang, 1 panther grouper, 1 zebra moray, 1 snowflake moray, 1 banded moray, 1 flame hawk, 1 algae blenny.
Feeding Schedule: once a day (brine shrimp, krill, silversides (every other day), mysis shrimp mixture with garlic and zoe
Water change Schedule: once every 2 weeks of 10 gallons
List of all Produces Use or Have Used in Tank:
Changes Made to Tank in the Last Week: nothing
How long aquarium has been set up: 1.5 years
How tank is cycled: live rock


Does anyone know what could possibly be wrong with my puffer? Should I put him in a low salinity hospital tank?

Thanks for any help!!
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blondenblue
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Re: Hospital Help My Puffer

Post by blondenblue »

is that 180 litre or gallons?
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blondenblue
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Re: Hospital Help My Puffer

Post by blondenblue »

have you tested for nitrate, if so what is the reading please?
popeye15
Puffer Fry
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Joined: Fri Jan 09, 2009 4:30 pm

Re: Hospital Help My Puffer

Post by popeye15 »

the nitrates are 0 and it is a 180 gallon tank
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blondenblue
Green Spotted Puffer
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Re: Hospital Help My Puffer

Post by blondenblue »

there is a post on here somewhere about colour change on a porc. i will go and see if i can find a link. It maybe be nothing like what is wrong with yours but worth a look i think. Hopefully someone with more knowledge on marine puffers can help you in the meantime.
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blondenblue
Green Spotted Puffer
Posts: 252
Joined: Wed Mar 05, 2008 5:32 am
Gender: Female
My Puffers: A M. leiurus Called Puffle!
A MBU Called Moob
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Re: Hospital Help My Puffer

Post by blondenblue »

Ok it was a black patch that this link is refering to but take a look anyhow!
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=15299
Hope you get some more help soon
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edmlfc1
Mbu Puffer
Posts: 2011
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125G:Fahaka (Annabelle)
Location (country): U.S.A.
Location: Texas

Re: Hospital Help My Puffer

Post by edmlfc1 »

Can you post a picture of the porc? If you have a hospital it might be best to move it. I don't think hypo will work on this.
Hypo is only good for ich. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
Need to know what kind of puffer you have? Click on Puffer ID.....Puffer ID: ug.php/v/PufferPedia/
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edmlfc1
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125G:Fahaka (Annabelle)
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Re: Hospital Help My Puffer

Post by edmlfc1 »

Check this out and see if any of the symptoms match your fish. It will be a good place to start.
http://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/showthread.php?t=127010

Here's another good site with pictures.
http://www.chucksaddiction.com/disease.html
Need to know what kind of puffer you have? Click on Puffer ID.....Puffer ID: ug.php/v/PufferPedia/
What to feed your puffer? Click on Feeding......
Feeding: library/feeding/feeding-your-puffers/
Have a GSP, need more information......Click on GSP Article.....
GSP Article: library/puffers-in-focus/an-introductio ... d-puffers/
popeye15
Puffer Fry
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Jan 09, 2009 4:30 pm

Re: Hospital Help My Puffer

Post by popeye15 »

thanks for your help guys, but the puffer got really bad lookin so i put it out of its misery it was a inner bacterial infection...the frozen ziplock bag removal (like putting a pet to sleep...painless) i just couldnt see him suffer.

on a good note..all of my other fish are doing great! they all are real well. my blueface angel is looking gorgeous...she is at the final stage of changing from the juv to the adult..her body is yellow and green and her face is almst entirely blue...does anyone know if there is a good lionfish forum. i was looking at getting one for my tank butcan find the right species...russells, volitans... thanks!
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Pufferpunk
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Re: Hospital Help My Puffer

Post by Pufferpunk »

Sorry for your loss. :( What are you doing for nitrate reduction to keep it at 0 with that kind of stocking?

Please do not add any more fish to that tank. You will need to upgrade when these fish grow to adult size as it is...
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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edmlfc1
Mbu Puffer
Posts: 2011
Joined: Sun Sep 09, 2007 5:03 pm
My Puffers: Elvis (Stars & Stripes) R.I.P. 9/11/11
125G:Fahaka (Annabelle)
Location (country): U.S.A.
Location: Texas

Re: Hospital Help My Puffer

Post by edmlfc1 »

So sorry about your porc. :( I lost one last year, worked on her for almost 2 months. Never did find out what was wrong with her. I even treated her with copper and that didn't help. I wish you well on the rest of the fish.
Need to know what kind of puffer you have? Click on Puffer ID.....Puffer ID: ug.php/v/PufferPedia/
What to feed your puffer? Click on Feeding......
Feeding: library/feeding/feeding-your-puffers/
Have a GSP, need more information......Click on GSP Article.....
GSP Article: library/puffers-in-focus/an-introductio ... d-puffers/
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