got a doozie:

Oh no! Sick fish?! Come here and see if someone can help!
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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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J-P
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got a doozie:

Post by J-P »

Image

I sent him / her off to PufferQueen, but if anyone has ever seen anything like that it would be appreciated.

BTW ... there are no tank stats at the moment.
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Tim
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Re: got a doozie:

Post by Tim »

The picture does not work for me :(
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Re: got a doozie:

Post by J-P »

sorry... I forgot that off site links sometimes don't work.
Photo6.jpg
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Re: got a doozie:

Post by xrayjeeper83 »

OMG that looks horrible
RTR wrote:Fahakas do not have tank mates, they may have swimming food reserves.
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Re: got a doozie:

Post by J-P »

from my perspective I see 3 marks. Each are about equal distant apart. My first inclination is a lionfish sting (again) a bad one that has become infected. Or something similar.

Then we have the fact that it is so skinny. That leads to parasites or a poor diet.

My second inclination is a parasite, but the distancing of the wounds would be different. A "pore infection" where the quills meet the skin?
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Re: got a doozie:

Post by Tim »

J-P wrote:sorry... I forgot that off site links sometimes don't work.
Photo6.jpg
Poor puffer :(
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Re: got a doozie:

Post by J-P »

yea... given the eye size vs body, it looks like a juvie
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Re: got a doozie:

Post by J-P »

Got some info back from the OP:
-I bougt my puffer 1 month ago.His body was clean.
-Tank i bought 2 month ago.It is old tank,not new.
-My tank is 75 gallons.
-Nitrate 35
-Nitrite-0
-Amonia .45
-pH 8.4
-Alkalinity 300
-Chlorine 0
-t 78-80 F
-salt 1.020
-When I bought him he looked like today-a little emaciated.he is small- 2.8 inches
-I feed him by shrimps-he likes it and eats with pleasure.2 times in day.
?-So, how many times in day I have to feed him?
-Last 2 days I added a little bit water in filter and a little salt.
-Maybe 2 weeks ago I added conditioner to reduce nitrate and skimmer was turned off.
-Yes,I have lion fish and dog face puffer yet.
?-Maybe some of this reason damaged my puffer? or it desease?
How do I keep guessing these things?

This was the reply:
I know this is going to sound harsh, but it is what is best for the fish and not the keeper. It is up to you to decide what to do from here.

1) The ammonia should read 0. There may be a mini cycle or something happening in the tank that is not keeping the water at its best. Pristine clean water is the first line of defense in the healing process. That just isn't going to happen in that tank. The reason being:
2) The tank is too small. The bioload of those fish (especially the dog face) will require MUCH more filtration and space than you are currently providing. The dog face should be in a 100 gal tank all by itself, the porc will need about 120 gallons.
3) Diet. Shrimp are good as a treat but lack the nutritional value required to keep up their immune system. They need shelled crustaceans such as clams, mussels etc.. Never feed cooked foods to them. If you want to read more on feeding shrimp please read this article: Thiaminase

My first guess is that it is a lion fish sting. The spacing of the injury seems to indicate that. It looks like 3 small puncture marks, 2 of which have become badly infected. That is just a guess. What is different is the fact that the area around the wounds hasn't turned grey or black yet, that would be proof of a lion fish sting.

Lion Fish and puffers are a TERRIBLE combination. Puffers usually can't resist nipping at those long beautiful fins and usually end up getting killed because of it.

Which leads my to the next theory: The Dog Face puffer may have taken a a swipe at the Porc. Puffer bites are almost perfectly circular but usually they don't break the skin. DF puffers do have some nasty teeth that Porcs don't have.

In either case, the fish should be held in a hospital tank with super clean water, an excellent diet with supplements. Have you posted on Marine Depot? Kelly will be able to advise a treatment method and possibly a better diagnosis.

If it is a lion fish sting... I have no idea of the treatment. I have never seen a puffer survive one.

Also read:
library/puffer-care/alone-but-not-lonel ... fers-solo/
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Re: got a doozie:

Post by geronimo69 »

Sounds like good advice to me. Nothing harsh at all. :grats:
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Re: got a doozie:

Post by J-P »

but we still don't know what the treatment for a lion fish sting is.

Should we treat for a secondary bacterial infection also?
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Re: got a doozie:

Post by DrKennethNoisewater »

poor thing. and that older post that was brought up was interesting.
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Re: got a doozie:

Post by J-P »

I have a sinking feeling that the puffer is going to be a gonner. I don't think the owner is going to QT it or get a larger tank...

She is asking about products that remove ammonia.. and still hasn't contacted Kelly yet at MD.
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Re: got a doozie:

Post by Dadof4 »

From the water parameters it looks like her LR wasn't cured properly. The holes look like a LF sting and the treatment for that is time and good water quality. The LR will cure given time but at the expense of the fish.
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Re: got a doozie:

Post by J-P »

possibly not cured, but also only 25 lbs in a 75 gal tank :/

way too many things wrong in that tank.
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Re: got a doozie:

Post by J-P »

just doing some research on lion fish stings in general and it seems that hot water eases the pain and an antibiotic course of meds is recommended. This is in HUMAN treatment.

I wonder if upping the temp would help the fish's metabolism cycle through the venom quicker...

who would be the authority to ask?

It would be nice to know, because far too many of these cases crop up to be comfortable.
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