Figure 8 puffer skin disease?

[OliviaH2o]

I have 2 F8P in my tank. The big one seems to have a skin disease on his belly - its brown and skin looks like scratched. He seems lazy ever since i brought him while the small guy moves around happily.. He is 7cm long.. These are my first puffers.. I came to you guys because its the first time i have a brackish aquarium + a puffer. (I have a successful reef tank for years now) What disease can it be? Should i move him to a quarantine tank?

[Pufferpunk]

That is not a F8 puffer. Looks to me like a Tetraodon fluviatilis or Ceylon puffer. Look here for ID: ug.php/v/PufferPedia/Brackish/

Then, please post the answers to ALL the questions above, in red.

[OliviaH2o]

Oh god. :O In my local store they told me it was figure eight puffer!That explains a lot! I mean..These are my first puffers. Had no experience before.. I ve put him to a quarantine tank..However - are those scratches a problem? Parts of skin seem ready to.. kind "fall off".

Thanks a lot.

[bertie 83]

Defo not looking like f8s. Melafix will help the skin heal. What salinity is he at now?

[Pufferpunk]

Please answer ALL the questions above, in red.

[OliviaH2o]

1.) PH : 8.2 Nitrite:0 Nitrate:0 SG: 1.005
2.) 30 lt Quarantine Tank. No other inhabitants.
3.) Daily 1/4 water change. Stable SG.(Red Sea Salt, Prime)
4.) -
5.) -

They must be ceylon puffers. I have a medication with copper.. I heard puffers are sensitive? True?

[OliviaH2o]

Can you tell what species is he? :S Im pretty confused.

[Pufferpunk]

That pic is way too big for my screen. Ceylons usually have spotted bellies. I believe there are other Qs you didn't answer? Generally, when those Qs are asked, it is of the tank the fish got sick in, not their QT, unless that's where it got sick.

[Arny]

The puffer in that last pic looks like a gsp to me. Can you take a pic of him from the top, that would make it easier to see if he has black bands on his back and whether hes a ceylon puffer.

[OliviaH2o]

Well now i am really confused..

(If you cannot see the pic - rightclick and press view image)

GSP? F8? Ceylon Puffer?

They have white bellies but right before the belly begins they have dark spots.. And as for the disease..
When he is OK - he has white belly
When he is stressed - his belly gets brown ..

Thats what i noticed. :S It is impossible to look sick and suddenly get better in approx.15 minutes? :S And it means that he is not sick at all.. Hes now swimming freely, has white, pure belly.. Everything fine.

What i ask for now.. is for sb to tell me what puffer is it ..

- Green spotted puffer (tetraodon nigroviridis)
- Figure Eight Puffer (tetraodon biocellatus)
- Ceylon Puffer (tetraodon fluviatillis)

For now we have
1 vote for ceylon puffer
1 vote for GSP

Thanks for all the answers ! Waiting for more!

[katiejohn]

Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help Dermatologist in Dubai. 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.

thanks...this way also good to protect your skin to become harm & this site is the best way to update the people.

[davidmare]

I have 2 F8P in my tank. The big one seems to have a skin disease on his belly - its brown and skin looks like scratched. He seems lazy ever since i brought him while the small guy moves around happily.. He is 7cm long.. These are my first puffers.. I came to you guys because its the first time i have a brackish aquarium + a puffer. (I have a successful reef tank for years now) What disease can it be? Should i move him to a quarantine tank? Skin Specialist in Dubai

I think you can consult it with an expert doctor or Marine biologist these two peoples can definitely help you.