I have a mbu puffer just over a year old currently at 14in roughly. Has an unknown skin infection of some kind, raised column like stalks that are white/pink in color. I have noticed it in last 2 weeks but haven’t been able to tell what it is. I have just been treating with pure salt. 1/3 cup per every 10 gallons. It is not ich or anything that I have seen before. I have lots of experience in keeping tropical fish and have branched out to different species. I am stumped to be honest. Came from the wild but was treated at Lfs for a month prior to acquiring. No issues until now unfortunately.
Currently living with an albino white silver arowana, two feather tail catfish, an albino pearl stingray, a motoro stingray, a black ghost knife, and some bristle nose plecos. All in a 300 gallon tank with a 40 gallon sump and 2 fx6 filters. Two wave pumps, a large air bubbler and multiple heaters. Will upgrade to a tropical pond soon.
Water temp is 82 degrees Fahrenheit with good water parameters. 0 ppm nitrates and nitrite. 0 ppm ammonia. Ph is 6.7. All are freshwater fish.
Eats really well always hungry. Very healthy so far. Feeding shrimp, tilapia fillets, snails, crawfish, squid, clams, and hikari carnivore pellets. He or she is very responsive and always swims to the front of the tank for food or to check things out. Only potential exposer is from using nets or tongs that are used in other tanks and two indoor ponds. Used to have aquarium plants in the tank but removed them about 3 months ago. There is driftwood in the tank but it has been in there since he was small.
No other signs of stress or redness just the stalk like growths. Has anyone seen this before? I know treating with medications is hard for puffers. Please let me know! Anything is helpful as I am stumped on what this is.
Pictures attached. Sorry for the poor quality the file size wouldn’t let anything better. Thanks!
Unknown skin infection
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.
Unknown skin infection
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Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32875
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
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burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Greenville, SC
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Re: Unknown skin infection
That is a TON of salt for some of your softwater fish! It looks like some sort of parasite. Have you treated for that?
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!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
Re: Unknown skin infection
No I have not but I do water changes regularly so the salt level doesn’t get too high. The LFS that I go to recommended treating with the salt even with other fish in the tank. So far the other fish are tolerating it well. The guy there that has the most experience has been fishkeeping for 30+ years so I value his advice highly but he hasn’t seen something like this before either. I know the puffer was treated for a month with parasites before I got him.
-
Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32875
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Puffers I have kept:
T lineatus
T miurus
A modestus
T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
C lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Greenville, SC
- Contact:
Re: Unknown skin infection
I would retreat for parasites. It does not look bacterial.
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!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"