All right, MY Gsp has a really weird lump on his right side, and his left side is sunken in. I originally though it was a parasite, and would go away w/ treatment. It didn't go away, and has gotten worse. He still thins out very fast as well. Any suggestions please? For more info go to my thread in Brackish puffers.
The basics are 20 Gal long, normal readings, well filtered(and water changed) and heated.
Funky Growth, scaring me.
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.
Broken bones? IMO, it sounds like his spine could have taken a blow to knock it out a bit but most likely something else. To be honest, you might not want to listen to me because I'm a bit insane. JK 
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my puffer
- Tim
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my puffer
- Tim
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YBeNormal
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First of all, we prefer to see actual water parameters vice terms like "normal" or "fine". They may not play a role in this discussion, but it is always good to provide all of the information up front. Please see the stickie at the top of the hospital thread and try to answer as many of the questions as you can.
Any chance you can post some pics?
Any chance you can post some pics?
--Bob
I got the idea it might be a broken bone, but with the curvature he shouldn't be able to use his tail then(Paralysis) either.
As for Water Parameters
PH, bout 7.8
Near Nill for Nitrates and Nitrites
Ammonia is near Nill as well.
Unsure on Salinity.
The tank has been up for about a Month. I cycled w/ Biospera.
He was originally in a smaller tank, but is now in a 20 gal long.
The last change was upping the filtration.
He was audibly tail slapping the filter intakes, could that have harmed him?
He's also stopped eating as far as I can tell.
I wish I could take pictures, but I cannot.
It's past his stomach area on the upper half his body. His spine is curved to the right, and the left side looks shriveled and sucked in. He is moving slowly and bumping into walls, plants and everything. he refuses food completely(I moved him to a small bowl to see if maybe he wasn't noticing the food, but he still ignored it. I'm keeping him in the bowl for now to see if he'll eat.
As for Water Parameters
PH, bout 7.8
Near Nill for Nitrates and Nitrites
Ammonia is near Nill as well.
Unsure on Salinity.
The tank has been up for about a Month. I cycled w/ Biospera.
He was originally in a smaller tank, but is now in a 20 gal long.
The last change was upping the filtration.
He was audibly tail slapping the filter intakes, could that have harmed him?
He's also stopped eating as far as I can tell.
I wish I could take pictures, but I cannot.
It's past his stomach area on the upper half his body. His spine is curved to the right, and the left side looks shriveled and sucked in. He is moving slowly and bumping into walls, plants and everything. he refuses food completely(I moved him to a small bowl to see if maybe he wasn't noticing the food, but he still ignored it. I'm keeping him in the bowl for now to see if he'll eat.
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Pufferpunk
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Have you done a water change recently? There should be absolutely no ammonia & should be showing at least some nitrates. Not the problem at hand I think though. I have come across this "bent spine" issue a couple of times. Some kind of deformity, that may start after having the fish for a while. Not much hope... Pics would definately help.
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!"