Rot in Porcupine Puffer?
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.
Rot in Porcupine Puffer?
A friend has a medium porc and one of his sides is turning greyish like rot and his spines there look swollen. Does anyone know what it is and how it can be treated? He's the only thing in the tank and he's eating okay.
Oh, and...
How long has the tank been set up? Two months.
Did you cycle the tank? How? Live sand, live rock, damsels, time.
How long have you had the fish? One week.
How big is the tank? 60gal
How big is the fish? 5-6in
Any tankmates? No
Are you doing weekly water changes? How much? 15%
What are the water parameters:
Ammonia? (should be 0 at all times) 0
NitrItes? (should be 0 at all times) 0
NitrAtes? (should be <20, or even better, <10) 8
Did you cycle the tank? How? Live sand, live rock, damsels, time.
How long have you had the fish? One week.
How big is the tank? 60gal
How big is the fish? 5-6in
Any tankmates? No
Are you doing weekly water changes? How much? 15%
What are the water parameters:
Ammonia? (should be 0 at all times) 0
NitrItes? (should be 0 at all times) 0
NitrAtes? (should be <20, or even better, <10) 8
-
Puffer Queen
- Mentor
- Posts: 386
- Joined: Fri May 19, 2006 10:35 am
- Location: Louisville, KY
- Contact:
What test kits are you using to measure your water parameters?
Can you post a pic of the puffer?
What happened to the damsels that were in the tank?
What type of filtration - rock, hang on back filters, cannister, skimmer, powerheads, etc.?
Skin discoloration and swollen spikes is not a good sign - need to get this puffer out of the display tank and into a separate QT/hospital tank. Bare bottom tank with no live rock.
Need to get some antibiotics - Nitrofurazone, Kanamycin or Mardel's Maracyn-2 (my order of preference for this puffer).
Can you post a pic of the puffer?
What happened to the damsels that were in the tank?
What type of filtration - rock, hang on back filters, cannister, skimmer, powerheads, etc.?
Skin discoloration and swollen spikes is not a good sign - need to get this puffer out of the display tank and into a separate QT/hospital tank. Bare bottom tank with no live rock.
Need to get some antibiotics - Nitrofurazone, Kanamycin or Mardel's Maracyn-2 (my order of preference for this puffer).
Kelly
-
crazedpuffer
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 1755
- Joined: Sat Aug 06, 2005 11:57 pm
- My Puffers: 1x Porcupine Puffer
1xValentini - Location: Long Island, NY
Answers
What test kits are you using to measure your water parameters? Not sure, it's her tank, not mine.
Can you post a pic of the puffer? Sorry, I will try to get one next time I see him.
What happened to the damsels that were in the tank? The were sold to a LFS.
What type of filtration - rock, hang on back filters, cannister, skimmer, powerheads, etc.? I'm not positive but I believe she has a powerhead, backpack, and a skimmer.
Skin discoloration and swollen spikes is not a good sign - need to get this puffer out of the display tank and into a separate QT/hospital tank. Bare bottom tank with no live rock. He's the only thing in the tank except the liverock and sand.
Can you post a pic of the puffer? Sorry, I will try to get one next time I see him.
What happened to the damsels that were in the tank? The were sold to a LFS.
What type of filtration - rock, hang on back filters, cannister, skimmer, powerheads, etc.? I'm not positive but I believe she has a powerhead, backpack, and a skimmer.
Skin discoloration and swollen spikes is not a good sign - need to get this puffer out of the display tank and into a separate QT/hospital tank. Bare bottom tank with no live rock. He's the only thing in the tank except the liverock and sand.
-
Nick
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 3231
- Joined: Sun Oct 22, 2006 8:47 pm
- My Puffers: Mine:
GSPs - Shakespeare and Jillybean
F8 - Velvet
My fiance:
DP - Emma Goldman
Narrow Lined Puffer - Ulrike - Location (country): Northeastern USA
- Location: Middletown, CT
- Contact:
You need to get him out because antibiotics to treat him will make the live rock dead, and that would be bad, because the tank wouldn't be cycled anymore and he'd likely die of that.
No matter how magnificent your successes or devastating your failures, the worlds' approximately 5 billion impoverished people could not possibly care less.
-
Nick
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 3231
- Joined: Sun Oct 22, 2006 8:47 pm
- My Puffers: Mine:
GSPs - Shakespeare and Jillybean
F8 - Velvet
My fiance:
DP - Emma Goldman
Narrow Lined Puffer - Ulrike - Location (country): Northeastern USA
- Location: Middletown, CT
- Contact:
Perhaps the ten could be set up for dips in the antibiototics. Someone with more experience using dips should give further advice after this point, as I have not done them myself.
No matter how magnificent your successes or devastating your failures, the worlds' approximately 5 billion impoverished people could not possibly care less.
-
Nick
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 3231
- Joined: Sun Oct 22, 2006 8:47 pm
- My Puffers: Mine:
GSPs - Shakespeare and Jillybean
F8 - Velvet
My fiance:
DP - Emma Goldman
Narrow Lined Puffer - Ulrike - Location (country): Northeastern USA
- Location: Middletown, CT
- Contact:
They cost NOTHING. As a kit with a hood, filter, etc from walmart, they're under 40, for a bare tank from petland, under 10$. All you'd really need is a bare tank and a heater for doing dips, possibly not even the heater, but I think it would be a really good idea so the bath is always at temp. If the ten has stuff in it, there is definately no way to put the LR in it.
No matter how magnificent your successes or devastating your failures, the worlds' approximately 5 billion impoverished people could not possibly care less.
-
Puffer Queen
- Mentor
- Posts: 386
- Joined: Fri May 19, 2006 10:35 am
- Location: Louisville, KY
- Contact:
Porous materials - rock, substrate etc will absorb medications. This will make achieving a therapeutic level impossible.
Many (if not most) antibiotics are toxic to inverts, corals and the microfauna found in rock and substrate. They can also affect the nitrifying bacteria in your filter. All this will lead to die off and toxic water conditions.
I always prefer to perform antibiotic baths versus adding the antibiotic to the tank. Most antibiotics will degrade quickly when exposed to higher temps, saltwater, light and air. Dosing a tank is far more expensive than doing antibiotic baths and it is far more effective.
Best of luck.
Many (if not most) antibiotics are toxic to inverts, corals and the microfauna found in rock and substrate. They can also affect the nitrifying bacteria in your filter. All this will lead to die off and toxic water conditions.
I always prefer to perform antibiotic baths versus adding the antibiotic to the tank. Most antibiotics will degrade quickly when exposed to higher temps, saltwater, light and air. Dosing a tank is far more expensive than doing antibiotic baths and it is far more effective.
Best of luck.
Kelly
-
Puffer Queen
- Mentor
- Posts: 386
- Joined: Fri May 19, 2006 10:35 am
- Location: Louisville, KY
- Contact: