Hi
I have a mbu about 5" and he is currently in a tank 72"x26"x30" that will be upgraded to a 8x3x3 when he is bigger. My question is he seems to have cloudy white lumps appearing on his back. At first I thought white spot but it is not the normal white spot and he has nothing on his fins. The lumps seem to be comming up from under the skin rather than something on the skin if that makes sense. They are almost like warts but not lumpy.
He is feeding normally and the water is 0 ammonia 0 nitrite and nitrate less than 12ppm so water is OK. It is a mature tank and filters have been running for 6 months. I have had him about a week and he is feeding on cockles in the shell, cockle and mussel mix, prawn, bloodworm and lance fish and swimming around fine. Everything else in the tank is fine with no signs of lumps or flicking.
Has anyone got any ideas what might be the problem?
Help with Mbu
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.
Help with Mbu
Pufferfun
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PuffTheMagicFishy
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manutius
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Clooney (my Mbu) gets these every now and again, I have never had to treat them and they seem to go away on their own. It could be a minor irritation to something, I would perform a large water change just to be on the safe side. It could be a stress response to his new home.
Have a look at the article in my signature
Have a look at the article in my signature
Thanks for that manutius.
I wondered if it was stress from the move as the lfs said they had had them for 6 months since they were small and had lots of them, so obviously it has been a change for him. I checked the parameters of their water and they were very similar to mine pH only .1 different and I acclimatised him very slowly. I will do a big water change and keep an eye on him.
I have admired Clooney for a while now. I have read your article and it is very informative. I know they need a big tank and like I say I have been offered an 8x3x3 but if needs be I will go bigger.
Thanks again for the help.
I wondered if it was stress from the move as the lfs said they had had them for 6 months since they were small and had lots of them, so obviously it has been a change for him. I checked the parameters of their water and they were very similar to mine pH only .1 different and I acclimatised him very slowly. I will do a big water change and keep an eye on him.
I have admired Clooney for a while now. I have read your article and it is very informative. I know they need a big tank and like I say I have been offered an 8x3x3 but if needs be I will go bigger.
Thanks again for the help.
Pufferfun
Re: Help with Mbu
I have actually tried to do some research on these white spots.... My MBU had them not so long ago, I treated the tank for Ich but they continued to come and go over a period of about 3 - 4 weeks.
I have later found out these are not uncommon in MBUs, and not that harmful, but it is a sympton of poor diet and/or poor water quality. I put boomer's down to poor diet as this was during a time when all i had to feed him was what i could find in tesco.... raw prawn and mussels - not the best i know. Since introducing cockles, snails and the odd crab claw back into his diet they havent returned.
Try as best you can to keep his diet varied and obviously it goes without saying, keep up the regular water changes to keep his environment in pristine condition.
I have later found out these are not uncommon in MBUs, and not that harmful, but it is a sympton of poor diet and/or poor water quality. I put boomer's down to poor diet as this was during a time when all i had to feed him was what i could find in tesco.... raw prawn and mussels - not the best i know. Since introducing cockles, snails and the odd crab claw back into his diet they havent returned.
Try as best you can to keep his diet varied and obviously it goes without saying, keep up the regular water changes to keep his environment in pristine condition.
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manutius
- Former Staff Member
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Re: Help with Mbu
Good points there Boomer, I agree and personally I think that poor watr is a more likely cause though you cannot discount diet either. To me they appear to be small localised infection of the spines/pores. A bit like whiteheads that we get
Re: Help with Mbu
Thanks for the information. Ziggy has a diet of cockle, mussel, prawn, bloodworm, lance fish, Krill , peas (on reading Manutius's post) and an occassional earthworm so I think this was just down to the move as water is spot on and I do large regular water changes. They have all cleared up now but the research is interesting and I have since heard of other MBUs with similar problems. It is like spotty teenagers!!!
Pufferfun
Re: Help with Mbu
I forgot to mention peas actually!! Boomer likes them too.... very strange