i have been reading and reading and reading, tryin to find what ails my puffer. i am new to the hobby, but i have been very dilligent on "trying" to do things correctly. Fifty five gal tank, spiney boxfish (approx. 4 inches), foxface, coral beauty, fimbriated moray (approx. 10 inches), cleaner shrimp, brittle starfish.
PH 8 - 8.2, ammon. (zero), nitrate 20, salinity 1.023, nitrites (zero). All fish seem to be living harmonously. Spiney boxfish has white specks or spots. They don't seem to fit any description of anything I can find. Closest I found was a multi-cellular parasitic infestation. Boxfish acts normal, eats normal, is normal acting. I tried three days of 5 min. fresh water dips.
Tank has been active for 2.5 months. Eel came from Petco, he was the first addition, having ate all the damsels that I cycled with. Coral beauty was second, coming from a friend. Starfish came from LFS. Then all at once, the foxface, boxfish, and shrimp were added. A larger piece (7 lbs.) of live rock was added a day or two after all fish were acclimated.
I have two 'hang on the back' filters, two bio-wheels (running), 15 lbs. live rock, plan to add protein skimmer. 10% water changes bi-weekly to weekly. Using alternating RO saltwater from LFS, Salinity 1.024, and distilled water with buffer and salt from Petco and essential elements.
Shrimp has molted twice within 10 days, starting with the first night in the tank. Everything else seems to be doing great. Puffer has been showing the signs of illness for a week. Seems to decrease and increase. Dips seem to help a little. He has a couple exposed spines on his back.
Been feeding puffer silver sides, mussels, calamari (all items frozen). LFS has been moving so I have not been able to purchase live food yet. Would like to feed him some snails..
Question:
What are the spots, and how do I treat them? 98 % sure its a Chilomycterus schoepfi and he runs the tank. the eel has huge cave to live in, with the cleaner and the starfish. thank you for your time!!
white spots on 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.
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Boxermom
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 2182
- Joined: Sun Mar 12, 2006 8:34 pm
- Location: Wisconsin
- Contact:
Re: white spots on puffer
Welcome. Almost impossible to diagnose without a photo. I would recommend getting a lot more live rock and getting rid of the HOBs, they are nitrate factories, not good in SW. What kind of salt are you getting from Petco? What essential elements are you adding?
Tina
Puffers: Auriglobus silus x1, Tetraodon travancoricus x1, Tetraodon turgidus x1, Tetraodon miurus x1, Tetraodon nigroviridis x2, Tetraodon baileyi x2, Tetraodon lineatus x1, Tetraodon palembangensis x1
Puffers: Auriglobus silus x1, Tetraodon travancoricus x1, Tetraodon turgidus x1, Tetraodon miurus x1, Tetraodon nigroviridis x2, Tetraodon baileyi x2, Tetraodon lineatus x1, Tetraodon palembangensis x1
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kjdatlanta
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Sun Jul 01, 2007 1:30 pm
Re: white spots on puffer
Aquatics garden premium salt mix, its synthetic salt. I also use RO saltwater from the LFS. I try to alternate every time. I bought the salt on advice from a friend. I figure I paid for it, might as well use it. The elements are from Kent Marine (Calcium, iodine,iron, zinc, magnesium, manganese, molybdedum, potassium). I will try to send a pic, but my camera is not very good. Today the spots on his body seem to be very few. But he has what looks like ich on his fins. He has been spending alot of time with the cleaner shrimp yesterday and today. I am gonna try to get another one today. LFS may not have livestock yet. Anyway, it seems to me to be a combination of ich and velvet. Well - I am off to do a water change. I hope this pic sheds some light, but I dont think it will...
Thank you for your time!!
Keith
Thank you for your time!!
Keith
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kjdatlanta
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Sun Jul 01, 2007 1:30 pm
Re: white spots on puffer
you can see his exposed spine real good about 3/4 down his back