The Puffer Forum

Don't know if you can see, i have now noticed a few white spots on his fins and body, is it best to increase temp slightly and water change regular, please can you advise.
thanks

eek he's sooo skinny

Oh my!

That poor Mbu definitely looks like he is suffering from internal parasites. Check out the article in the library about internal parasites http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/lib ... treatment/ to get this treated right way.

Continue to do water changes as well to get your water parameters under control.

That fish doesn't really look healthy... I'm even wondering if it's really a Mbu, doesn't seem to have that special pattern... maybe it's just him being sick though...

He definatly looks like he's got internal parasite, but you mentioned white spots. Are the white spots looking like salt? If it's ich, raising the temp will help accelerate the life cycle and adding salt will kill the parasite. There's also a great article about ich in the TPF library! Pay attention to the other puffer thats shared his tank as they might have caught it too when they were in the same tank.

I thought that at first too Mareva but after looking harder I noticed the markings.
He definitely has ich, don't use meds for that though, there's an article on it in the library.

Yeah, I went back looking at the pictures and the first one you see some marking on the side.... but the brown "crust" on top of him really worries me, could it be some kind of skin disease? It doesn't look normal to me...
Dave, on the pictures it almost looks like a crust, how does it look in real? Is it smooth? Does the color change?

Maybe this post should be moved to the hospital forum...

Mareva wrote:Yeah, I went back looking at the pictures and the first one you see some marking on the side.... but the brown "crust" on top of him really worries me, could it be some kind of skin disease? It doesn't look normal to me...
Dave, on the pictures it almost looks like a crust, how does it look in real? Is it smooth? Does the color change?

Maybe this post should be moved to the hospital forum...

It looks like stressed discoloration and disruption to the slime coat due to the parasite to me.

I wouldn't be surprised if the specimen has gotten ich due to a low immune system due to the internal parasites and possibly the water conditions. Ich is always present but is only an infectious problem if the immune system is not functioning properly due to other issues.

My first thought was instantly that this is not an Mbu, the body shape is wrong and the the fins are too small in comparison to the body. This fish seems more arrow shaped whereas the Mbu is more club shaped, like a skittle if you will permit me.

I am not the best at ID-ing fish but I have an awful feeling that this is a marine species such as Spheroides Testudineus or possibly one of the Teractenos species. I'm gonna go off and try and find some pics and info for you. If it is a Spheriodes SP. that would explain its health issues and reluctance to feed in a FW tank. Looking at Eberts Aqualog its the best I can do but it does also look alittle like one of the fahaka pictures!!!

The teeth are also not right for an Mbu, give me a mo and I'll be back

Can you post a complete side on pic please? Its really hard to tell from those pics whether it is a very skinny Mbu or in fact one of the species I have mentioned.

Thanks

I believe this might actually be (a very sick) T. mbu, although the coloration is far from typical (most likely due to its bad condition).

The blue rings around the orange eyes are really mbu like.

See the aqualog page 36, picture on the lower left. This one (probably in or shortly before sleeping mode) also gets kind of a mottled back.

The apparently long teeth and body shape of the one in this thread suggest he has not eaten proper food for quite a while, who knows how long he was at the wholesaler or store. The fins look like bitten or even rotten of, I guess that is why they are so short.

Provide much better water quality, follow the Ich treatment article and offer some live shrimp and maybe he'll get well again.

Nice one Corvus

Best plan then is to treat for IP and ich and then see what the fish looks like once its healthy

there is no crust on the skins, its just turn dark, i have had it 5 days now. when i got it, it was as thin as it is on the pic but the colour was intact, just the last 2 days its gone like that.
i haven't got another tank to treat him in. but he's on his own now in my big tank should i just treat IP in that.
It could be that cause there is now another MBU's at the shop and its big and fat.!! so it must be IP. He has got a few white spots i guess thats due to stress from the IP.
when do i see signs of improvemnet after treating???

side view of him.

That's definately a mbu. You can treat him in his main tank.

Just put the first does of treatment in for IP, says next one in 4 days only a two dose treatment, also got some tonic slats from pet shop for ich condition, i have gone for the 1tablespoon for every 5 gallons.
fingers crossed,
when do you think signs will pick up to offer food, or should i just keep trying??