The Puffer Forum

Since this seems to be an external infection, and you are already making the water as difficult as possible for it to spread in, you might consider potassium permanganate dips for the fish - it's a VERY powerful oxidizer that kills a very, very broad class of microorganisms. Extended contact is definately risky for fish, and it nukes a biofilter without the UTMOST care(and sometimes even with it) so I never recommend adding it to a tank, but I wonder if in this case dips might help the fish fight this off.

hey Nick, ive been using malachite green to nuke everything, and the whole tank is now in hypo... it's been an absolute nightmare...

but, i think the fish are through the worst (touch wood, fingers, toes crosses)

They are all in a bad way and missing large parts of skin, but the progression has stopped and they are no worse as of the last few days...

as well as that i have got them all eating again, so they must be feeling a little brighter.

I have decided (rightly or wrongly) that the bacteria itself (along with all the other bacteria in the tank) is dead, so am swapping to less harmful, less brutal marine melafix, coupled with huge daily water changes to try and make them as comfortable as possible whilst the tank re-cycles at 1.009 ... and to help keep bad bacteria levels in the tank low...

i'm hoping the melafix will also cleanse their wounds and help them heal.

If they start going downhill again i wil probably start dips of one kind or another, but i'd rather not put them through the addes stress if i can...

we'll have to see how the next few days goes, but what a horror it's been. I have seen many fish ailments, but never one that strips the skin off them so fast like this...

Yea, it sounds really terrible. Best luck with everything, eating is always good. Fish can lose a surprising amount of skin and live with it - my GSPs actually scrape patches of their skin white sometimes when going after 'pods in the live rock, and always make excellent, scar free recoveries, and this illness looks to be stripping the same pigmented top layer, I hope yours heal as cleanly.

that's exactly it... its stripping the coloured layer of skin to reveal the white part, but not going deep enough to make them bleed... think that's the only way i've even stood a chance at saving them...

if it had kept burrowing i think i'd have lost alot more..!

Not out of the woods yet, they have a lot of healing to do, and that is assuming the bacteria is truly gone for good...

only time will tell i guess.

Elvis wants an update.

well, stars is ok, healing well..

ceylon not so good, being harassed by the other fish and still a mess... pouring melafix directly on her skin + adding it to tank...

may have to set up another quarentine tank to house ceylon in so i can work on her without working on the rest of the tank.

stressful, but you know all about that.

Yes I do. Hope he pulls through.

How's it going any update?