The Puffer Forum

I'll be honest with ya - going by the description and water temp I suspected this was a disease called columnaris, and now judging by the pics I honestly believe that it is. A telltale sign of it is cotton/fuzz on skin, which may be flesh or black in color. It's caused by a bacterial infection. Melafix and Pimafix should clear it out. Be sure to keep his water clean, too. This disease is also known to cause fin rot, something that Pimafix will also take care of. Columnaris is very treatable, but if left untreated, is usually fatal. When I had bettas ten years ago, they would get it all the time and I would always hit it with Furan-2 and Kanamycin and never lost a single fish.

The bacteria that causes it can't live in saltwater, so getting your SG up will stop him from getting this again. In fact, one method of treatment for it is a saltwater bath.

Thankx for all the help everyone, i will post any changes

Quick question. One of my filters has nothing but a carbon insert. If i take that out should i continue to run filter? My second filter has a sponge and a carbon filter if i take all carbon out for the week treatment wont that have a harmful effect on water/tank?

After 3 days of treating with melafix and pimafix
I don't see any improvement. He hides most of day, but will come out quickly when i feed him.
Is this normal, should i be seeing some kind of improvement? It doesn't seem to be getting any worse

It might be scar tissue. Melafix should heal that. Not getting worse or fuzzy?

No, not getting worse, still is fuzzy though, but its been fuzzy since i noticed it a week ago.

Are your tank's parameters perfect?

After a week of treating with melafix and pimafix the spots started shrinking. On 8th day i couldnt dose the tank cause i ran out, 9th day started treatment again. Now spots getting bigger again. Will missing one day cause a setback like this? Was thinking of adding ick medication (just to be sure)along with the stuff ive been using

Ich meds can wreak havoc on a puffer. If the treatment you were using was helping, please continue. Be sure to keep it's water pristine.

Last night i did a 30% water change. Added more medicine. When i came home today hes acting very disoriented, wont eat, has labored breathing. When hes not on the bottom hes sticking mouth out at the top of water. I have 2 filters rated for 80 gal each. I dont have airstone, so i stuck airstone tubing atatched to air pump in water.
Temp is at 80 degrees. All parameters are good ( same as when i first posted . Over the past few weeks ive raised salinity to .008. Before water change he wasnt this bad, wasnt perfect but not this bad. His skin looks like he has flesh eating desiese. A chunck of flesh is missing, seems to be growing. Been treating with permafix and melafix along with regular water changes. I have new pics im posting now.
Im really worried about my little buddy, i feel so helpless.

I think it's time to start using Maracyn. Although, if he does have flesh-eating disease, there usually isn't much you can do.

Try a combined therapy of Maracyn and Maracyn II in a hospital setup or as 10-20 times overdosed half hour baths.

The problem with this Vibrio sp. infection is that almost never real antibiotics are used in the early stage (which would be day 1).

A large UV sterilizer with a slow flow and feeding high vitamin food as well as high oxygen (esp. by surface current, 30 times tank volume per hour, no skimming while treating) can support the treatment.

There are many different Vibrio spp. with very variable symptoms, the most commonly known affecting humans is cholera. I *guess* Cholera meds may have an influence on the fish Vibrio species, too. Anyway, don't grab into the aquarium with wounds and clean your hands thoroughly after contact with the fish or its water.

Another important Vibrio species (obviously not the one of this infection) is thought by some scientists to live in symbiosis with puffers and to produce their tetrodotoxin poison.

Anyway u could explain the bath alittle more/better cause i dont have means to setup a hospital tank. Any idea why hes having trouble breathing? Anything i could do to help his breathing now? Big airstone or lower temp? His mouth and gills are really gasping. I have a really deap tank, 28 inches. Would keeping daylight off and using nightlight help atall? Sorry for all questions im just worried, hes been at top of water for a hour. He never dose that. And he dosnt respond to movement outside tank like he usually dose

This is terrible. Sadly, you might have to consider this with it getting that bad: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=18520
I really feel for you.

EDIT: Go ahead and dim the lighting and add a bigger airstone if you wish.

Anyone else have this type of opinion? Wanna make sure. His belly is pure white.Just dont understand why he got better, then made a turn for the worse thise quick. When i did the water change yesterday i found a tiny bit of rust at the base of one of my fake plants, could that harm him? Obviously i didnt put it back in, and i checked all the other plants. Sorry, i know im grasping at straws here.

He's still got a chance. Is the temp raised for some reason? Melafix + heat = low O2 levels. I wouldn't do both. Instead of the bath, add the Maracyn/Maracyn 2 to the tank. It shouldn't kill the biological filtration.