The Puffer Forum

Best pic I could get. The other side is worse:

Just a thought, can I soak his food in melafix so he gets it inside him quicker or does it only work dissolved in the water?

Melafix is a treatment for the outside of his body.

He is still with us this morning, and I have just added his second dose of melafix. He is eating bloodworm and he has a little round belly which is good. His tail looks no worse than yesterday, although there looks to be little bits of skin hanging off. His swimming is Ok but he doesnt really have full use of his tail, but is coping with the current fine.

Looks like a fungal infection, should have got Pimafix.

Slightly better picture:

I have also been dosing Interpet No.8 which treats fungus and fin rot, and also melafix says it treats "mouth fungus". Is that a similar illness to general fungus?
Is Interpet's medication strong enough? (if it is fungus he has)

Yikes that looks nasty. Only other thing I can think of is a strong fungecide.

Whats the SG of this tank?

You could try a 3% salt bath.

It's at 1.012. Whats a 3% salt bath?
3% of the 1.012?

30 PPT
30/1000 = .03 = 3%

I think thats basically sea water 1.020 if i remember correctly.

So I make a 1.020 mix and put the puffer in?
Did I understand that right? How long for?

See I am not used to doing this with brackish fish, I did it with my EBJD to clear a parsite infestation. Salt can kill just about any micro organism.

Try 1.022 for 30 mins. If that doesnt work try it for an hour.

Monitor the fish closely, when doing this with freshwater fish you basically do it to they turn on their side, I doubt the puffer could die from such a small salinity though.

what you should do is get an antibiotic and treat with that. there is no point in SW dippign a fish that has fungus issues, that works for parasites.

also was this a wound ? if it is the white turning is normal while the puffer builds another skin layer over itself.

i would give it antibiotics in the water, and keep the water as clean as possible.

Make sure you keep an eye on your water params while treating with the ab's. They should help your lil' guy.

I hadn't noticed an injury of any kind before the white stuff, but when he gets fed mussels he attacks it quite viciously and may have scraped himself but I cant be sure. Next time I'm at the lfs I'll look into some antibiotics but I have to rely on parents for transport and they're not quite as enthusiastic about it!

Should I be doing water changes while adding meds to the water or would I be just removing the meds needlessly?