The Puffer Forum

Hello. I came across this forum trying to search for any online help that I can find.

2 days ago we bought a White Spotted Puffer. (Picture Attached) It seems that she/he has a white, cotton like film on her whole body. It's one eye seems to be swollen as well. This is something we have no idea about. My concern is is that it's lethargic & her back fins seem to be clamped, only opening up sometime, tail is curled to the side, she lays at the bottom of the tank. We did witness that it ate Today which I think is a good sign. But the other signs don't look good.

Today my boyfriend brought home a Poccupine also. Not realizing until I brought it to his attention that the other Puffer is sick.

I attached a picture showing what I am speaking about; white cotton like film. Please any ideas what I can do or suggestion would be greatly apprecitated. I don't want anything to happen to this cute little baby.



Inhabitants: 1 Porccupine, 1 White Spotted & 2 black Damsels.
Nitrite: 0
Gallon Capacity: 29
Aquarium up & running over a week.

Please help...

What is the ammonia and nitrate and ph?
There was also no photo, could you maybe try to re-post it?
Your tank has also not had enough time to fully cycle and the ammonia could possibly be through the roof causing burns on the puffer. These fish need to be returned to the fish store until the tank can be cycled properly otherwise they are not going to survive. There is an article about fishless cycling in the library that might be of some help as well.

29 Gallons? Even if it WAS cycled, you need a tank 4X the size for those fish.

I see the picture now..he looks a bit dusty. I have a stars and stripes that gets all in the substrate and the same thing happens to him. This may not be an illness but just dust. But I do see the swollen eye. It there anyway to return them to your LFS and have them hold the puffers until you get the tank cycled? Unfortunately the tank size is a bit small for both puffers. You may need to choose between the two and discuss the future to see if a bigger tank for the puff is more applicable. There is lots of great information in the library and pufferpedia to help out as well. I am glad you found us.

And Groove..we need not be so harsh. Mistakes are made in the hobby and are often mis-information from LFS. It's not the fault of the owner.

Here is another photo. More of a close up...

This is my boyfriends tank. So I honestly have no idea, I'm just trying to help him out. The puffers are only about 4" right now. They will be going in another tank soon. Also, pease note that when the fish was bought it already had this stuff on it. So where not sure if it should be like that or if we should bring it back to the store. My concern is the swollen eye & icky stuff all over it.

I see..
I will PM Puffer Queen and see what she thinks about it. She is the expert on saltwater puffer disease. Did your boyfriend fully cycle the tank? See, if not, fish are very sensitive to the cycling process. During the cycling process, ammonia levels will go up and then suddenly plummet as the nitrite-forming bacteria take hold. Because nitrate-forming bacteria don't even begin to appear until nitrite is present in significant quantities, nitrite levels skyrocket (as the built-up ammonia is converted), continuing to rise as the continually-produced ammonia is converted to nitrite. Once the nitrate-forming bacteria take hold, nitrite levels fall, nitrate levels rise, and the tank is fully cycled.
When fish are introduced into the tank to so call "jump-start" the cycling process, the amount of ammonia is unbearable and the fish end up dying. So all in all if the puffers stay, they will get killed. That is why I suggest returning them until the tank is established as cycled and it is safe for them to thrive.

The tank from what he says was fully cycled. The damsels were the first in. I'm gonna have him check the ammonia level. I'll wait to hear from anyone that would like to give an opinion.

Yunachin, Thank you for all your information. I really appreciate it!

I'll wait for Puffer Queen...

If it is fully cycled then good, that is a breath of fresh air. Have him check the ammonia and nitrAte levels just to be sure. Is the puffer eating well? How is the porcupine doing?

Sorry if I came off as rude, just seemed a bit weird that you would consider keeping fish that size in a tank that size. Seeing as their relatively small, I guess it's okay for now. Anybody ID the problem yet? I know nothing about sw fish diseases (or sw fish for that matter)

There is a definite problem....with the increased mucous production as evidenced by the substrate sticking to the underside of the puffer, water parameters need to be checked. Even if the tank was cycled with damsels, adding more than one puffer to this size tank will cause water parameter instability as the biological filter was cycled to a damsel bioload. Introductions should be made slowly so the biological filter can slowly accomodate the new fish.

Everything wet (fish, rock, corals, inverts,etc) have to be quarantined before placing in the main display tank. This puffer is sick - increased mucous production, the eye looks dull/cloudy and the skin/fins appears to have external parasites in addition to the substrate.

If this was my puffer......Immediate placement in a freshwater bath with methylene blue for 15 - 30 minutes. Then I would place it in a barebottom tank with no porous materials - rock, substrate, etc. and treat with Seachem Cupramine.
I would monitor the water parameters daily (ammonia, pH and nitrite) as well as the copper level (Salifert or Red Sea test kit will adequately monitor this type of copper). I would follow the directions on the Seachem bottle as far as dosing.

I would add an extra powerhead and airstone to the treatment tank as well.

I would add vitamins to the food daily and beta glucan to the diet daily for 10 days.

Any other fish in this display tank whether they were showing any signs of disease would be treated as well.

I would leave the tank fallow (fishless) for 6 weeks so the parasites will starve and die. I would not add anything to this tank during the 6 week period. Then everything added would be quarantined for at least 4 - 6 weeks.

I would not add medications to the display tank and I would not perform freshwater baths or any treatment.

If all fish are not treated and the display tank is left with any fish, the parasite will live on and reinfect anything introduced/reintroduced.

Best of luck.

Poor little puffer.

You'd best convince your bf to listen to Puffer Queen, as she knows her stuff. Hopefully you can help the little puffer out, but it's definitely going to be a struggle!