The Puffer Forum

On his fin on his right side... there's a bit of bright red. it looks bright red where it attaches to him.. where it kinda looks like an ear?
but its not like... "bleedng" or acting like liquid.

He's acting perfectly fine though, he's all happy.

What could this be? What should I do?

He has no tank mates.

Edit - the red fell off but now hè`s itching that spot...
!

possibly a fluke?

It could be a parasite like a fluke or maybe ulcer or cyst or just a harmless wound. If its a wound then a great product to use is Melafix. If it is a parasite you will need to treat for it, though they can be picked oof if you are feeling brave. Post us a picture if you can, that will help

Well I tried to add a picture.... did it work?
I googled "fluke" and learned a bit about that - I'm thinking it could be a fluke?
so if that's what it is, and the "fluke" fell off, does that mean he might get more of them showing up?
He is itching that spot...
I've never had to treat him for anything so I'm a bit nervous....

Melafix?

Yeah, Melafix and Pimafix. They're both a natural oil (Melafix is Tea Tree oil) that help to recover skin-related problems (melafix is good for wounds, and pimafix is good for most fungus and infections). I'm not sure if it will do anything for parasites though. What were the recommended steps for Fluke?

If he's itching the spot, my guess is that it didn't completely fall off, and he's scraping at his side to get rid of as much of it as possible.

http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/i ... htm#Flukes

Fish Disease and Treatment wrote: There are many species of flukes, which are flatworms about 1 mm long, and several symptoms that are visible. They infest gills and skin much like ich, but the difference can be seen with a hand lens. You should be able to see movement and possibly eye spots, which is not found in ich. Gill flukes will eventually destroy the gills thus killing the fish. Symptoms of a heavy infestations are pale fish with drooping fins, rapid respiration, glancing off aquarium decor, and /or hollow bellies.

Treatment can best be done with a 10 to 30 minute bath in 10 mg per liter of potassium permanganate. Or treat the whole tank with 2 mg per liter, but this method is messy and dyes the water.

I'm not sure what potassium permanganate is, but according to Wikipedia: "High-grade potassium permanganate can be found at pool supply stores and is used in rural areas to remove iron and hydrogen sulfide (rotten egg smell) from well water by oxidation." There's a good chance you can find it at a fish store, but you might have to find one that keeps a lot of products on hand.

By the sounds of it, I'd go looking for some Potassium Permanganate and create a concentrated bath for him. Bathing a fish in the concentrated medication seems to be more effective, and it avoids the issue of treating the entire tank (especially since this medication dyes the water purple).

Hope that helps!

I just read this forum and now im worried that he may have this.

im nervous to treat, becuase im not 100% sure exactly what it is....
but according to this post, maybe I should raise my salinity a bit temporarily ?

http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/vie ... p?f=3&t=85

It does sound like gill flukes. If salt is how you want to try to treat then Salt baths would be better I'm guessing as you wont be able to raise the salt enough in your main tank enough without crashing it. I did some reading on fluke. I have read fluke can become immune to the salt.

Do a search on gill flukes and go from there what type of treatment you want to do. Here is a link to some info. I read in several places prazipro works for gill flukes: http://www.rockymountaindiscus.com/prazipro.htm

Anyone have any experience with this? I hope chomper pulls through this.

PraziPro will work against flukes (also gill flukes). It is much used by discus owners. It contains Praziquantel, which will kill the parasites by making them contract themselves to death. So there's a little bit risk with using it. The parasites can burst under their contractions, and that will lead to infections. I haven't tried it on my puffers, but I know discus owners say you have to overdose it pretty much.

how do you do a salt bath?
like... how much salt in the water?
and ill goto the fish store and ask about flukes - hopefully they'll give me fluke meds?

Here is some info on treating w/ salt: http://article.dphnet.com/cat-02/flukes1.shtml


Hope it helps.

I went to the fish store and bought something called Parasite Guard. I spoke with the manager and he agreed that it's probably flukes, or some other parasite.
On the bottle it says to do a 25% water change then add 1 teaspoon per gallon.
Well I made a mix of that and put Chomper into it... and left him for 10 minutes then put him back into his tank and now he's acting funny.

I guess my question is... is it normal for puffer to act a bit strange when getting treated for something?
Normally when I put my finger near him, he checks it out then does something else.
Well now I show him my finger. and he flies across the tank really quick as though he's terrified.

i don't understand.

he doesn't appear harmed in anyway then don't worry. he's prolly just mad at you for giving him a bath. they really have that much personality.

I would guess that is normal for him to be acting different with treatment. Poor guy is stressed.

okay so i just woke up and now his black spots on his back a..kinda turning from black to white. he looks so pale, i'm upset and worried. and i gotta goto work.
should i be worried? He looks pretty normal in this picture... you can kinda see at the back where he's fading...
he also is swimming into stuff....
sorry for being panicky... but i love him so much, i just wanna make sure he's okay.

My puffers like to fade their colours because they're afraid of me, it seems. His belly still seems white, so that's a good sign. As for the bumping into stuff, I'm not sure, so you best wait for some more opinions.