The Puffer Forum

Here is the update --- last night there was a little string coming out of the abscess (or whatever it is) -- it was about as long as the bump --- also, this morning i saw stringy poo -- this is the first time ive seen this with him -- he is really round and fat, so i dont think its internal parasites -- i have delt with IPs before and the puffer got really skinny fast --

based on previous advice, i have started treating with melafix -- and been doing it for about 3 days

PLEASE HELP ! --- i dont know what to do



This is the original post ------------------

My "baby" figure 8 who is about 1.5" has a growth on his cheek -- it started small, like a little grain of sand , but has grown quite large, to the point that it worries me -- as you can see in the pictures, its almost as large as his eye --- he is acting and eating totally normal, no weight loss, no tuning black or anything -- -- i remember another member on the forum with a figure 8 growth (a nematode? or something) but i cant seem to find the post. If my memory serves right, he was going to do surgery - yikes ! any advice would be helpful






Ammonia, nitrite - 0
SG 1.005
Nirtate - never over 10
Weekly water changes of 25%
there have been no changes to the tank (other than water changes)

Thanks,

Mike

Could be an abscess - does it seem to have fluid in it?

hard to tell -- it looks very much like a pimple, but since its on the white part of his body, you cant tell if its filled with anything ya know ?? - it just looks like a little volcano on the side of his face --

Oh goodness, that's ugly isn't it...

It is probably either a tumor or a nematode. Does it move or change position at all? If not, but its growing, then my guess would be a tumor. Nematodes are *usually* either active and moving or dormant and still, or so I understand it.

My turgidus gets something similar when he doesn't like his water supply, even with low nitrates. White, pimple like bumps. Give him some water changes with 50/50 RO/tap water, and they go away. But they heal up and show up somewhere else on him.. how long has this been here? If its just a few days I'd concentrate on using melafix and maybe some RO water and see what happens. If its been several weeks and this is the only spot its happening in, I'd lean more towards a tumor or parasite, and hopefully someone will have some advice on how to treat it.

thanks myaj -- its definately been a few weeks -- but it started out really small -- i barely noticed it -- but its grown recently -- my water source has been the same throughout , but i could get some RO and try that --

i do have melafix and could dose that --- but it has been there for a while, so it could be tumor or parasite like you said --- scary stuff

Well, clean water and melafix never hurts, so I'd start there while waiting for more imput. It looks very similar to what Bubba gets, but his showed up within weeks of moving to a new water source. I just moved this past week, and with the new water source, his skin has completely cleared up (I wasn't having time for RO water while getting ready to move). There was just something in the water at the old place that didn't agree with him.

will do , thanks!

i've never used RO , just tap,l but maybe its time to try it

ok, this information has not been looked up in scientific papers, but I've been told by an doctor owning puffers that puffers never get cancer, they have this really special DNA that never go wrong (and make cells turn into cancer). I know tetraodons are being studied a lot for their DNA, but I don't know if it's for their non cancer ability... Has anyone heard it before? If this is comfirmed, it'd mean to rule out cancer from the possible diagnosis...

that would be good -- i dont think i could afford puffer chemo !