The Puffer Forum

Has anyone ever heard of a black spot freshwater disease? Seems to be a secondary infection covering areas of damaged skin tissue on my fahaka, but appears as though it has spread to cover the fins too.

Looks like the cows are finally coming home on my puffers columnaris-like infection; something - likely bacterial - has seriously affected his upper lip, causing muscle deterioration such that he cannot open his top lip to breathe normally. Decreased appetite - clearly, it is painful to chew. Was first noticed as a series of vertical grey striations on his lip, until one burst open revealing white tissue, a bit of red, and some green pus oozing out of the wound.

Have him in quarantine with Furan-2 & Melafix, going to try feeding Furan-2 medicated foods as well. Doesn't look good though...

That is terrible. I think I recall hearing of a fw black spot. I'm sorry I can't site any references atm. What is the main ingredient of Furan-2?

That sounds awful. So sorry to hear that.
How about raising the SG a tad for him...just a little. Or do you think it may stress him out even more.
Have you thought about cloving him and using Mercurichrome on his wounds..PP seems to be a big fan of this stuff for open wounds.
Mind you...again...extra stress.
Fingers crossed for you both.
Pami.

Thanks for the support, guys.

I have also raised the salinity a bit... Basically throwing everything I can at the problem, as long as the treatments don't counteract one another.

Furan-2 is gram positive & negative antibiotic. Each cap contains 60mg nitrofurazone, 25mg furazolidone and 2mg methylene blue trihydrate.

Day 2, blackspots remain pretty much unchanged.


I did use clove oil to inspect his mouth for tooth damage the day before his lip burst. In the process, some oil which had collected on the surface of the holding bucket came in contact with his skin. Due to its oily nature, it remained on his skin after transfer back to the main tank. As I found out undisolved clove oil in contact with the puffers skin causes 'burn' marks, these areas are the most heavily infected by "black spot", and it has indeed spread to his fins.

Seems to me (by casual observation) that black spot behaves more like a parasite than a bacteria.

I've read up on some form of trematode which goes by the name of blackspot. It is a parasite and generally harmless, usually ocurring in earthy basins and brought in by infected snails. But the black cysts formed by this parasite are about 1mm large and raised from the surface of the skin, which is inconsistent with my observations.

I'm looking at something much smaller, does not appear to be raised from the surface of the skin, about 1/10th of a mm in size.

... which is now covering his entire body.
No obvious signs of discomfort; no flashing.

Considering a salt bath... I don't own a hydrometer - can anyone ballpark a Tbsp/gallon concentration using regular table salt?

Bred, I went to check it out and discovered I am out of table salt. Sorry.

Did you ever get your tablesalt info? I'm afraid I still don't have any. I remembered the fw Black Spot reference. It was at http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-15 ... --,00.html . However, it looks like you have already ruled it out. How is your Puff?

Thanks for asking - the blackspot disappeared after ~5 days with 2tsp/gal salt, furan-2 and melafix. It went away in the reverse order in which it appeared - first cleared off the fins, then the body, then the wounds.

The infection still rages on. It's causing some irritation - he flips out and hits the walls of the tank with his mouth, reopening the wound.

Right now the wound is largely healed, but his lip is still dead. Grey vertical striations on the skin over top of the muscle still exist.

It's been about 2 weeks on Furan-2. I am going to try a new antibiotic soon and would appreciate any suggestions. Broad spectrum and powerful, please.

Sounds like he needs a padded tank.

Really glad to hear that..must've been worrying for you.
Pami.

It was a concern because I'd never seen blackspot before. The major concern still rests with whatever is eating his flesh from the inside out.

Is there anyway you could have a vet swab the lesion and identify what type of bacteria it is?

A combination of Neomycin and Triple Sulfa is commonly used to treat Seahorses with flesh errosion caused by Vibrio. The first is a wide spectrum antibiotic that works on both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. The latter is an antibiotic that works on gram-negative bacteria. I purchased mine at http://www.nationfishpharm.com . The company has a "Free Help Line" at 520-298-7814 if you're interested in calling them.

HTH

Bred, nitro and fuzo antibiotics are usually the best broad spectrum ones out there they usually come mixed into one powder that turns water a yellow green. jungle products funugs eliminator has gotten me and the puffs through many an infection and prevents too many more after ich etc. However anynitro fzo mix is fine I just trust fungus eliminator since their balance seems to help the puffs alot more than it hurts the bio filters.

Well, he's been entirely off his food for at least a week.

I gave him one ParaGuard bath for an hour, no signs of stress.

Two days later, another bath, after 30 minutes he had basically stopped breathing. That was a tense moment. Immediately returned him to his tank, he began breathing more or less normally but was totally shocked - no eye movement, no response to visual stimuli.

The mouth lesions keep reappearing. He is producing copious amounts of slime both exterior and inside his mouth. It hurts him way to much to eat and he's stopped trying.

Last ditch effort is a Kanacyn treatment in QT. Unless he starts eating soon, I don't think he will last another two weeks.

I'm very sad... He's been on a downhill slide for months now, but it's really picking up momentum now. Ugh... I have a dreadful feeling it will come down to euthanasia. Fingers crossed in a big way that he starts eating soon.