The Puffer Forum

i have been treating my mbu for whitespot as i noticed small white spots appearing on him,but it doesnt look like the usual "kind" of white spot.the spots look bigger and are more white (really bright) does anyone have any ideas? as there are more and i have been treating for 2 days now? thanks...

right...

how old is your mbu now?
size?
tank size?
decor?
tankmates? if have tankmates any of those with confirmed whitespot?
temp + readings nitrates etc.
airstone?
what are you using to treat and how have you treated tank?
does your filter use ceramic media bio balls etc? have these been removed?
how many times have your doesed tank?

the thing is most mbu have white spots naturally that are more promanendt than whitespot these spots that naturally occur are harmless. thus youll need a keane eye to tell the difference. i only medicate a tank as a last resort!

i think this may be natural spots because mbus have delicate skin they get these spots normally just from little bits of dirt etc resting on them usually on tail area. keep an eye on them occasionally they can get swore but vvv rarely.

if you need to get any information on mbus ive owned 4 over the last 6 years have 2 currently just send me a message ill be more than happy to give you a call or give you my number talk you through any apects of care you may be slightly unclear of

I would prefer the correspondence was done on this thread, so we all can learn from this issue. Do a search for columnarus to see if this might be what you are looking at. It could also be a fungal attack on the flesh where the fish was eaten away by the ich parasite. Be sure to add Melafix to his water & keep the water pristene--lots of water changes.

What dod you do to clear up the ich?

And be sure to answer all the questions in red above.

the fish has only been in the tank 3-4 weeks as its a young mbu i wouldnt be too keane to treat the tank with anything other that melafix personally. if in any doubt at all feel free to contact me i can run through any diagnosis.

it may be a idea to raise temp to around 26-27 will help if it is white spot, but i doubt it. although ive never seen columnarus on such a young mbu thats clearly visable.

while im writing this if you havnt de wormed your puffer its probably advisable as there all wild caust and usually have parasites. when i spoke with you last my baby mbu was in QT tank being de wormed before going into community

ok well here are params ammm-0 nitrite-0 nitrate-0 phosphate-0 ph-7.8 gh-45 mg/l (as caco3) temp-76f tank size is 6ftx2ftx2ft-(am upgrading very soon!) currently shared with 13 glowlight danios and 8 congo tetras, no chemical products have been added, i have anubias nana as the only plant bogwood for decor caves etc,feeding-krill mussells cockles etc water changes are every week 10 percent to replenish the minerals nutrients, no changes in last week and was cycled fishless, setup was 30th august 2008

the shop told me he was dewormed (unsure as to that though!) but i was reading the article in the library here and would like to do it just to be safe, what do you think is the best way to go about it? the mbu is 4-5 inches at the mo, and i have treated for ich using ehsa exit (i like it because it didnt seem as harsh as other products containg formaldehyde) raised temp to 80f to speed up the ich cycle airated and done vacuum of gravel before hand etc ,i have had marines for few years previous so am familiar with diseases but this just seems different it doesnt look as th ough its bothering him, his fins are normal as is gill movement?

i think there will be no need for medication and wont need to upgrade for sometime my 6x2 has over 60 fish and a baby mbu ill keep her in there until shes over a foot long with no issues

Staffy3453, you are right to upgrade soon, you need to give that fish as much room as possible as soon as possible to allow it to grow without issues or water quality compromise. Remember, there's no such thing as over filtration when it comes to these behemoths either.

I'd up that 10% weekly WC to 50%, at least until he's upgraded.

why would you do 50 percent?

does anyone have any ideas on the spots? its really bugging me! thanks...

can you get a photo for us, impossible to know where to start otherwise. Are they smooth spots or furry ones..?

We all do a minimum of 50% water changes around here, on our puffer tanks 9I do 75%). I haven't had a sick fish in years.

Pufferpunk wrote:We all do a minimum of 50% water changes around here, on our puffer tanks 9I do 75%). I haven't had a sick fish in years.

thats great news that you havent had a sick fish in years,and to be honest the mbu wasnt in great shape when i bought him (just thought it would be nicer to try and help him) as for doing 50 percent that is totally pointless for me as im only really doing a water change to replenish the minerals etc, i did post my parameters and they are all on 0, so i was asking why you thought i should do a 50 percent w/c? not to just say every one on here does!

t1gerbee wrote:can you get a photo for us, impossible to know where to start otherwise. Are they smooth spots or furry ones..?

cheers yeah im tring but camera is playing up at the minute! im going to borrow a friends though and get some pictures up,thanks