The Puffer Forum

1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate).
pH 8.1, Ammonia and Nitrites 0, Nitrates 11, SG .006, temp has been raised to 86 for treatment.

2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants.
29 gallon tank, home for two 2 inch Figure Eights. The filter is an Aqua Clear 50, with Marineland Ceramic Cylinders

3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)
Usually feed once daily with a one day fast, sometimes they will also get a light snack of snails as a second feeding. I use Instant Ocean and Stress Coat Plus, I occasionally add Flourish for the plants. Right now I am also adding Melafix for treatment.

4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.
About three weeks ago I added plastic floating plants to the puffers tank, they were originally in one of my FW tanks, and have since been discarded. One side note, a few days after I added the plastic plants, I discovered a single. It's still in the puffer's tank, residing in a nursery. It handled the temperature increase just fine, though I am no closer to identifying it. appetite

5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it?
Set up last September as a FW tank, seeded with filter media, sand, decor from another tank and cycled with ammonia. Transitioned to BW in November and puffers moved in the beginning of December.

About two weeks ago I found two spots on my puffer Piglet's pectoral fin. I raised the temp to 86, have been adding Melafix daily and doing 50-60 percent water changes every other day for the twelve days. I'm not entirely sure if it is ich, could it be a fungus? It seems to be staying on the fins and a couple of new spots have appeared. The puffer, Piglet, seems fine otherwise. The other puffer, Blinky, has no visible symptoms but it's appetite seems to have diminished substantially. I have not seen it it for a few days. They have a lot of variety in their diet and they're not picky eaters. Blinky only has one eye and I thought at first maybe it just wasn't seeing the food. But after seeing Blinky swim by krill that I held in place by tongs, I am quite certain that it is choosing not to eat. Can the increase in temperature effect their appetite? Blinky has always eating in moderation while Piglet, as the name implies does not.

If anyone has any insight it would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you

Yes, but not as you are thinking. increasing temps raise their metabolism, increasing appetite. IMO, your fish don't have ich. Keep up with the Melafix though.

I'm wondering if you really have ich. Some puffers have white spots on their fins that (at least in my opinion) look like they are from where spines would be if the skin is on the body. Do he have spots elsewhere on his body? Is he scratching on things? Water temp will have an affect on appetite, depending on the puffer it can cause it to decrease or increase.

I thought it likely the temp would elevate their metabolism, which is why it's so perplexing that one seems to have no interest in eating. I have not found white spots anywhere else on Piglet's body. Earlier in the week, I thought there was one on it's eye, but I could never get a really good look as it appeared to be on the inner part of the eye. And I could have been seeing things. Piglet hasn't been scratching against anything. He does occasionally bump into things but it's because he's watching me for food instead of where he's swimming.

Some puffers have white spots on their fins that (at least in my opinion) look like they are from where spines would be if the skin is on the body.

Do you mean if he inflated the spines could create small punctures in the fins? That would make sense.

If it's not ich and instead a fin issue, Melafix would still be my treatment of choice, correct? I've used it in the past for minor fin damage on some of my freshwater fish.

I'm sorry if I sound like I "Nervous Nellie". With the exception of one python incident, there has been no drama. I read other posts and I realize how fortunate I've been with my puffers. So when something seemingly minor develops, I worry that karma has reared it's ugly head.

Like Dadof4 says, some puffers just seem to have a spot or two on their fins. My GSP has a couple, and they've been there since day one, in spite of treating with both Melafix and Pimafix. The spots don't change in any way, and I've had her for over a year, so I don't think it's anything other than some small defect. I've seen this on other puffers we have had at work, too: a dogface we had for a couple of months had a few white, irregular, raised spots on its caudal and anal fins, and they never went away or changed with treatment either. Maybe it's some sort of scar tissue.

I've had the puffers for almost ten months now and the spots only appeared on Piglet within the last two and a half weeks. But the good news is, that as of today the spots appear to be clearing up. No new ones have appeared and the others are diminishing in size and color, with the effected areas becoming translucent like the rest of the fins.

Should I continue to keep the temperature elevated until the fins appear completely healed?


On the down side, Blinky, the other puffer is still ignoring food. Yesterday it's feces were off white and stringy, while Piglet's were black/brown logs. Could it be IPs? Are there drawbacks to treating their food with meds if there are no IPs present?

If you are having stringy poop on one I would treat them both. You won't do any harm by doing that because if one has them it's a fair chance the other one does too.

Dadof4 wrote:If you are having stringy poop on one I would treat them both. You won't do any harm by doing that because if one has them it's a fair chance the other one does too.

Yeah, I was afraid of that.