The Puffer Forum

well yas might remember a while ago 1 of my saps had a white worm thing on 1 of his fins? and i thought he had whitespot, so tried whitespot treatment (before i knew any better!) also tried salt, and raising the temp etc. the spots didnt go anywhere tho :S no other fish in the tank is affected, just paddy. now i dont think theyre spots, they ll look something like tiny weeny worms, or short pieces of cotton, like kinda tied into knots if that makes sense? hes not in the least bit bothered by them, but 2day they seem much much worse, so im really worried i wormed the tank about 2 weeks ago now, that hasnt done anything at all also been putting pimafix in regularly incase its fungus or something.hes still eating etc, his behaviour hasnt changed at all. heres a pic...not the clearest, he never sits still lol! anyone got any ideas what it could b, and what i could do??

That sounds like an external parasite, like anchorworms, to me. You would remove them with tweezers, for starters. They might be easier to pull off if you give them a salt dip.

I had a similar thing on a goldfish once, I fixed it by pulling the 'worms' off using a tweezer and applied a very strong salt solution to the affected area only, following that by salt baths every day for the next few days. Afterwards he was good as new, but I'm not sure if you can go that crazy with salt on a SAP?

what concentration of salt would b safe to dip him in? i did try and pull some off yesterday, i tried gently with tweezers, and also tried gently rubbing with cotton bud, but they wouldnt move! that wasnt after a salt dip tho, so i will try that once i know how much salt is safe.
cheers

can anyone please tell me what salt concentration is safe to dip paddy in please?? hes looking a bit unhappy 2day

I would dip in full marine conditions but I've never had to do it. Hopefully that will be enough to affect the parasite.

well i put him in a bucket of his tank water, and slowly added a cup of really really salty water..watching 2 make sure he wasnt stressed etc. left him in there for a couple of mins n then ive tried again 2 pull whatever they are off him, they wont come off tho! his skin was just kinda stretching as i pulled :S im not entirely sure that they are anchor worms tbh, ive looked at as many diff pics of them as i can find, and paddys dont look anything like them.theres no redness or anything like that, just little white things. 2day he has a couple on his gills, im guessing thats y hes so unhappy the guy at the fish shop told me it could b that hes overproducing his slime coat or something like that..is that a possibility?? i tend not 2 listen 2 them 2 much now.

If you can't pull it off I doubt it's slime coat. It may take a few dips to get what ever this is to loose its hold or be weakened enough to be able to be pulled off. How long are these things now? And their on his gills? I'm wondering if you are looking at some type of Fluke. Without getting a real clear picture it's difficult (just tell him to hold still and smile, lol). There are different typs of flukes and anchor worms so they may not look text book like you'd see on google....

theyre not getting any longer,just seems 2 b getting more of them.maybe 5mm long if u straightened them out if that makes sense lol?? theyre not long, all kind of twisted up. they just look like little tinys knots of cotton or something. theres a patch on his side with quite a few together now, that bit looks the worst...and where hes got them on his gill, hes not moving the fin on that side at the min. the lights are off now, but in the morning ill try again 2 get a better pic of him, if need b ill put him in a tiny tank for a couple of mins to get 1 lol

*somnething else, i dunno if its important...but hes never seemed like he was 'itchy' or anything, like ive never ever seen him flicking off stuff in the tank etc

Usually fish dips are carefully controlled, matching the pH & getting the SG just right... They are also best at around 20-30 min.

The main reason for suggesting the higher SG is to hopefully either damage the tissue of whatever this is or get it to dehydrate and weaken. So, like PufferPunk said, 20-30 minutes at a time. Really keep an eye on him during this process.

how much salt do i need to b ading to how much water?? im really unsure of this lol! on the plus side tho, today hes looking a lot better...the things whatever they are are still there, but only 1 that i can see on his gill now, there was a few yesterday. hes also a lot more active again

Honestly, I'd bring the SG up to low marine levels, 1.020. Make sure you're matching the temp of your tank too.....

Dadof4 wrote:Honestly, I'd bring the SG up to low marine levels, 1.020. Make sure you're matching the temp of your tank too.....

what does that mean im new 2 this lol! how much salt is that per gallon etc?

Use marine salt and follow the instructions, you measure with a hydrometer which is only a couple bucks.

If I remember correctly, 1/2 cup of marine salt will make 1 gallon of "full marine" water..

Keep in mind here, we are talking marine salt, like Instant Ocean.. not table salt or "aquarium salt".