The Puffer Forum

I was looking at Ralphie my biggest GSp and noticed two small lumps on his back. One is on the lefts side right before his tail and the other is on the right side kind of in the middle. They are about the size of a pea. Any ideas what could they be?

How long have you had him?How big is he?is he on his own/any new additions to the tank?

Is it possible to post closeup pics?

I got him almost a month ago, he is my new addition. He is about 3-4" long. He is temporarily in a very light brackish too freshwater tank, until i can get a marine set up, with two angels, another small GSP, a south american puffer, a three spot gourami, a pleco and a cory cat. he is in a 55 gallon, again only until i can afford another. his water parameters are all good except nitrates, around 80 .

also any ideas on how to get my nitrates down? i have a Penguin 350 Bio-wheel, rated for a 75 gallon tank, with a phosphate buffer bag and an ammonia-nitrate-nitrite buffer bag.

I have some pics of him and the rest of the tank, but i cant figure out how to post them. But it looks like someone sliced a pea in half and put them under his skin

If I were you, I'd return him, until you can house him & the other GSP properly. You have fish that belong in 3 different tanks. You NEVER put puffers with angels! Eventually, they will have no fins left. The SAP needs a separate FW tank & the 2 GSPs you have not need at least a 55g tank for themselves.

To remove nitrates, you must do large water changes, cleaning the gravel, including under everything.

Remove the ammonia-nitrate-nitrite buffer bag--it's a waste. Be sure you change the phosphate remover when instructed. I find them unnecessary also.

I have a 75 gallon on the way for the GSPs. I know the the SAP should not be with the angels, but i have been watching them and he does not go near them and I have had him in there for a couple months now. As soon as I notice a problem, I have a 20 gallon, with my two dwarf puffers, to move him to and a ten gallon for the dwarfs.

I just got the buffers, they are Rena nitra-zorbs a phosph-zorbs, because they were on sale, and since i have had a drop in my nitrates, but they are slowly going back up. I do at least a 25% water change every week and a 50% water change monthly. I have a sand substrated so i cant actually vacuum through it, but every other night i go over it and getv the stuff on top of the sand that my cory cat missed

50% weekly is what is recomemded for puffers. I wouldn't have bought the puffer until you had the larger tank set up. As far as the lumps, they could be nematodes but can't really tell w/o pics. Go to the Photo Forum to see how to post them.

I bought the puffer because someone came in just as i did that wanted to put them him into a 20 gallon with her cichlids. I told her not to, but she was determined, so i bought him before she could to save him. I can do the 50% weekly changes and i will try getting the pictures up as soon as i can get the computer back that they are stored on.

Without jumping on your back, I would move the dwarves to the 10g and move the angels asap. Better to be proactive than reactive Also, the plec will need to be with someone freshwater(SAP/dwarves) asap. They seem hardy, but will become distressed quite rapidly with too much salt.

Has the puffer had these lumps ever since you bought him or are they a new development/gradual growth? Pictures would be great.

I just noticed them yesterday.

I looked up other posts on nematodes and it sounds like what I have. I researched on-line and found that some people use "phenothiazine" as a treatment for other animals with intestinal nematodes. I then read in an aquarium book to use phenothiazine .1% of the fish's diet for no more than three days as a treatment for nematodes. could this possibly work? i wont start treating him until i know exactly what the lumps are, but it doesn't hurt to research.

Somatic nematodes are tricky to kill, and the dead nematodes tend to kill the host due to all the toxins from any significant mass of nematodes, even if the meds did not harm the fish.

These aren't intestinal but are under the skin. It is best to QT the fish from others. They can live quite a while w/them.

Would a nematode look like a pea half, though? Those nitrates in that tank are pretty high...could that be something to do with it? These lumps seem to have appeared suddenly.
Pami.