The Puffer Forum

pH- 7.8
Ammonia- 0
Nitrite-0
Nitrate- 5ppm
Specific Gravity- 1.004
72 Gallon
Temp- 79 F

Feeding frozen bloodworms (nightly), oysters. snails (every three days)

Inhabitants- 3 2 inch GSPs

40% water weekly, (done last night)
Additives- prime, and flourish excel(daily)
(Fishless cycle about 8 months ago)
I cant put up pictures, sorry.

My larger GSP recently developed a relatively small red spot on his stomach. It has been a week now, and it seems to be getting worse. The ulcer is swelling, and red around the edges with white necrotic skin in the center. I dont have a quarantine tank for him, so I take a large Tupperware container, fill it with tank water, net the fish and put him inside while it floats in the tank. I dose him with melafix and binox (treatment for fungus and bacterial infections). I'm not sure im doing the right thing, I dont know if the "ulcer" is healing. Is the white part the healing skin?

Has anyone experienced this?
What should I do?

Could it be a bite from one of the others? All I can suggest is treat with melafix & keep your water in tip top condition. Don't think keeping him in a small container will do him any good - the ammonia etc will build up too quickly. If you aren't able to separate him properly, then treat the whole tank with melafix. Good water parameters is the best thing for healing. My new GSP had a massive bite wound on his side from the lfs, but now it has healed to a white scar. Another suggestion - perhaps a parasite under the skin? I think everyone will want pictures though!

I know what this is; my GSP I had two years ago had this exact same thing, unfortunately he died from it before I could figure out what it was. It's a bacterial infection in the skin; the ulcers themselves are a break through all layers of skin, the white skin in the center is necrotic (dead) tissue. The ulcers will swell due to inflammation of the healthy tissue around them. It's caused by opportunistic bacteria already in the water infecting skin that has been damaged, possibly by an ornament or rock or perhaps a bite from the other GSP.

This is a common disease and is a very treatable even in severe cases; it isn't a death sentence for your GSP.

Your water chemistry looks okay; the pH is perhaps a bit low for GSP's but as long as it is constant it shouldn't be a problem. Could use more salt too, but worry about that later. Do NOT isolate the affected fish, treat the whole tank. Binox is an antibiotic so continue that treatment. If it doesn't work, see if you can find some KanaPlex by Seachem. It's a bit tricky to find so you might have to order it, but this stuff is awesome; I've brought back bettas with dropsy infections back from the brink of death with it. It's like magic pixie dust for fish, I kid you not.

Good luck, and keep us posted!

becareful with antibiotics. Research carefully because they can crash your biofilter.

+1 to JP, indeed many antibiotics can kill the beneficial bacteria in your tank and cause an ammonia spike, which in turn can cause a pH crash. A lot of people say that erythromycin is bad about that.

This is another reason why I like KanaPlex so much, the preferred method of treatment is to soak it in the fish's food. Even though Seachem swears up and down that KanaPlex won't harm your biofilter, it's still much safer and effective to soak the stuff in the fish's food then feed it to him.

yea.. they said that about Paraguard too. Guess what happened?

J-P wrote:yea.. they said that about Paraguard too. Guess what happened?

It worked as advertised by the manufacturer without any adverse effects?

Sounds like not.

LOL!! of course not. Tank crashed, and ended up cycling it again.