The Puffer Forum

I just got home from the pet store with 6 new dwarf puffers. They are still in the bag. Two of them have white thicker parts of their tail and their tails aren't able to open/fan like the others.

Is this ich? Should I take all of them back? I don't want to infect my tank with anything. I have another small 4 gallon tank that I could use as a hospital tank. I just am scared that they have something contagious!

got a pic?

Does it look like fuzz, or a white patch????

the hospital tank should be good enough. If you take them back, chances are that others in the same tank are also infected but just are not showing the symptoms as of yet.

Ich shows up as white spots....looks like grains of salt on the fishes skin and fins/tail. Is the white part fuzzy or damaged? or is it the color of the tail....the colors of each puffer will vary greatly.

Puffers do not always swim with their tail,...so they don't always open them.

If the tank is cycled, I would observe them in the hospital tank for a while. In order for them to survive for a short period in the 4 g you will need to monitor the water conditions closely and do daily water changes.

Please take a closer look at them in the hospital tank and report any symptoms of signs of disease.

I tried to take some pics, but my camera doesn't do well with the close ups. It is white and kind of fuzzy looking, in the affected spots the fin looks two or three times thicker than the healthy fin. It is not grainy. The fish are still active and seem to be swimming around okay. Do you think I should put the healthy looking ones in the big tank and the others in the hospital tank, or should i put all of them in the hospital tank? It's only 4 gallons, so I don't know if it will be able to handle all six! Should I add salt or anything to the hospital tank?

My puffer doesn't open her tail unless she's trying to slow herself down; anytime else she clamps it shut.

White fuzzy growth... difficult do diagnose without a pic, but, columnaris maybe? Main symptoms of columnaris are white, cottony growth on the body and fins with deterioration of the fins at the edges. If it is columnaris it can easily be treated with an antibiotic. It's really contagious though, so keep the affected puffers separated from the rest of your stock.

Thanks so much for all the suggestions. I decided to return the fish. This time I was very specific with the store staff about which puffer to catch. Thanks again-

I'd treat all of them with Melafix & Pimafix.

If they were in the tank with the others they are probably be infected (if it was a disease) as well. Keep an eye on them. I have to treat my entire tank for ip's again because I did not qt my new peas

If it weren't for the fact you said it was thick It almost sounds like fin rot.

Yeah I would treat it with a good but safe med or meds together like PP stated above. I had this same problem with some young frontosa's here while back. One was treated in time and fins healed up really nice but one I did not catch in time so he lost half the tail fin. So treating them right away will help from something like losing the fins for good. Plus adding extra oxygen while treating with these kinds of meds is a most.