The Puffer Forum

Ammonia, 0
Nitrite, 0
Nitrate, 5
PH 7.5
Temperature, 81


The baby ceylon I brought home last night was looking fine, this morning it had a slight lumpy belly, possibly parasites? What is used to treat this, and can treatment be used in the same tank if Duma my GSP is not showing symptoms?

jenrkit84 wrote:Ammonia, 0
Nitrite, 0
Nitrate, 5
PH 7.5
Temperature, 81


The baby ceylon I brought home last night was looking fine, this morning it had a slight lumpy belly, possibly parasites? What is used to treat this, and can treatment be used in the same tank if Duma my GSP is not showing symptoms?

Has he had food? Because as the food gets digested and moved along the intestinal track you can also see some lumps. For my GSP this is mostly the case during feeding and right before a big poop.

It ate a snail lastnight, and the girl at the LFS told me she had fed them about an hour prior to me picking it up. I know parasites are common in puffers, and it did poop lastnight as well.

what did the poop look like? Typically IPs are identified by white stringy feces or a defecation that resembles a "string of pearls".

J-P wrote:what did the poop look like? Typically IPs are identified by white stringy feces or a defecation that resembles a "string of pearls".

It was normal, this little much is much smaller and not as "fat" as my GSP, perhapse the digestion process is more easily seen?

Wow, I can type at all this week huh?
Lets try again, It was normal, this little one is much smaller and not as fat.

If you want to treat for IPs that should be fine. It doesn't have an effect on your water chemistry or the biofilter. Some people treat all their new fish for IPs regardless of whether they show signs or not.

J-P wrote:If you want to treat for IPs that should be fine. It doesn't have an effect on your water chemistry or the biofilter. Some people treat all their new fish for IPs regardless of whether they show signs or not.

Treatment options available?

^^^I do that, unless the fish comes from a trusted private breeder. If it came out of a store, especially one with central filtration, I ALWAYS treat.

The lumps are probably food. That's normal enough.

Jungle parasite clear is one, but there are many many others out there.

Puffers are not built like other fish. Among their modification for puffing up is the lack of ribs. Most fish have strong and prominent ribs which protect their internal organs and provide attachment for the muscles they use for swimming. Puffers have neither those ribs nor those swimming muscles, so their guts and the food ingested earlier are easily visible. That definitely takes some getting used to. But for these fish it is normal. From most meals, the food stays together in the stomach and passes into the gut as a single lump (very large meals may break up into several lumps in the lower guts) which passes out as a mucus-enclosed pouch. Most fish excrete threads of fecal matter, puffers do not. They excrete discrete lumps of fecal matter.

HTH

RTR wrote:Puffers are not built like other fish. Among their modification for puffing up is the lack of ribs. Most fish have strong and prominent ribs which protect their internal organs and provide attachment for the muscles they use for swimming. Puffers have neither those ribs nor those swimming muscles, so their guts and the food ingested earlier are easily visible. That definitely takes some getting used to. But for these fish it is normal. From most meals, the food stays together in the stomach and passes into the gut as a single lump (very large meals may break up into several lumps in the lower guts) which passes out as a mucus-enclosed pouch. Most fish excrete threads of fecal matter, puffers do not. They excrete discrete lumps of fecal matter.

HTH

I knew about the lack of ribs as well as the being able to see if the puffer is full or not, I just noticed 2 small lumps on the ceylons belly this morning towards the end that I did not notice lastnight.

It is not easy to see food still in the stomach itself, as that just pushes the intestine back a bit. At that stage it is just the "lightly rounded belly" that we suggest as adequate feeding. You can't usually see the discrete lumps until they are in the intestines.

Wow, I can type at all this week huh?

You should be able to go back & edit your posts at any time.

I can only the computer or tablets, but the icon never seems to work while replying on my phone.