The Puffer Forum

I am looking for some ideas....My Fahaka, Sid vicious has had a sore on his mouth for about seven days. It started as a pink spot next to the corner of his mouth. I thought it was an injury. It was almost gone the next day. It has looked like it was healing a couple of times. It has gotten real red twice. Yesterday it was just a bump that looked like a wart. This morning it got real red again and tonight it looks like two warts. I have treated with Melafix for two days.
He is in a 125 by himself. He eats crabs and mussels. His appetite is great as always but I have noticed him sitting on the bottom of the tank more than usual. This tank has been running for about a year and a half with no problems other than alga. Have had fahakas for about ten years.

ph is 7
Ammonia is 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrates 0

I have had a problem with a brown/green alga in this tank since I put in a new piece of Mopani wood. I have since removed the wood but the alga remains. It is fuzz and comes off the rocks in chunks. Grows in a sheet. I do regular water changes but cant get ahead of this stuff. Turning off lights for a week gets rid of it but when I have light on for a day it starts again.

Try a combo of primafix and melafix. Primafix for the "fungus" and melafix for the healing. Both are gentle so doesn't hurt to try.

With all due respect.. Are u testing the water properly? I dun see how algae can grow when everything reads zero.. Something is not quite right either.

Pimafix

+1 on the water testing
zero nitrates indicates a tank that is not cycled
a cycled tank will show nitrates
what kind of test kit(s) are you using?
also, +1 on the Pimafix

There are a slight amount of nitrates. I said 0 because the scale jumps from 0 to 25. It is neither. It's in between. Nitrates are low because I am doing water changes to keep it as clean as possible. I suspect this is an infection caused by a live crab pinching him a week ago. Does anyone know if this looks like an infection or similar to something you have seen? I have never had a puffer with an infection. This guy has been super healthy and has been growing very quickly.