The Puffer Forum

Hi all I need some help for my abei fast.
Over the past week some sort of lumps are starting to develop on the side of his body.



Def not the best pic.. I will try to get some better pic later. but you can see there are 2 white spots with one in the middle sticking out a bit.

I noticed that he started to have a white spot (the one around his tail area in the pic) developing last week and I thought it's fungus. so I started dosing pimafix..
So initially it looked like a white circle with the middle unfilled. As the week past by I found the circle getting filled up.
So I thought it could be a wound that he had and it's healing... and it does seem to get a bit smaller.

Yesterday I found that he's having a second lump (the one in the middle area of the body in the pic). And today it has grown and starting to stick out.
I have stopped dosing pimafix when I thought he's recovering. I basically dosed for 3-4 days.
I will be doing a water change tomorrow.

PARAMs:
PH: 6
Nitrate: 5
Nitrite: 0
Ammonia: 0

water change once per 1 - 2 weeks @ 50%.
diet : mainly wriggler worms. sometimes raw shrimp.
tank: 25 gal
he's not new. I have had him for 3+ years.

His appetite seems to gone down. But he did ate for me. Just not as eager as he would usually.
Any idea what that lump can be? and what medication can I use to treat it? there seem to be a 3rd one coming out on the other side of his body. I am really worried.
Please help! Thanks in advance.

We cannot help without knowing your parameters.

Added Params

PH: 6
Nitrate: 5
Nitrite: 0
Ammonia: 0

Check the pH of your tap water please? pH of 6 is lower than urine!

Agreed, double check your PH or did you mistype?

Also what kind of test kit are you using and how old is it. Only reason I ask is it could be giving you a false positive on the ammonia and Nitrites

ok so I bought a new test kit today and the reading is slightly diff though the pH is roughly the same.

New param:

PH: 6
Nitrate: 10-20
Nitrite: 0
Ammonia: 0

I checked my tap water it's roughly ~6.4.

I have some malawi victoria buffer lying around.. should I try using those to bump the ph?
I have been using those with my african fish.. but I am not sure if that's safe for freshwater fish...
any input?

Commercial buffers are a waste of time and money, the only help they provide is to the pet store's profits. Their effect is brief and they increase the TDS (total dissolved solids) without any lasting effect on the water's stability.

Carbonates and bicarbonates are the only additions which provide any needed buffering. Bicarbonate usage is common, but can kill your fish by osmotic shock if mishandled. If you are not a chemist or biochemist you need to be very careful. Bicarbonates are best added to tempered water in a separate tank without fish and then moved to the fish tank after the pH has been tested. Too much change too fast is fatal to most vertebrates and some invertebrates.

Please post your location in your Profile. Call your water supply company & complain to them that your water is like drinking pee!