Mbu Puffer Skin Bumps, lethargy, and fat
Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2024 5:45 pm
Hi! Found this forum on google and while I'm working to find a vet that might be able to help, it seems like there's a lot of knowledgable folks on this forum that might be helpful in this. I have a mbu puffer that has some growths/bumps on his skin. They kind of look like skin tags or pimples. They're hard to the touch and not oozing. Prior to adding salt to the tank, one had a whitish film on it that has since diminished.
Additionally, he's pretty lazy and mostly just hangs out in the one corner. When I compare what he looks like to other mbu puffers, he looks pretty fat comparatively. I'll try to insert some pictures below
1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). Tap water - pH 7.6, no ammonia, or nitrite detected. Nitrate is under 20 or 30 ppm depending on when the last wc was (I do minimum of 50% per week). Over the last month, I've been adding 1 tbsp salt per 3 gallons and maintaining that through water changes. I'm using Morton Pure and Natural because I reached out to them a few years ago and they said that pure and natural crystals are a minimum of 99.47% pure salt. I've seen minimal improvement in lethargy but no other improvements.
2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.
Tank is a custom acrylic tank with sump. Total water around 330 gallons. Other inhabitants include 8 diamond tetras and 1 albino salifin pleco.
3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)
1 tbsp of salt per 3 gallons and maintain this on water changes. Water changes are done with tap water added directly to the sank with seachem safe. The puffer is pretty hooked on hikari massivore delight; attempts to have him switch to clams on the half shell have proven unsuccessful but I feel like this is something that I need to resolve once the health concern is eliminated
4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.
No changes in the last week or month.
5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.
Tank has been set up for over 2 months. It was set up by seeding it with the water from the previous tank and then supplementing with Fritz Zyme 7 to ensure that the biological media was sufficient.
Here's one with him looking at his reflection where you can see some of the bumps.
here's one with the largest bump on the side that really has that 'skin tag' look.
Any ideas what these bumps could be?
Additionally, he's pretty lazy and mostly just hangs out in the one corner. When I compare what he looks like to other mbu puffers, he looks pretty fat comparatively. I'll try to insert some pictures below
1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). Tap water - pH 7.6, no ammonia, or nitrite detected. Nitrate is under 20 or 30 ppm depending on when the last wc was (I do minimum of 50% per week). Over the last month, I've been adding 1 tbsp salt per 3 gallons and maintaining that through water changes. I'm using Morton Pure and Natural because I reached out to them a few years ago and they said that pure and natural crystals are a minimum of 99.47% pure salt. I've seen minimal improvement in lethargy but no other improvements.
2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.
Tank is a custom acrylic tank with sump. Total water around 330 gallons. Other inhabitants include 8 diamond tetras and 1 albino salifin pleco.
3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)
1 tbsp of salt per 3 gallons and maintain this on water changes. Water changes are done with tap water added directly to the sank with seachem safe. The puffer is pretty hooked on hikari massivore delight; attempts to have him switch to clams on the half shell have proven unsuccessful but I feel like this is something that I need to resolve once the health concern is eliminated
4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.
No changes in the last week or month.
5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.
Tank has been set up for over 2 months. It was set up by seeding it with the water from the previous tank and then supplementing with Fritz Zyme 7 to ensure that the biological media was sufficient.
Here's one with him looking at his reflection where you can see some of the bumps.
here's one with the largest bump on the side that really has that 'skin tag' look.
Any ideas what these bumps could be?