The Puffer Forum

protozoan ciliate Chilodonella
is this common?

http://www.fishyfarmacy.com/fish_diseas ... rders.html
i usually use this site to determine what my fish have. i think it has this.

my ph is 6.5
ammonia, nitrite is 0
nitrate is 5
temp is 26
100watt heater in a 25 gallon. at first i thought it was signs of burning but im not sure anymore.
tanks mates: 5 otos, 4 irrubescos, getting along very well.
it is fully cycled. i feed them brineshrimp or bloodworms everyday. once a day

i treated 2 of them with ich the first time. (baught them with it) and now im treating one with fin rot with melafix and pimafix

edit: it looks looks more like the top layer of skin has lost colour or gone.. all the patches are of about same size.




update with new pics.

Might be a bacterial or fungal infection. Can you possibly get a picture?

ill try. im pretty sure its not fungal, but im assuming fungal looks fuzzy. this is for sure not fuzzy. if it is bacterial should i keep using pima and melafix? ive also got formalin 3 and methylene blue on me and prazipro.


ill try to get the pic. im only using a 3.0 megapixel phone camera though

i cant seem to get a picture yet.

but there is an update. they are still eating and the patches are turning more white. like dead skin type of white.

should i just try a broad spectrum antibiotic?

Clearish patches that turn white sounds like a heater burn, a fish did it to the top of his head in QT once, was clear/grey at first, then turned white, and started slowly shrinking.

[URL=http://imageshack.us][IMG]http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/5209/dsc01122sa9.jpg

im using a 100watt heater in my 20 gallon.

any ideas to protect them? go with a smaller heater?

A heater guard is one solution, and I've found they rarely lay ON heaters, so placing it so low it sits directly on the substrate and they can't use it as something to wedge under might do the trick.

Why is your pH so low?

hmmm well i have a non submersible heater in the puffer tank. ill try looking for r a heater guard. i found a tronic one but don't know if it will fit. so it looks like its heater burns huh? every single one of them has it now, but its not affecting their appetite nor anything else.


my natural tap water around where i live is 6.5-6.7

Thanks for the link in your first posting in this thread

It helped me diagnose some strange illness I have on some of catfishes. Unfortunately it's a virus, and no medication will help, but at least I know for sure (I suspected a virus, but wasn't sure). That page was actually helpful, as it described things that I haven't found in other pages. Only wish they could put some pictures in there as well

It could be a problem with your pH. That is extremely acidic. Try adding crushed coral to your filter or change your substrate to that.

o really i thought acidic waters is what they like.

ok ill add some coral to boost it up to 7

your welcome about the site. ill post that site up at some other places to then. i thought people knew about it.

update. it looks bloody underneath one of the patches. the females are having a lot harder time then the males. the males look as if they have recovered but the females are getting worse.

if the female is the one in the bottom of your first post, it looks like she might have bite bruises as well.

hmm well the male puffer's back is turning all red. like its ready for breeding or something.

anyone throw me any ideas. im willing to buy whatever medicine and try it and dip them. just do not want them to get worse. i am still using melafix and pimafix. hopefully thatll help

I'm pretty new to puffers and fish in general, so this is just a wild shot in the dark. But most of those look like bite marks to me, mostly because the wounds all look round and fairly uniform. Have you seen them be aggressive to each other? Is there a way you could separate them to see if it gets better? Or even just try separating the one that looks the worst in a QT tank to see if they start healing?

Good luck!