Lump on the throat
Forum rules
Read this before posting!!
Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.
1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.
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.
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)
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.
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.
We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.
While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.
Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
Read this before posting!!
Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.
1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.
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.
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)
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.
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.
We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.
While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.
Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
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Belack1120
- Dwarf Puffer
- Posts: 91
- Joined: Wed May 02, 2007 8:21 pm
- Location: London, Ontario, Canada
Lump on the throat
One of my SAPs has had a type of lump under its troat for some time but when I got home today it was bigger than I have ever seen it before. It is eating fine but it looks like there is maybe something stuck in it's throat! PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I JUST SHARTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Nick
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 3231
- Joined: Sun Oct 22, 2006 8:47 pm
- My Puffers: Mine:
GSPs - Shakespeare and Jillybean
F8 - Velvet
My fiance:
DP - Emma Goldman
Narrow Lined Puffer - Ulrike - Location (country): Northeastern USA
- Location: Middletown, CT
- Contact:
Could be goiter, norther puffers use much more iodine than most others, and get goiter and die very easily. I'm not sure how difficult it is for SAP to get goiter, tho.
No matter how magnificent your successes or devastating your failures, the worlds' approximately 5 billion impoverished people could not possibly care less.
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Belack1120
- Dwarf Puffer
- Posts: 91
- Joined: Wed May 02, 2007 8:21 pm
- Location: London, Ontario, Canada
Last edited by Belack1120 on Wed Jun 20, 2007 8:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I JUST SHARTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Belack1120
- Dwarf Puffer
- Posts: 91
- Joined: Wed May 02, 2007 8:21 pm
- Location: London, Ontario, Canada
-
Nick
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 3231
- Joined: Sun Oct 22, 2006 8:47 pm
- My Puffers: Mine:
GSPs - Shakespeare and Jillybean
F8 - Velvet
My fiance:
DP - Emma Goldman
Narrow Lined Puffer - Ulrike - Location (country): Northeastern USA
- Location: Middletown, CT
- Contact:
Looks like a goiter. If thats what it is, potassium iodide will prevent further growth and eventual starvation, and over many months I believe the size will go down.
This is the complete blurb I read on northern puffers and goiter:
"For years I would catch these fish as young inch-long specimens. But after a few years every one would develop a bulge under its jaw, stop eating and die. Everyone I spoke to who tried to keep these fish in captivity seemed to have the same story. I finally relented and decided to simply keep them for only a year or two and then release them. Turns out Northern Puffers use up iodine faster than most types of fish and develop goiters which eventually grow to the point that the animal can no longer swallow food. Simply adding tiny bits of liquid potassium-iodide solution to the aquarium each week solves this problem."
It's much more common in sharks and rays.
This is the complete blurb I read on northern puffers and goiter:
"For years I would catch these fish as young inch-long specimens. But after a few years every one would develop a bulge under its jaw, stop eating and die. Everyone I spoke to who tried to keep these fish in captivity seemed to have the same story. I finally relented and decided to simply keep them for only a year or two and then release them. Turns out Northern Puffers use up iodine faster than most types of fish and develop goiters which eventually grow to the point that the animal can no longer swallow food. Simply adding tiny bits of liquid potassium-iodide solution to the aquarium each week solves this problem."
It's much more common in sharks and rays.
No matter how magnificent your successes or devastating your failures, the worlds' approximately 5 billion impoverished people could not possibly care less.
-
Belack1120
- Dwarf Puffer
- Posts: 91
- Joined: Wed May 02, 2007 8:21 pm
- Location: London, Ontario, Canada
-
Belack1120
- Dwarf Puffer
- Posts: 91
- Joined: Wed May 02, 2007 8:21 pm
- Location: London, Ontario, Canada
Re: Lump on the throat
Do you have any idea of where I am suposed to find the medicine for my puffers? Could I maybe find it at a pharmacy or maybe convenience store? Last question, are there any other names that maybe are more commenly used that I might know about? Sorry about my bad spelling
I JUST SHARTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-
Nick
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 3231
- Joined: Sun Oct 22, 2006 8:47 pm
- My Puffers: Mine:
GSPs - Shakespeare and Jillybean
F8 - Velvet
My fiance:
DP - Emma Goldman
Narrow Lined Puffer - Ulrike - Location (country): Northeastern USA
- Location: Middletown, CT
- Contact:
Re: Lump on the throat
Potassium iodide Is EVERYWHERE now, luckily - it helps prevent uptake of deadly iodine isotopes from radioactive contamination(like from a dirty bomb) by flooding your thyroid with healthy iodides. Until you can get some, add one tablespoon per gallon of iodized table salt to your tank, this is unlikely to be as effective as food dosed potassium iodide, but isn't useless. I am normally not a salt in FW person at all, but in this case I believe the sodium iodide might help to some extent.
No matter how magnificent your successes or devastating your failures, the worlds' approximately 5 billion impoverished people could not possibly care less.
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Puffer Queen
- Mentor
- Posts: 386
- Joined: Fri May 19, 2006 10:35 am
- Location: Louisville, KY
- Contact:
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Nick
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 3231
- Joined: Sun Oct 22, 2006 8:47 pm
- My Puffers: Mine:
GSPs - Shakespeare and Jillybean
F8 - Velvet
My fiance:
DP - Emma Goldman
Narrow Lined Puffer - Ulrike - Location (country): Northeastern USA
- Location: Middletown, CT
- Contact:
Re: Lump on the throat
Quoted from here:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/10/13/204219/60
I found it some good time ago when researching my local pufferfish, I'm also a long islander.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/10/13/204219/60
I found it some good time ago when researching my local pufferfish, I'm also a long islander.
No matter how magnificent your successes or devastating your failures, the worlds' approximately 5 billion impoverished people could not possibly care less.
-
Belack1120
- Dwarf Puffer
- Posts: 91
- Joined: Wed May 02, 2007 8:21 pm
- Location: London, Ontario, Canada
Re: Lump on the throat
The lump has gotten much smaller than before and I haven't done anything, but I will still go find that medicine for my puffer.
I JUST SHARTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!