The Puffer Forum

got a 2" fahaka today and seems very healthy other than a white ball on one side of his gills, looks like a tiny piece of styrofoam(you know what i mean, its not really styrofoam). tank is at 79f and i added 4 tbls. of salt(40g growout tank)perams are 0,0,10. i was wondering if i could add seachem paraguard or if this was bad for the puffer? it looks like i could pull the thing off with tweezers but i dont want to harm him, one slip and i could really hurt him.

I highly recommend against throwing medications at him without knowing what is wrong first. And they don't need salt in their water, they are purely freshwater, unless you are treating for ich or velvet.

i know they are pure freshwater, i added the salt to help cure whatever is on his gill, i suspect parasite but am not shure. adding salt has almost always helped any disease any of my FW have had unless the disease was extremely progressed.

Glad you found us! I answered your Q at MFK. I'd net him & keeping him under water, remove the thing. Add Melafix, to prevent infection & promote healing.

One of my puffers had something similar, like a white ball, eventually it fell off and left a pink circular wound behind. Took weeks to heal, you can still see the small scar where it was.