Figure Eight Puffers With Suspected White Spot

[cutie mcwhiskers]

hi,

i was wondering if anyone could help me, a couple of weeks ago we bought what the lfs told
us was three dwarf puffers but we have since found out that they are figure eight puffers
and from doing some research found that they need to be kept in slightly brackish water.
so we've got some marine salt and a hydrometer and are starting to slowly change the SG,
at the moment it's 1.001. But last night i noticed that two of them have small white dots
which we're pretty certain is white spot. Finally i'll get to my question which is what treatment
would you recomend? they're scaleless fish aren't they so i would need a treatment which is ok
to use on scaleless fish. I was also wondering if the small amount of marine salt would affect
which treatment i use? any help would be much appreciated,
cheers

 

[Fella]

hi,

i was wondering if anyone could help me, a couple of weeks ago we bought what the lfs told
us was three dwarf puffers but we have since found out that they are figure eight puffers
and from doing some research found that they need to be kept in slightly brackish water.
so we've got some marine salt and a hydrometer and are starting to slowly change the SG,
at the moment it's 1.001. But last night i noticed that two of them have small white dots
which we're pretty certain is white spot. Finally i'll get to my question which is what treatment
would you recomend? they're scaleless fish aren't they so i would need a treatment which is ok
to use on scaleless fish. I was also wondering if the small amount of marine salt would affect
which treatment i use? any help would be much appreciated,
cheers

The easiest method I've found for treating whitespot in puffers (i've had it a few times...) is to raise the temperature and add salt. As the fish will be able to tolerate an increase quite quickly in salinity, so in your case I would over an hour or so raise the salinity to 1.005 (no higher) and increase the temperature to around 86/88.

 

[Tommo]

I believe that protozin may be used on puffers but it would be worth checking with the manufacturer or another forum member

 

[cutie mcwhiskers]

thanks for the help guys!

i think i'll try the raising temperature and salt levels first before meds.

Fella, from your experience how long will it to clear this up?

 

[Fella]

thanks for the help guys!

i think i'll try the raising temperature and salt levels first before meds.

Fella, from your experience how long will it to clear this up?

Don't expect it to be gone in under a week, but you can expect to see results within a couple of days.

 

[rob newland]

My puffer got whitespot after it got stuck in a rock and puffed up.
I just upped the sg a bit then used a half dose of the whitespot med i normally use (checked it was ok first).
It was gone within a couple of doses.
Hope you solve it .
Rob

 

[cutie mcwhiskers]

i increased the SG and temperature last night so fingers crossed!

i had a good look at them last night and all three have spots now, doh!
besides the spots two of them seem to be acting normal, eating and altert, but
i'm a bit concerned about the third cause he didn't eat last night and looks a little
thin compared to the others. just gonna keep a close eye on them and hope they
all recover!

 

[demonmagus]

hope so, the salt/temp treatment should do fine - but won't the change affect the filter bacteria?

 

[rob newland]

it shouldn't as it's only a slight rise.
Rob

 

[cutie mcwhiskers]

i'd just like to thank everyone for their help. unfortunately none of them made it, we'll really gutted cause we got
quite attached to the little guys. we're gonna try and get some dwarf puffers instead as they are what we originally wanted,
hopefully we'll have more luck with them!

thanks again for the help!