Very sick panda puffer

[csababubbles]

Lee,
My panada puffer appetite has been small past two months. Then two weeks ago he stopped eating and got this black mark about an inch across on his belly. It looked like a scratch cause it was in the same spot as where he laid on top of his rock perch. But now he is still not eating and the black scratch is spreading across his entire belly now so i don't think it's a scratch. It's like his skin is turning black slowly. Also yesterday he started breathing real heavy and everything and not swimming anymore.

I will post a picture in an hour. Right now he is in a 40 gallon qt.

Please advise.

ThAnk you.

 

[ac7av]

Sorry to here about that. Hope Lee see this and can help.

 

[csababubbles]

Here is two pics of his yesterday. I am taking more now. There are no growths on the skin, no legions, no holes, except this black covering that keeps spreading (does not resemble spots, just blanketing the entire area).

 

[csababubbles]

He passed away last night.

 

[cyberdeth]

Lame!

 

[leebca]

Sorry to hear of this.

On my way to Europe. Sorry I didn't see this earlier. However, at this particular point in time, I don't think the spread of the condition could be stopped. Once these types of conditions spread there is little to do. At the very onset a strong antibiotic treatment (high dosage of systemic types) and a series of Formalin dips have helped, but are still no guarantee.

 

[ac7av]

Really sorry to here about your loss.

 

[NC2WA]

This sucks..Sorry to hear this....I'm just getting over the loss of my Regal Angelfish, so I know how you feel.

 

[csababubbles]

Thanks guys. But the big concern is now the rest of the fish in the system that i pulled the puffer out of to put in the qt. There is no way i could qt that many fish. Is there a big concern that the responsible pathogen is still in the system....do i treat the existing fish in the FOWLR? None of them from a visual standpoint seem to have any of the black stuff on them but still what should be done?

 

[leebca]

The agent in this case is usually selective. There is only a small chance the other fish will become infected, but that probability is related to water quality and nutrition -- the higher these two, the lower the probability.

I would need a scraping and positive ID of the agent to go much further into this, but certain Vibrio sp. and others have this mo. They are sometimes present (even in the prepared frozen foods we feed), but hang out as more-or-less opportunistic organisms.

 

[csababubbles]

That comes as a bit of a relief. I'll be sure to keep on top of water changes. Thanks for helping out Lee even though you are over there in Europe, hopefully enjoying yourself. Take care!