Unidentified Illness of Porcupine Puffer

[anthony.grimes]

Hi,

I have a porcupine puffers that has become ill and I am unsure as to why and what exactly wrong with him. I noticed symptoms two day ago.

I was reaquascaping my tank and decided to remove the puffer to do so. He was caught with a bucket (have done this previously with no problems) however got scared during the process and puffed up, in doing so he ingested a large amount of air. The majority of which was expelled almost immediately, however a small remaining portion was difficult to expel for him and was not expelled until about 5 minutes later. After this all air appeared to be expelled. He behaved stressed, but other than that normal. About 30-45 minutes he was reintroduced to the tank and acted fine. He ate that night and I thought all was well.

I woke up the next morning and noticed a slight discoloration (pigment loss) around his eye. He ate and acted normal. I consulted a local lfs and they suggested that it may have been bruising from the inflation. Since he was acting normal I decided to leave him be.

Today (2 days after incident) the discoloration has spread to almost his entire body, he has been removed to quarantine however I am at a loss as to what to do. I have not seen anything resembling this.

Current Parameters
All water parameters are fine
I feed frequently and garlic and selcon soak all food

All inhabitants (anything wet) are properly quarantined for 8 weeks
Tanks is a lightly stocked 180 with 45 sump and 45 refugium

If necessary I can sedate the fish and collect skin samples from affected versus unaffected areas, take image and post if it will help.

I would prefer to do this as a last resort because I have not MS222 on hand and will have to use clove oil and fear accidental euthanasia.

Any input will be greatly appreciated.

Anthony Grimes


**I will post a picture as soon as I figure out how

 

[anthony.grimes]

I apologize for the incorrect white balance of the image, but the discoloration should still be visible.

 

[anthony.grimes]

I regret to say that the puffers health was declining rapidly and was euthanized (via ms222). I took the animal in to my lab and ran some skin tests. Samples were taken from both effected areas and unaffected areas in an attempt to identify any parasites or any reason for the discoloration (a coating on affected skin, perhaps). The samples showed no parasites or actually any differences between samples, leading me to believe that this is simply a loss in pigment of the skin. The fish was properly stored so full autopsy can be conducted to aid determination of cause of death if necessary.

I still have no idea what has happened to cause this, so any in sight would be appreciated.

Do anyone feel that I should remove all other fish from my tank? I have a 90gal quarantine, so I can quarantine all fish at once but I do not know what to treat for.

Thanks

Anthony Grimes