I recently purchased a valenti puffer from a lfs. It sounds weird but his cheek looks very swollen. I was in a hurry to buy him and didn't notice it in the store. Is it some form of disease? I think I can see his little teeth and they look fine. Hoping it doesn't mean death because the personality on this little guy is so lovable. I've only had him a day now but he doesnt seem to be going for any bigger pieces of food. Looks like he's hunting pods and just eating the tiny pieces... Is that normal? Tried misys, bloodworms, calanus, even pellets!
Canthigaster valentini puffer swollen cheek?
- Thread starter Justin4646
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Big G
captain dunsel
Looks like you puffer has developed Dropsy. The condition is usually brought about by bad/dirty water conditions which results in a gram negative bacterial infection. It appears to be in the early stages. First the fish needs pristine water conditions. Consider the first step to treat the tank with plain USP Epsom Salts. This will help decrease the swelling. Dose 1 tablespoon full of Epsom salt per 10 gallons of tank water. If no improvement is noticed within a few days the next step will be to treat in a QT with a broad spectrum antibiotic like kanaplex, Furan2, Sulfaplex, or NFG. Gram negative infections can be very deadly and move rather fast.
He tried grabbing a big chunk of misys today, spat it out. Repeated a few times and gave up haha. It looks like the swelling might be going down a bit after only ~10 hours or so. Still energetic and swimming all around the tank so that makes me optimistic. Do fish usually pull through if you catch it early enough and add epsom salts? Also, my cleaner shrimp's been cleaning him quite a bit. Think that helps at all?
Big G
captain dunsel
Epsom salts has been an all purpose healing aid for a long, long time. By helping to reduce the swelling, it gives the fish's immune system a bit of help to heal itself. Very similar to its use on humans. Let's hope the healing continues. It might have been hard to see but when a fish is swelled up like your fish, its scales open up a bit and in severe cases the fish ends up looking like a porcupine. So the cleaner shrimp is probably removing "stuff" that was collecting on the protrusions. Very important to consider a wide variety of healthy vitamin rich foods to help the fish's immune system. Consider making the fish a "smoothie." Get a variety of frozen fish cubes: mysis, brine shrimp, seaweed, fish eggs, chopped clams, etc. Take one of each and place into a tupperware dish and place in the fridge to "slump." Mix together and add a few drops of vitamins like Selcon, Zoecon, etc. The mix will stay good in your fridge for a few days. You can pour off the excess water from the mix if desired. The watery material can raise the nitrate and phosphate level in your tank. My fish love the smoothie.
I have everything needed to try that, but no vitamins or medication of any kind to add. I'll have to pick some up tomorrow. Lfs? Sounds like a great idea, I don't have a qt system and wont for about 3 months so I'm glad theres another way to get it to him.
Edit: is there a point where I should re-dose the epsom salts? 3-4 days? It's been just over 12 hours since I dosed it
Edit: is there a point where I should re-dose the epsom salts? 3-4 days? It's been just over 12 hours since I dosed it
Big G
captain dunsel
You can dose again one time after 24-48 hours.
Update! The swelling might have gone down ever so slightly, but he chomped on some freshwater snails today. First time I really saw him eat something decently sized, let alone shelled. He really seemed to enjoy them lol. It doesn't seem to be progressing at the moment, is it possible it just takes a week or 2 to run its course with no meds? Or does it become fatal really suddenly?
Edit: I have some really fast reproducing pest snails in one of my fresheater tanks. Think I can add a few a day as a long term food source?
Edit: I have some really fast reproducing pest snails in one of my fresheater tanks. Think I can add a few a day as a long term food source?
Big G
captain dunsel
That's going to be a tough call for you to make. On the one hand it's great to see a fish recover naturally through a strong immune system; on the other hand, it's rough when an infection goes sideways real fast. That being said, meds work very slowly on fish as they help the fish's immune system to fight off disease/infection.
I'll get him some vitamins and make that smoothie you recommended. I saw the puffer sleeping for the first time and he literally just presses his belly against the side of a rock. Pretty funny stuff. Usually unable to find him at night, but it's just because he naturally blends into the rocks really well. Thanks again for all of the responses Big G, really made me a lot less nervous about this whole thing.
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