Porcupine Puffer Cloudy eyes

ReefHog · Jul 29, 2019

On week six of quarantine and yesterday I noticed my pork's eyes were looking a little cloudy. This morning they are quite cloudy and he is not eating. I gave him a FW dip for 5 minutes and I saw no flukes. I'm thinking some sort of bacterial infection. I have API E.M. Erythromycin, so I will treat with this according to the directions (4 doses). Is this the best way to go? The eyes don't really look bigger. Would Epsom salt be any benefit? Can it be used with the abx? FYI, my quarantine for him was FW dip --> 90 min RRR bath --> 10 day CP -->2 week sterile quarantine --> established observation tank with black molly. Is an infection this late into observation common? Black molly looks fine.

Mastiffsrule · Jul 29, 2019

Bump #reefsquad

Dom · Jul 29, 2019

Can fish develop cataracts?

Mjrenz · Jul 29, 2019

@HotRocks @4FordFamily

HotRocks · Jul 29, 2019

Eyes are definitely infected. Eye infections are usually secondary to a parasite affliction.

Have you treated this fish with any meds during the weeks it's been in QT?

I would proceed with the ethro, you may add some epsom salt. Neoplex is another effective medication for eye infections.

4FordFamily · Jul 29, 2019

Antibiotics are your best bet you’re on the right track. Did you treat this fish in copper?

vetteguy53081 · Jul 29, 2019

May be ammonia burn and due to poor water quality. Tetracyclene or neomyacin should treat this- but utilize a QT tank

Peach02 · Jul 29, 2019

My coral beauty had a eye infection and a freshwater dip fixed it, it was some sort of parasite in the eye

ReefHog · Jul 30, 2019

He was FW dipped right after I bought him from lfs. Did not see any sign of flukes. I then gave him a 90 minute bath in Ruby Reef Rally before placing him in a 10 gallon QT with 60mg/gal chloroquine phosphate for 10 days. He then went into a sterile QT for two weeks for observation. He looked good and was eating so I didn't feel any more meds were needed. He made it fine throughout everything so I added him to a 20 gal established tank I keep a black molly in specifically for after QT before adding to DT. He's been doing fine for almost three weeks. I was actually going to add him to DT this week. Then this popped up out of the blue. I fresh water dipped him today and again saw no flukes. I checked ammonia with api test and it's just under .25 which is normal for this test kit. I also have an ammonia badge in tank. After the 4 coarses of abx, should I treat with prazipro just in case? Lost my last 8 year old puffer to velvet in March. This is such a stressful hobby sometimes.

ReefHog · Jul 30, 2019

When I woke up this morning the puffer was laying at the bottom of the tank. I nudged him and he swam away but i noticed mucus on his side near his gills. He wasn't really swimming. Then my heart dropped as I saw the black molly covered in dust. I quickly got out a sterile 1 gallon bucket and some RRR. I got temp and salinity the same and added one teaspoon of RRR and an air stone. I placed both fish in there while I tore down the tank and set up a new sterile 10 gal QT. Unfortunately, sadly my puffer died in the RRR bath. He seemed fine for the first half hour. Right around the one hour mark he stopped moving and I was not able to revive him. The molly is fine, swimming in the bath like nothing has happened.

I've put 7 fish through my CP QT with no issues. The one difference this time is the first 7 I ran a seeded sponge filter with the CP the whole 10 days only topping off evap water. With the puffer I ran no filter. Just an empty hob and air stone. I used Prime for ammonia control and changed 25% of the water pre treated with CP every other day. I did it this way because I have read that the bio filter can degrade the CP and I would need a larger sponge (more bio film) for the puffer due to his eating habits. I should have stuck with what has been working for me. Its been over a month since he was out of the CP QT. Seems like a long time for velvet to show up. And it hit him two days before the molly. I'm at a total loss right now. I'm dreading my wife getting home as the puffer was really her fish.

Mjrenz · Jul 30, 2019

ReefHog said:
When I woke up this morning the puffer was laying at the bottom of the tank. I nudged him and he swam away but i noticed mucus on his side near his gills. He wasn't really swimming. Then my heart dropped as I saw the black molly covered in dust. I quickly got out a sterile 1 gallon bucket and some RRR. I got temp and salinity the same and added one teaspoon of RRR and an air stone. I placed both fish in there while I tore down the tank and set up a new sterile 10 gal QT. Unfortunately, sadly my puffer died in the RRR bath. He seemed fine for the first half hour. Right around the one hour mark he stopped moving and I was not able to revive him. The molly is fine, swimming in the bath like nothing has happened.

I've put 7 fish through my CP QT with no issues. The one difference this time is the first 7 I ran a seeded sponge filter with the CP the whole 10 days only topping off evap water. With the puffer I ran no filter. Just an empty hob and air stone. I used Prime for ammonia control and changed 25% of the water pre treated with CP every other day. I did it this way because I have read that the bio filter can degrade the CP and I would need a larger sponge (more bio film) for the puffer due to his eating habits. I should have stuck with what has been working for me. Its been over a month since he was out of the CP QT. Seems like a long time for velvet to show up. And it hit him two days before the molly. I'm at a total loss right now. I'm dreading my wife getting home as the puffer was really her fish.

I'm so sorry to hear this. The biofilter and light do degrade the cp quickly, Humblefish is now recommending dosing it in a sterile QT with no working biofilter and dosing prime every 24 to 48 hours to control ammonia for 10 days, then transferring the fish into an observation qt. Just so you also know, your black Molly will no longer be effective as a canary fish now that he's been exposed to a saltwater pathogen.

ReefHog · Jul 30, 2019

Mjrenz said:
I'm so sorry to hear this. The biofilter and light do degrade the cp quickly, Humblefish is now recommending dosing it in a sterile QT with no working biofilter and dosing prime every 24 to 48 hours to control ammonia for 10 days, then transferring the fish into an observation qt.

That's exactly how I QT'd with the puffer. Absolutely no signs of anything for the last month in observation. Typical "always excited to see me" puffer personality. Eating like a pig till yesterday. Going crazy trying to figure out what failed. Bought the CP with prescription from Diamondback Drugs. Haven't bought anything new since the puffer that I could have cross contaminated. Except maybe live black worms Saturday. But they're freshwater.

I can only think of one thing and I'll be sick if it's the cause. When I put the puffer into the established observation tank with the molly, I added a piece of LR from my 220 Reef for some extra bio filtration. If the velvet came in on that rock, then it's in my Reef again. That tank sat fallow for over 90 days. The fish added since all went through quarantine with CP at 60mg/gal followed by a month of observation with the same black molly. No signs of velvet (or anything) in the Reef, however, I do run a 90 watt UV with 750 gph through it now.

Just so you also know, your black Molly will no longer be effective as a canary fish now that he's been exposed to a saltwater pathogen.

Yes, i realize that. I don't want to just flush him and I can't return him. I decided to treat him with some CP I bought off ebay before I got the vet script CP as an experiment. If he recovers, I'll set up a 10 gallon for him and it could be hope for someone that can't get a script but still want to use CP.

Mjrenz · Jul 30, 2019

That would be horrible if it was in your dt again. You may want to consider a couple more Mollies to put in there to check. I'm glad you are planning on caring for your first canary

ReefHog · Jul 30, 2019

Mjrenz said:
That would be horrible if it was in your dt again. You may want to consider a couple more Mollies to put in there to check. I'm glad you are planning on caring for your first canary

Yes it would be. I don't have it in me right now to test the DT. As long as everything looks ok, I'll wait till after the holiday next month and then tackle that one. If it is in there, the UV is keeping it in check. I think my wife would disown me if i filled her dining room with QTs for three months again. No doubt velvet though. ugh