Sick blue spotted puffer

[2026_1]

I got this blue spotted puffer a few weeks ago and he has been doing great up until these past few days. Its been about 4 days and he has shown no interest in any food, his belly has also started to look a little weird. The tank parameters all seem fine as well. Does anyone have any advice?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I got this blue spotted puffer a few weeks ago and he has been doing great up until these past few days. Its been about 4 days and he has shown no interest in any food, his belly has also started to look a little weird. The tank parameters all seem fine as well. Does anyone have any advice?

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

Tough to see anything in the photo. Can you post a video? Hosting on YouTube works well if you can’t post directly here.

These puffers are prone to some internal nematode infections - those are really difficult to treat though.

 

[2026_1]

Hopefully this makes it a little easier to see

 

[vetteguy53081]

I got this blue spotted puffer a few weeks ago and he has been doing great up until these past few days. Its been about 4 days and he has shown no interest in any food, his belly has also started to look a little weird. The tank parameters all seem fine as well. Does anyone have any advice?

Looks like an infection which should be treated with Seachem kanaplex, easily absorbed by fish in a separate tank

 

[2026_1]

Looks like an infection which should be treated with Seachem kanaplex, easily absorbed by fish in a separate tank

Should i worry about it spreading to other fish or anything like that

 

[vetteguy53081]

Should i worry about it spreading to other fish or anything like that

Should not ne contageous

 

[2026_1]

Should not ne contageous

Thank god thank you for your help

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hopefully this makes it a little easier to see

The fish seems to be breathing too fast. That may be just from stress as you tried to video it. However, it could also indicate a more systemic infection. The not eating is also a sign of widespread internal infection.

You can try treating it in a hospital tank with a broad spectrum, gram negative antibiotic (I like to use Neoplex). but the prognosis is not good, sorry......it is very unlikely to spread to other fish though.