Stringy Bubbles on Puffer?

jonathan23 · Sep 21, 2021

I just noticed this today on my puffer but didn't really think much about it until I just tried to feed my fish and he ate nothing. He always eats like a pig. And now I'm not sure if I'm just being paranoid but I feel like he's acting very strange. It's sort of like bubbles on his chin but then it turns into a white string. He has it on his chin, a lot on one side of his face (I couldn't really get him to show it but you can somewhat see it on the side of his face in some pics), and then a tiny bit on the side of his face that is shown. Please someone help me identify this I know nothing about diseases.

Jay Hemdal · Sep 21, 2021

He seems to have an infection of some sort. The lack of feeding is a serious symptom. The pictures just aren’t clear enough for me to tell you what the disease might be. If I had to guess, I’d say a protozoan issue.
Is the puffer breathing faster than normal?
What other fish do you have in the tank?
Do you have a treatment tank you can use?

Jay

jonathan23 · Sep 21, 2021

Jay thank you for the response. I'm having a very hard time getting a good picture but this is what the other side of his face looks like. He has a string coming out of right underneath his eye and up near his beak. I circled them even though it's very low quality. The pufferfish is hanging out on the top of the water so that may be heavy breathing, but he doesn't appear to be gasping or anything. I have two clownfish and a bicolor blenny. I don't have a treatment tank set up but I could get one if possible. Is there anything I can do for the fish right now and what type of treatment do I need to do in the future if you can identify what this is? Thank you

Jay Hemdal · Sep 22, 2021

That looks like excess mucus, and the issue is, what is producing the mucus? The air bubbles sticking to its skin also indicate mucus production. The slightly cloudy eyes are also a symptom of thickened mucus.

The pictures just aren't clear enough to see, and even if they were, I can't always visually diagnose a disease.

At this point, I would try a 5 minute freshwater dip. Have you done one of those before? You have to be careful with puffers so they don't gulp air, but basically, you put the fish into a bucket of dechlorinated tap water the same temperature as the tank for five minutes, then return the puffer to the tank. That won't cure the fish, but it may buy you some time, and you can sometimes also see if there are worms that fell off during the dip - and that can help direct you to a treatment.

One thing this could be is marine ich in its later stages. Do you know what ich looks like in its early stages? I just want to ensure you didn't miss that.

Jay

jonathan23 · Sep 22, 2021

Already dead when I got up this morning stuck on a powerhead. He didn't have any more stringy mucus hanging off him but he still had some bubbles on his skin. He didn't have ich I'm aware of how it looks in the early stages. From what I know this started yesterday, but that's probably not the case. The days before this he had nothing wrong and was eating like normal, and then yesterday I instantly noticed stuff on his skin when I got home and he didn't eat. I put his dead body in freshwater out of curiosity and some small things did come off his body that was brownish colored and sat on the bottom of the bucket. Also could possibly be of note he had two big white patches near his tail and under his mouth, which he never had before.

Jay Hemdal · Sep 22, 2021

jonathan23 said:
Already dead when I got up this morning stuck on a powerhead. He didn't have any more stringy mucus hanging off him but he still had some bubbles on his skin. He didn't have ich I'm aware of how it looks in the early stages. From what I know this started yesterday, but that's probably not the case. The days before this he had nothing wrong and was eating like normal, and then yesterday I instantly noticed stuff on his skin when I got home and he didn't eat. I put his dead body in freshwater out of curiosity and some small things did come off his body that was brownish colored and sat on the bottom of the bucket. Also could possibly be of note he had two big white patches near his tail and under his mouth, which he never had before.

Tough to say - flukes are a possibility. A primary bacterial infection is a possibility, but those are actually pretty rare - bacteria usually follows some injury.
Sorry for the outcome…..be sure to monitor your other fish closely for symptoms.

Jay