Probably FinRot... Dogfish puffer. Ask help.

Hello all,

I have a Dog-faced who has a right pectoral that has 'scary' deteriorated over the past couple weeks.





I am thinking Finrot. After regular battery of water tests...tank environment is solid. He's been in their with the exact same fish for the past 13mos...does not appear stressed.

He seems normal. Upfront, in my face when I am at the tank, eating well.

Hope the pics posted up... should I worry?

Thanks
Jim

Awww.....poor guy! If it's fin rot, but he's eating, I'd just leave him as long as he's eating. Chasing him around to qt him will just stress him more. But if he stops eating, then get him, qt him, and I think Melafix is a good fin rot medication, but there might be a better medication; I'm not sure. Never had to treat for it, knock on wood. It should hopefully grow back. Keep an eye on your parameters.

Will do. Thank you for the advice.

Jim

It looks like you have a lot of cyano growing in on your corals. The fin rot could be related to the poor water quality.

little_fish said:

It looks like you have a lot of cyano growing in on your corals. The fin rot could be related to the poor water quality.

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Hmmm. That algae was much worse when the tank cycled last year. I have never really been able to fully oust it all from my tank. I assumed that some growth was natural. I perform 25-30% water changes every 2 -3 weeks. I buffer. I do not currently RODI... I think it is time to invest in a setup.

Otherwise my water tests are all perfect right down the middle.

Salinity, Temp, Nitrites, Nitrates, High PH, Phosphates, Copper

I bought the tank from a friend as a complete package. I may need to evaluate the effectiveness and upgrade of the filtration system as well.

Thanks for your input.

Jim

When you have cyano or nucience algae growing, you have a water quality issue. The growing algae will take up the nitrates and phosphates so it reads zero on the test kits, hiding the problem.

Switching to RO/DI will help, but also how many fish do you have and what are you feeding?


Once you get the RO/DI going I would increase your water changes

little_fish said:

When you have cyano or nucience algae growing, you have a water quality issue. The growing algae will take up the nitrates and phosphates so it reads zero on the test kits, hiding the problem.

Switching to RO/DI will help, but also how many fish do you have and what are you feeding?


Once you get the RO/DI going I would increase your water changes

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LF,

Ok. I see what you are explaining about 'hiding the problem'.

I have seven matured fish in a 150 gal tank .. Fox-faced, Fire Angel, Heniochus, Yellow Tang, Emperor, Spanish Hogfish, and the puffer. I feed once per day after work: 2 blisters packs of mysis shrimp, 1 blister of either blood worms,or marine cuisine, 2-3 count broken up thawed krill, and 2-3 medium-sized frozen peas for the puffer.

Food seems to be fully consumed. What'd ya think?

That is a ton of food, I would cut down to one cube of food every other day, but you can continue to feed the frozen peas every day. That will help with the excess nutrients.

+1 on a ton of food!! I have 9 fish and only feed 1 cube of marine cuisine every other day and a small sheet of nori 3x/week for my tang. In a healthy tank with good water quality, you shouldn't have any cyano growing or have other visible algae.

Jim, if you have a chance, it would really help us to better understand what's going on with your tank if you list out the equipment you have (including things like the brand of skimmer, how many powerheads you have and how gph they are, what other type of filtration you have, what type of lights you have), tell us how many lbs of rock you have, what you have for a clean up crew, and actually list your parameters for us. You say they are good right down the middle, but that really doesn't tell us enough without actually seeing the values. Also would help to know what type of test kit you are using and how you are measuring your salinity. Around here, the more information you can give us the better!!

+1 on the water quality. Hopefully the puffer will keep eating. But definitely fix the water issues first. Keep in mind fish will keep eating and eating. And remember whatever they eat they poop out...so the more they eat, the more they poop, the worse your water will be.

Fin rot is not uncommon... It will usually clear up by itself given time. If the fish is eating, I think it will improve.

Bifferwine said:

Fin rot is not uncommon... It will usually clear up by itself given time. If the fish is eating, I think it will improve.

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Everything worked out.