puffer illness please help save my puffer!

[saggese820]

i have had this porqupine puffer for about a month now, maybe a little more, and he has been great. never any problem. always very energentic and happy. in the past few days, he grew a large white bulge underneath his mouth, about the size of a nickle. and the spikes in the circle are pointed outwards, while all the others are normal. Barely moves anymore compared to before. tested the water, nitrates are high. any suggestions? what is it? any cures? i know a few ways to lower the nitrates, but if anyone has any good and quick methods please let me know. here are some pics of the spot. and his fins also turned white and look very unhealthy.

 

[Domboski]

It's hard to tell by the pics. Do some reading about bacterial and fungal infections and see if any of the symptom descriptions match what you see on the puffer. Another thing to consider is if you used copper in your system. I find puffers and boxfish a bit sensitive to copper treatments.

If you get a better pic it may be more helpful too.

 

[aznt1217]

Don't know much about puffers. But if you got a Macro Mode (flower symbol) on your camera focus on the Puffer and not the background (do this by holding down the shutter button about half way then it'll focus on the puffer) then maybe the experts can help you out!

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

If the infection is bacterial, you can use antibotics, you must treat it seperate from the main tank and NO bio filtration in place, use only mechanical and chemical one and frequent water change for maintaining ammonia.

se milder medics frst like E mycin for 5 days to if the problem goe away.

 

[Pedro Nuno Ferreira]

i have had this porqupine puffer for about a month now, maybe a little more, and he has been great. never any problem. always very energentic and happy. in the past few days, he grew a large white bulge underneath his mouth, about the size of a nickle. and the spikes in the circle are pointed outwards, while all the others are normal. Barely moves anymore compared to before. tested the water, nitrates are high. any suggestions? what is it? any cures? i know a few ways to lower the nitrates, but if anyone has any good and quick methods please let me know. here are some pics of the spot. and his fins also turned white and look very unhealthy.

Hi saggese820 ;-)
From your description it looks as if it is a problem of water pollution which in turn may cause Lymphocystis. The photographs do not allow to analyse in detail, still from your description it is as if

The fish starts growing small white pin-prick like growths on their fins or skin and this is often mistaken for Ich/Ick (Ichthyophthirius multifiliis) in the early stages. It soon clumps together to form a cauliflower-like growth on the skin, fins, and occasional gills.

so do those bulges look like cauliflower?
Now these fish are carnivores which by it self contributes to pollute the water, and if combined with overfeeding (because admit it or not everyone of us one time or another have become "generous loving mothers" to feed our fish, even if they already reached a shape that allows them to roll across the bottom instead of swimming) ;-) could lead to bad water quality as indicate the high levels of nitrate that you mention. Should water pollution be cause, then it can trigger a disease like Lymphocystis (see the fin of the fish in the image) here you can read more about it, and here, and here
So by improving the water condition the fish will regain health some time after and the cysts will disappear.

Hope this helps and look forward to read more about progresses and see detailed photographs.

Cheers
Pedro Nuno ;-)