Golden Arothron Puffer weird growth

Frtdrmrose7 · Apr 24, 2019

jpmunoz said:
Just finishing up the third cycle of Dimlin-X. I treated 1 ml every 4 days in a 40 gallon tank. The parasite did not show any ill effects, nor did the puffer. I found another spot on the puffer that looks to be the same parasite, although much smaller. Tomorrow will be day 4 of the cycle so Friday I will run carbon and continue over the weekend. Monday I will start a course of Sentinel.

If you can find a treatment for this I think the info would be good to add to the sticky’s. Keep track of dosages, etc and let us know how it goes.

jpmunoz · May 10, 2019

Quick update: It took a few extra days for my vet to get the Sentinel. I received the large breed pack on Tuesday. I crushed one tablet as best I could. Total weight was close to 1.5 grams. I figured that I would start with a quarter tablet in a 40 gallon, so I tried to measure 0.375 grams. I ended up with 0.381 so close enough. I did a 10 gallon water change before adding the medication. The puffer showed no distress. I have left the medication in. I have not run carbon. So far the offending parasite has not appeared any different. I will give it a week and then possibly up the dosage if no change is detected.
I forgot to mention that during the dimilin x treatment O2 saturation dropped a lot. Puffer was breathing hard. I added a large air stone and pump to help out. It did ease his breathing, but he hangs out on the bubbler all the time and snorts air out of his nose for fun.
Its easy to forget how quickly oxygen levels can drop when medicating.

ngoodermuth · May 10, 2019

Thank you for keeping us updated. This thing is apparently like the cockroach of the fish parasite world [emoji33] I can’t believe that nothing so far has affected it.

I wonder if hypo-salinity might have an impact? It works for prazi-resistant flukes...

jpmunoz · May 21, 2019

Sorry for the delayed update, life gets in the way sometimes. I was unable to proceed with the 2nd dose until today. I did a 5 gallon water change and added the rest of the pill (1.19 g) to the tank this morning. The puffer has shown no discomfort. I will leave this dose for a week and then move on to trying hypo if nothing changes.

jpmunoz · May 31, 2019

The larger dose of Sentinel did not do anything to the parasite. I will run carbon over the weekend and try to start getting it to hypo conditions.

jpmunoz · Jun 20, 2019

It took a while to get down to hypo conditions due to constant distractions. I am 24 hours into 9 PPT measured on a freshly calibrated Milwaukee digital refractometer. The puffer is still doing well and eating. The parasite is also doing seemingly well. Not sure how long it should take for something to happen or if I should continue dropping the salinity.

jpmunoz · Jul 10, 2019

I am going to give it ten more days in hypo, but I do not have much hope of the parasite dying. I am at my wits end. Unless someone else has a suggestion, which I am really hoping for, I will put the puffer under with Tricane S and manually remove the parasite. I will then probably leave him in qt for another 3 or so months to ensure that there aren't smaller ones present.

lagatbezan · Jul 10, 2019

Has it gotten any bigger or spread to other parts of its body?

jpmunoz · Jul 11, 2019

There are two other small spots as well. The largest one has not changed in size, and the other two have not changed in size since I noticed them. I can not be sure if they were there the entire time or if they are new. You can only make them out when focusing on the silhouette of the fish, otherwise they blend in.

lagatbezan · Jul 11, 2019

could be that its not a parasite? just a growth of some sort? I would imagine by now it would have multiplied or gotten bigger if it was a parasite?

jpmunoz · Jul 11, 2019

It very well could be just a growth or other anomaly. It does seem to change appearance and it just kind of looks foreign. The large one that I initially noticed could be the maximum size or very slow growing. The two smaller ones could be growing very slowly. Or it could just be a weird looking mole. I guess next week I will find out for sure.

cmcoker · Jul 11, 2019

Possible the treatments have not killed it but made it unable to reproduce or perhaps affected the growth.

Granted it's not fleas, but Sentinel (lufenuron) works to prohibit the flea larva from making chitin. Without chitin, it can not form an exoskeleton. So maybe if no other new lesions appear, you are just waiting out the lifecycle of the parasite. Just thinking out loud..