video of my sick puffer

[porcelaindoll]

I have a sick spiny box puffer. all of his spikes have turned completely clear and he has huge white patches covering his body, some fin rot. this has only happened once before but this is by far the worst it has ever been. I have been treating him with maracyn. it was continuing to get worse after the first 2 days of treatment and is now at a stand still. all of my other fish are fine.
I do not have a quarantine tank at this time so i have been forced to treat the main tank.
so a couple of questions for the experts out there.
-will the white patches completely heal or leave a scar? (i'm worried about that really big one behind his eye that looks like his skin is peeling off)
-am i using the right medication? what medication do you recommend?
-is it best to euthanise a fish that is this sick?
he is still active but hasn't eaten in 3-4 days.

ammonia=0
nitrite=0
nitrate=40
ph=8.2
temp=80



YouTube - sick puffer

 

[melosu58]

The only bad thing about treating a main tank with an anti bacterial medication is that it could mess with your nitrifying bacteria in the tank. You need that bacteria to run the nitrogen cycle in your tank. It almost looks like he has cloudy eyes. IMO if you are not going to QT him then make sure of excellent water conditions in the tank with frequent PWC`s.

 

[porcelaindoll]

well he is now in a Quarantine Tank. he doesn't have cloudy eye though. just really bad white blotches where it looks like his skin is being eaten away. ??? the medication that i'm using (Maracyn) claims that it doesn't affect the beneficial bacteria in your tank. though i'm switching to a different type of medication now. only problem now is how to avoid ammonia and nitrite spikes in a quarantine tank. ????

 

[melosu58]

Here is a good article on QT

An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure: A Quarantine Tank for Everything by Steven Pro - Reefkeeping.com