Pea Puffer not doing well with weird white spots under mouth

[KSqONE]

Hi all

I have 2 pea puffers in a 10 gallon tank (1 male, 1 female, planning to get more females). Recently there has been some breeding activity (without any results unfortunately) so the female has been chased around a lot by the male. That is why I'm trying to get hold of 1 or 2 more females to spread the males attention a little. The last week or two the female has lost some weight, she's still eating but not as much as before it seems. The most obvious thing though is 2 very small white dots under her mouth. I was thinking stress ich at first but it doesn't seem to spread and more importantly, the two spots are 100% symmetrical to each other on both sides, which is pretty interesting. I've tried treating with salt, Levamisole and a med for bacterial and fungal infections (in that order, not all at once). I'm in Europe so the med trio is not an option unfortunately. Right now I have elevated the temperature to 82 °F (28°C). Does anybody have any idea what this could be? 

 

Thanks

[Colu]

Have you got better picture

[KSqONE]

Hope this is a bit clearer...

[Colu]

It difficult because it  could be fungal or bacterial infection looking at the white patchs with meds you have used has there been any improvement and how much salt per gallon did you use

Edited December 30, 2020 by Colu

[Brandy]

I suspect bacterial or fungal infection on an injury related to the breeding activity. I would focus on salt or other meds you know of for that and consider separating them until you can add the additional females.

I have found a dither fish like an adult male guppy, or maybe an otocinclus, to be a great distraction also--my puffers are still young and mostly see the guppy as an innocuous neighbor rather than something to be agressive toward, so you might have to watch that carefully. It is against most advice, but for now it seems to have made everyone more confident and relaxed and I have a guppy factory with an unlimited supply so it was worth the attempt.

[KSqONE]

Thanks for your replies! The puffer is looking quite a bit more lively now but the two spots are still there. I'm going to try salt once more before remedicating. There's an oto in there with them, but they don't interact at all. Which is a good thing i suppose :).