Possible Infection? Help

[1fast300z]

Tonight I noticed a clear stringy substance attached to my stars and stripes puffer fish. I looked very closely over his entire body and the only areas its formed at are across the top of his body. At first I thought he just rubbed into a piece of rock and something caught onto his slime coat, but I threw that idea out and it looks like he has a type of bacteria or fungal infection. I am very concerned and if you guys and girls could look at the photo's I attached and try to decide what this is I would greatly appreciate it, any input and steps on how to cure it would be great. The photos dont pick up all of the detail but you can still see what is on his body decent. Luckily I think I have caught this in its early stages and hopefully can act fast to prevent any harm to my friend huey.
Thanks again,
Peter

 

[sepulatian]

Can you please post your exact water readings for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, KH, PH, SG, and temp? How long have you had this fish? What size is your tank and how long has it been set up?

 

[1fast300z]

Can you please post your exact water readings for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, KH, PH, SG, and temp? How long have you had this fish? What size is your tank and how long has it been set up?
Sorry forgot to post that information I was shocked when I saw him and rushed to get a thread up for help.
I used two test kits and both recorded almost exact results.
Ammonia-0
Nitrite-0
Nitrate- 100 to 150ppm This has been a never ending battle for me since I set up my aquarium, I do weekly water changes of 20 percent, I had a worker at a LFS come out two days ago and he suggested re scaping the rock away from the back wall and getting a Rio powerhead that does 1500 gph and run pvc pipe from it to different areas of the aquarium to cycle the tank 10 plus times an hour.
PH- 8.2
Alkalinity- hard to tell, between 200 and 300 ppm.
Salinity- 1.023
Temp-78 degrees
KH- sorry but I dont know what this is.
The aquarium is a 125. It has been running since August with Huey, he is the only fish in the aquarium. I also have a little over 100 pounds of live rock.

 

[nicetry]

Have you added any new fish recently. It appears to have the same characteristics as Brooklynella. It's a parasitic infection that will cause excess mucous production and stringy material to hang from the skin.
How is the fish breathing? Any other symptoms?
If it is indeed brook, treatment must be administered quickly as it can kill fish rapidly.

 

[1fast300z]

No I have not added any new fish. He is the only fish in the aquarium. The only changes I have made to my aqaurium in the past month is I added a fiber filter pad in my wet/dry, I removed it today though because it was dirty.
He is breathing normal and there are no other symptoms. He is darting back and fourth at the top of the aquarium looking at me to feed him.
Edit: Besides putting in a new filter pad in my wetdry another change that was made to my aquarium was adding live rock from Fiji. I cured it for 7 days and then added it, this was over a month ago.

 

[nicetry]

Puffers normally produce more mucus than other fish. Doe this substance look as though it is sloughing off the fish, or just hanging on? Has the fish inflated recently that you know of?
Curious as to the lfs worker; do you have the tank serviced or do you do all maintainance yourself. Trying to rule out cross contamination from an outside source.

 

[1fast300z]

Puffers normally produce more mucus than other fish. Doe this substance look as though it is sloughing off the fish, or just hanging on? Has the fish inflated recently that you know of?
Curious as to the lfs worker; do you have the tank serviced or do you do all maintainance yourself. Trying to rule out cross contamination from an outside source.
It appears to just be hanging on in a stringy manner. I have not seen him inflate for several months. I do all work on the aquarium myself, The guy who came out didnt come in contact with any of the water, just was looking at the overall setup to see if everything looked alright and what plan to use to reduce the nitrates.
Edit: Besides putting in a new filter pad in my wetdry another change that was made to my aquarium was adding live rock from Fiji. I cured it for 7 days and then added it, this was over a month ago.

 

[1fast300z]

Alright I am sorry I have not given to many of you a chance to view this thread and reply yet but I am refreshing this thing constantly for some input. A quick update on Huey, the top of his body looks better since I took those photos. He still has a stringy substance on him in several spots but much less. I am thinking it could possibly be exessive mucous buildup? I am hoping for the best but preparing for the worst.. keep helping thanks everyone.

 

[1fast300z]

Update
My puffer darted really fast to the other side of the tank after a piece of food and all the stuff fell off. He appears to have one tiny tiny area of white stuff on him.. I think its just mucous now.. but Im not going to rule out disease