Green Puffer from Walmart...heh

[Kungpaoshizi]

So, thought one for my niece would be cool.
I goto Walmart figuring I'd check out what they have...
Grab a 1gall tank, tropical fish flakes, distilled water, bowl buddies (water conditioning fizz tabs), and some gravel..
There wasn't even a little card by the fish, 2 of the 6 in there were actually swimming around, the rest were very still, on the bottom..
So I figured perhaps 1 might want to be saved lol, but the lady had no clue about the fish, the info tag was not there, she knew nothing, I thought it looked cool...
But I get home, put everything together, put water in, do the fizz, toss the fish.. seems to be doing alright... so far...

But I started reading what she'll need to do to take care of it, and come to find out it gets larger than what the tank is appropriate for, needs salt (marine, not aquarium?), but then at the same time, tank wasn't cycled, I still gotta get plants/hiding structures, and have seen min. 10 gallon for this one, but then I also saw 30 gallon min on another site..

And I see it's not a good fish for a beginner..

So my first question is, since the fish is only a little larger than an inch atm, I assume the tank can last at least for a month, but how important is the salt, plants, structures in the tank? Also it's not touching the tropical flakes (at least that I've seen), so add abunch of snails to the tank, or in this smaller tank after transferring the GP to the new tank..

But beyond what I should be doing, the fish is swimmin around, even battled it's own reflection for a little bit? Seems ok?
He does seem to keep his tail curled 50% of the time he's swimming around, more hovering when he does that, so I assume that's natural?
But I just noticed also some white spots on him? I can't tell if it's his pattern or air bubbles or fungus etc that fish get...
He's been swimming up and down, all around in the tank, not super nonstop but lively..

But I really have no idea...
Thanks for any thoughts/suggestions! I don't wanna give it to my niece if it's just gonna die a few days later lol

[Myaj]

Aw, poor guy.

Well, first off, it does have ich, an external parasite. That's what those white dots are.

Second, yes, in that tank, it will die pretty much right away. To keep it alive for a while at least (but not long, really, only a few days to weeks at the most), you'll need to do daily water changes. Remove 50% of the water and replace it with clean, dechlorinated (if you are on "city" water) water of the same temperature.

30 gallons minimum as they get quite large, brackish to full marine species (this means marine salt, not "aquarium" salt, so Instant Ocean is a commonly used brand). That stuff can wait a few days while you wrap your brain around all of this and decide what to do, but for sure do those daily water changes to keep ammonia and other toxins to a low level.

Reading on the species and care in general:
library/puffers-in-focus/an-introduction-to-green-spotted-puffers/

If you decide to keep it, here's how to treat the Ich:
library/hospital/fwich/

Do not use commercial medications to cure the ich, as most of them will kill puffers.

[autophotos]

you need to get some product in there to cycle that tank asap -
you also need a filter , have you got one ?
he most probably wont feed on flake - and will need other foods

the fish is a brackish water fish and is a green spotted puffer -

[purplecandle]

AWWW..This sounds sooo familiar to me! You are not alone, my hubby was talked into a green puffer by an idiot local fish store employee a few weeks ago

First..right this second do not worry about the brackish water..he is a little guy and you have some other things to do first.
You need food..he will not eat flake food..go to Petco and buy frozen blood worms, you will have to look around for the snails..but right now he needs to get fed blood worms..you have a little time to find the snails

Next read every article about cycling in this library, EVERY article! In my opinion and from what I have read..first cycled tank then onto the more difficult process of brackish water


Don't listen to any pet store employee..EVER
Read things on this site ONLY when it comes to your Green spotted Puffer...do not look any where else. I went down the same road you are going and time after time this site is correct.

And last bit of advice..don't panic..just read..get blood worms..fix ich..follow article advice

Good Luck

[Kungpaoshizi]

Thanks a ton for the advice, looks like I'll have some work ahead of me :/

On the water comment, is it ok to just introduce same temp distilled water? Or does that actually need to be treated before hand?

[Myaj]

Agreed

The blood worms are good for now, or if you have some raw shrimp in your freezer, thaw one out and let him nibble on it, but don't worry too much about the feeding. Ill puffers often won't eat, and it will do more harm to keep putting food in the tank to rot than his not eating will.

The big thing now is keeping the water clean and figuring out if you are going to be able to keep it or not, and getting the tank cycled if you are. That can be done a variety of ways, quickest being one of the "instant cycling" products (but only one that actually works, Cycle does nothing to help) and other methods are in our library.

You'll have to decide how much money and effort you want to spend on the fish to keep it alive, basically, and once you decide that, we can go from there.

[Myaj]

Honestly, I would just use your tap water unless its chlorinated and you have no dechlor on hand. If you have chlorinated tap water and a Walmart near by, go to their pet section and look for Wardleys Chlor Out, its cheap and simple and safe.

Distilled is pretty safe, RO (purified with reverse osmosis) can be bad though as it is basically stripped down to no water profile.. changing out a large amount of that can shock the fish if its not done right. If you mix it 50/50 with tap water, that can stabilize it nicely for you though.

Another option you could consider, use a clean rubbermaid tub as a temporary "tank". A lot cheaper than buying a brand new fish tank but the extra water volume will help a LOT. Of course, then you have the risk of any pets or children getting into it, and don't fill it too full or the fish could jump out.. but it IS an option if you aren't ready to run out and buy a big tank right now

Does the current tank have any filtration at all? The fish will need some water movement and oxygen, even one of thsoe cheapy sponge filters and an air pump (you can also get these at Walmart) is better than nothing.

[Kungpaoshizi]

Well, this is the tank


It says "filter system" on the box, but it's pretty much just an elevated grate at the bottom under the gravel...
But the aeration seems to be nice, massive amount of bubbles constantly, moves the surface of the water a lot more than I thought it would, lots of air moving through the water(tiny bubbles)..

Now he seems to have calmed down and is just chilling at the bottom :/

Since the ich was probably introduced at walmart, and this was a spotless tank when I put him in, let alone I only moved him into the tank, without any of the water from walmart, from the instructions I gather he might have a better chance? I'll have to go tomorrow to get any of the ich treatment, but perhaps introducing him to a switch of water, and continuing the water changing cycle to stop the ich life cycle?

This is totally not what I thought it would be, but I can't bring myself to just let him die lol

[Myaj]

Again, do NOT buy the ich medications at the store, they will more than likely kill the fish! Use the salt/heat method linked above. Puffers have no scales so they absorb things like medication way too fast. Changing the water won't do a ton of good as the parasites on him are already spreading eggs, etc into the gravel. Even if you kill the current ones with treatment, the eggs will hatch out and just reinfect.. which is why its important to treat for 3-4 weeks minimum.

Ich is pretty darn easy to treat and get rid of, though. Your biggest hurdle will be the fish's own waste poisoning it in that small of a tank, with no established bacteria.

Good that the tank has a filter and water movement of some sort, too bad its so dang small.

[kilofey]

i know thats a TON of information all at once.... sometimes it helps if someone says it all in a simpler way:

-if i were you, id go to craigslist like PRONTO and find a cheap 25 to 30 gal tank, then return the one gal ASAP because it just plain wont work for this fish.
-dont worry about switching to brackish water right now, its not important
-treat for ich: raise temp to 86f. make sure you have an air stone and bubbler. daily 75% water change (to help ich, but also because tank is un-cycled). remove gravel. 1tsp aquarium salt per 1 gallon, can be dosed every 12 hrs for 3 treatments while still doing water changes. scroll down to "treatment" on this site http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_ich2.php
-after ich is cured, you can reduce the WCs to 50% once a day until the tank is cycled.
-dont forget dechlorinator! (chlorine will kill the good bacteria you are trying to establish)
-buy some liquid test kits. you will need a total of 3. one for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates
-when you test the water, you will want to read ammonia and nitrites 0. nitrates at or below 20 but above 5... when you get those constant readings for 4 days, your tank is cycled and you can relax
-ask your local fish store if they have some used filter media or some spare used gravel you can have or buy. that will put the needed good bacteria in your tank. just keep it wet

good luck... and remember, dont return it to walmart, they flush all returned fish, dead or alive.

[LilGreenPuffer]

I think that unless you can get a bigger tank RIGHT away, you need to give the fish to a pet store. You can't do the heat part of the salt/heat treatment in such a small tank - it's dangerous to use anything but a custom-made specialized heating system in tanks under, say, 2.5g.

Whatever you do, don't return the fish to Wal-Mart! They flush all returned fish alive.




kilofey, nitrates can be below 5.

[kilofey]

kilofey, nitrates can be below 5.

whoops, thanks for the correction when i was cycling my tank, i thought a few people told me since my nitrates were 0 that it meant it was not fully cycled... so i guess i assumed it meant it should be above 0. now i know

[LilGreenPuffer]

Yes, they should be above zero. But they can still be below five.

[kilofey]

AAAHHH, gotcha LGP, thanks... and sorry for hijacking the thread

[Myaj]

Oye, good call on the heat in that small of a tank, that would be tricky for sure! You can do the ich treatment without heat though, the heat just speeds up the parasite's life cycle. Without the heat, you'd want to treat for an extra week or two.