Urgent help needed!

[Roper25]

Hi there,

I have a figure of 8 puffer which appears to be suddenly blind! About 3 months ago I decided to get a tank going and finally get myself a puffer, I have always wanted one so wanted to get everything right, for about 2 months I did nothing but read anything I could on this and other forums to make sure I could get everything right. Then a month ago after a 5 week cycle I got my puffer. For the first 3 weeks everything was great he seemed happy and well but over the last three days he appears to be blind! On Monday he was fine when I fed him, tuesday sort of didn't notice the snail until it was right in front of his face and this afternoon I got home from work and he was hovering in one corner of the tank against the flow and had no idea I was there. I tried feeding him and nothing, I held the mussel right in front of him and he had no idea it was there, he could smell it as he got excited but couldn't find it.

For the whole time he has been in the tank I have done tests twice a week and they have always been ph 8.0 ammonia 0 nitrites 0 and nitrates around 3-5ppm.

He is in a 20g with a 100w heater and a tetratec ex600 with the flow turned down, I have fed him once a day varying each day between snails, raw prawns, mussels, bloodworms and live shrimp I have always soaked the food in vitamins as well.

He was in freshwater in the lfs so for a week I left him in freshwater then I started raising it to brackish, I am currently at just under 1.002 with a plan do take it to 1.003.

I thought I had done everything right, have I missed something or made a mistake?

Please help ASAP as I'm not sure how long he will last if he isn't eating!

Any help apreciated!

[Roper25]

I should have added I also did 25% water changes once a week.

[puffykid]

I would do a 50% wc right now. Your parameters seem to good for your feeding schedule and wc routine, are you using test strips or a test kit? Has your salinity been remaining steady, and not been changing by more then .002?

[Flutter]

Typically blindness is seen with high nitrites. I'd retest and make sure to follow the directions -exactly- (and check expiry dates). I'd also do a very large water change even if the water tests fine, 50% or more.

[Roper25]

I did a test after I posted and it was the same again, all fine. I have the api freshwater kit that everyone recommended, and it's in date by a long time.

As for my feeding I have been making sure everyday to remove anything he didn't eat so it kept the bioload unafective.

I will do a water change right now.

I had another thought, I bought some shrimp from the lfs to feed him on Sunday and he has had 2 since then on Sunday night and Monday, could it be an internal parasite that was in the shrimp?

[bertie 83]

Are there any air fresheners in the room? Has there been aerosols sprayed in the same room as the tank? Do several water partials and go from there

[Roper25]

No air fresheners but he is in my bedroom so in the morning I put deodorant on, usually the other side of the room though and his tank has its lid on. Could this have caused it though? Once again in my rush and panic I forgot to put originally I also have a small goby in the tank with him and he is behaving fine.

[Roper25]

I've just done a 60% water change.

[bertie 83]

Don't use any aerosols in the room, this could well cause the problem. Proceed with another large waterchange to help solve the problem. Puffers are scaleless so often problems show up with them before tankmates

[Roper25]

Right I will do 50% water changes twice a day then and not use any aerosols in the room so not to worsen the problem.

Being realistic is it likely that if the problem is sorted his sight will return or will it be permanent? Or is there now way of knowing.

I will keep a very close eye on my goby as well I case he shows and symptoms.

Thanks again.

[bertie 83]

Keep the aerosols out change lots of water and his sight should return, no guarantees tho but it should

[Roper25]

Well this morning he was much the same, no return of eyesight and still swimming in the flow in one corner, so i have done another 50% water change before work.

I also noticed he has gone extremely pale in colour, i know this is common after a puffer has been sleeping but i have never seen him anywhere near this pale in colour.

[puffykid]

The shrimp weren't QTed? they may have had something weird in them, live food should be qt and gutloaded before being fed to the puffer. Did you originally treat the puffer for ip? I'm not sure of an ip that causes blindness though, does his belly appear to be sunken in? Get some garlic extract soak that and some of that Kusuri wormer plus stuff off of ebay or somewhere nearby. Can we get a picture of the f8 please?

[RTR]

It may be a dumb question, but how much light is on the tank and how many hours per day is it on?

[TheShield]

If you read one my thread you'll see I ran into a very similar situation with a porcupine going blind. Weird enough, I have also suspected losing of eyesight after feeding some frozen shrimps. If the shrimp was tainted it may cause the issue but it could be something else or a sum of factors. It happen immediately after that meal, initially acting like being sick and later next day losing the eyesight. He was also very pale, the only physical change I have noticed at that time. It seems this happens due his inability to detect light and therefore not changing the 'night' color to 'day' color.

The good news is that my porc recovered in about 2 months time. You'll have to target feeding for a while, use a wood stick like the BBQ ones and with great care try to make him eat small pieces of food. Pay attention not to harm him, you may like to cut the sharp end.

In some other forum I have received useful information which really helped. You will need to get Vitachem and Selcon. I'll have to read the label and see if they are ok for your system, FW.

I see you're in the UK like me, Selcon is quite rare, if you're in Hampshire Steve at Reefaquarium in Winchester got it. Vitachem can be found in Ebay UK, should be with you in couple of days. Just soak the food for about 15 minutes bedore feeding. Use a variety of food, I have bough fresh scalop, fresh mussel along with good frozen mix of marine food. Not sure about your puffer diet, it should be different than my marine puffer. Just source quality food. Keep water clean and do water changes. I remeber I did daily water changes for more than 1 week, then every 2-3 days.

With patience and proper care it should receover. In my case the fish has receovered and now can see and eat without any help.