GSP with IPs, Recovering? Need Advice.

[The Bloop]

Hello,

We have a just-out-of-juvenile stage green spotted puffer in a 10 gallon tank, we were hoping to switch him over to a 30 gallon soon, but that is neither here nor there at this point considering he (Gnocchi, AKA The Bloop) appears to be sick.


I'll list some basics:


1) We took water samples to our local pet store to be tested, and while I don't have hard numbers, their fish guru who has cared for GSPs himself said it was kosher. Sorry for the lack of detail, I could try to return to the store again and get details.


2) 10 gallon tank with just the GSP.


3) He is fed a rotating diet of mysis shrimp (Hikari brand), gut-loaded blood worms as treats (Hikari brand), and raw in the shell medium white shrimp. Sometimes pond snails when we can get them. He still feed him until his belly is rounded. We do a 10% water change approximately once a week with a gravel vacuum and a scrubber to clean off algae on the walls. The salinity of the tank is currently .005 (Instant Ocean), as we've only recently/slowly been introducing him into a brackish environment. We had been simply letting the water naturally cycle out the chlorine by standing for 48 hours, but have begun adding API Stress Coat for water changes instead.


4) The only change we did recently was adding a new decoration, an artificial stump for him to hide in, to the tank. Except for the addition of API Stress Coat solution to new water this past week, all other things have remained the same.


5) We used a Tetra 10 Gal. Deluxe Aquarium Kit as our start up. Without adding the fish, we let the tank cycle with the filter for two days with heater, gravel and decorations back in November, adding a safe start solution.


About last Monday or a bit earlier (2/24), I noticed he had a slight bulge on the right side of his belly. He continued to behave normally, white belly, active and eagerly taking food. Around Wednesday (2/26) night, he drastically changed - dark belly, laying on the bottom of the tank, unresponsive, or weakly swimming, also bloated with an open anus. We immediately took action and consulted a few puffer forums and our local fish store. From all other accounts and advice, IPs were the problem.


We performed about a 15% water change (it was a scheduled one) and followed the instructions for Tetra Parasite Guard (taking out carbon rocks from the filter, etc.), as it was the only treatment with praziquantel we had access to.


We have done 3 treatments since last Wednesday, with 48 hours between each and a water change preceding. His bloat was not decreasing and we tried 2 TBS of Epsom salt into his tank as well to help him along (he doesn't like peas we quickly found out). And while we thought him on the brink on Friday he appeared to bounce back over the weekend. During this time, we did not feed him (except for an attempt with a few mysis shrimp thawed in tank water with Parasite Guard, which he nibbled at) because of the alarming bloating/he was unresponsive. We've also witnessed him rubbing his belly on the gravel.


Staring on Thursday night I noticed a short white string with a few globs dangling from his anus, and two more since. During the past weekend, I had also placed a heater near his tank on a low setting (our tank heater is non adjustable) and he seemed to respond well with increased activity and passing of the third 'white string'. There is currently no outside heater as of the last Parasite Guard treatment.


As of Saturday afternoon, he's had semi-normal swimming and behavior and taking food, yet he still seems weak and less responsive than before. Currently, his belly is still mostly dark and his anus still open, but his bloat is down and he's starting to look a typical size. Last night we fed him gut-loaded blood worms thawed in tank water with Parasite Guard and he was attentive in finding and eating them, but seemed to have trouble keeping them down sometimes.


We feel like we've done all we possibly could at this point, and are unsure if another full treatment of Parasite Guard is appropriate. Any advice as to why his anus is still open and belly dark is appreciated.


Thank you,


The Bloop

[Pufferpunk]

Lots of reading for you:
library/puffers-in-focus/an-introductio ... d-puffers/
library/category/water-filtration/
library/hospital/internal-parasites-pre ... treatment/

Check thru our Library for other great info!

[The Bloop]

Lots of reading for you:
library/puffers-in-focus/an-introductio ... d-puffers/
library/category/water-filtration/
library/hospital/internal-parasites-pre ... treatment/

Check thru our Library for other great info!

Thank you, Puffer Punk! We've been pouring over those awesome tutorials ever since we got him in November, and have been trying to follow them to the best of our ability, but we're stumped at this point. We're going to try another water change tonight, however we're not sure on if another treatment is acceptable and how long the turn around time should be.

[Pufferpunk]

Are you treating his food? It does nothing, if you treat the water. Treat all his food for 3-5 days.

[Pufferpunk]

Are you treating his food? It does nothing, if you treat the water. Treat all his food for 3-5 days.