Ammonia - .25
Nitrate - 0
Nitrite - 0
Alkalinity - 300
pH - between 7.8 and 8.4
Gravity - 1.006
Temp - 79F
Tank size - 30gal
Substrate - Crushed coral
Inhabitants - 2 juvenile figure 8 puffers
Added while cycling before the fish - Jungle: Start Right, Jungle: Ammonia Clear tabs, Instant Ocean: Marine salt
Feeding - Snails, frozen shrimp tail w/ shell on, frozen clam on the half shell
Water changes - Haven't had them long enough
I started to cycle my 30 gallon tank 2 weeks ago. I had decided when I had first got the tank that I wanted figure 8 puffers. I visited my local pet store only to find that everything in the store was grossly over priced, the fish tanks looked terrible, and the only puffer they had was a red tailed Fiji (which I want but need more experience). So I decided to make the 45 minute drive north to an aquatics shop. Again, the same story. Poor looking fish tanks and over priced items (I come from small rural towns). I was about to give u on my puffer search when I found another pet store 45 minutes south but this time I called in advance before making the trip. A young girl answered the phone and when I asked what species of puffer they carried, I had to wait 5 minutes for her to look at the tanks. Finally she said they have GSPs and F8s. I haven't been that excided in awhile to be honest. I made my trip to said pet store and went straight to the back. To my surprise they were keeping both species together in the same 3 gallon tank with about 3-4 of each kind. I brought my Coralife hydrometer with me but when I asked if I could test their water gravity I was quickly denied. So instead I asked the clerk what type of water they were keeping these guys at and she said that they put salt in the tank (Alrighty then..). I found two beautiful F8s that were active and looked healthy.
I quickly got them home and tested the bag water and what do you know, fresh freaking water. So I got a new clean bucket and put my F8s in with their bag water and started to acclimate them to my 30 gal for about an hour and a half. Then I proceeded to introduce them to their new home. I kept the light off for two days so that it wouldn't be too stressful. At night they both swim into a large log and sleep right next to one another. I've been monitoring them closely to watch for nipping and to my surprise them get alone perfectly. They swim next to one another. They eat right next to each other with no problems at all. I thought I had done a fine job at my first brackish tank but unfortunately not all is well. I've been finding that in the morning one of my F8s (Ocho) doesn't come out of the log in the morning anymore. He sits at the bottom of the coral and looks to be breathing heavily. Sometimes he will follow my other F8 (Bangles) but shortly after he will find a place on the bottom and just stop moving and start breathing hard. When he does this his coloration goes very pale. When I get close to the tank to get a better look at Ocho, he will come out of this suspended form and his coloration will return. I thought yesterday I saw a few white spots on him on his white belly which obviously could be ich or substrate. I don't have another tank to isolate him in and I don't have the money right this moment to hospitalize them. All I want is to do right by these beautiful creatures. I have pictures of both if that would be helpful. Please help me.
Help me do right by my puffers, please
Forum rules
Read this before posting!!
Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.
1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.
2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.
3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)
4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.
5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.
We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.
While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.
Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
Read this before posting!!
Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.
1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.
2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.
3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)
4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.
5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.
We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.
While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.
Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
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Welch4
- Fahaka Puffer
- Posts: 698
- Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2014 5:22 pm
- Gender: Male
- My Puffers: 1 GSP
- Location (country): USA
- Location: Abington,MA
Re: Help me do right by my puffers, please
A couple things on your tanks parameters. If your tank is cycled you should not be reading any ammonia. This could be a false positive reading if you are using Prime as a de-chlor. Additionally, you have a wide ph range mentioned. These guys prefer a higher ph but a stable ph is best. The crushed coral bottom should buffer the PH to where it should be. As far as the white dots i would assume it is substrate unless you see it not on the stomach where they have been laying. The sluggishness sound like it could be internal parasites. Puffers are notorious for having parasites which are then aggravated when they are captured, shipped, held in a store, then eventually make a car ride home. The best measure to take here would be treating with a good anti-parasitic such as Metro or Prazi. There is an article in the library here on the correct dosing/treatment/prevention.
Forget other advice about puffers you don't hear here - Pufferpunk