Dwarf Puffers Keep Dying

Oh no! Sick fish?! Come here and see if someone can help!
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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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PufferGab
Puffer Fry
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Dwarf Puffers Keep Dying

Post by PufferGab »

Tank Parameters:

pH: 8.2
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: Less than 5.0 ppm

Tank Size: 55 gallon long. 10(started out as 12) dwarf puffers and 5 otos
Feeding: Recently everyday because I was suspect of IP's but usually every other day.
Cycle: 30-50 percent weekly when vacuuming the sand and cleaning pre-filters.

Tank has been cycled for about a 6 months and previously held 3 goldfish and a common place (rehomed due to size and not being able to house 3, 100 plus tanks for them)
The tank has a AquaClear 110 and an Aquaclear 70. I also use Prime.

Tank is planted, has a few rocks and EcoComplete was added about three weeks ago. Before I added EcoComplete two dwarf puffers died, maybe two months before the change to EcoComplete and the fish were out of the tank in a 75 gallon for about 24 hours and there was no ammonia spike or anything like that.

On to the issue, I have two being quarantined at the moment because they're skinny and won't eat. It's odd because they're fat and then they all come to the front of the tank to eat and I notice a couple more that are skinny. I treated for IP's (Tetra Parasite Tablets) when I received them about 2 months ago and they were all fine but something seems to be picking them off and I am not exactly sure what it is. They are fed bloodworms and some rams horn snails, whenever my snails decide to breed. I am getting awfully frustrated and feeling like I am doing something wrong and I just don't know what it could be. What is odd as well is, I have some really healthy dwarf puffers that are active and have nice round tummy's but am afraid that won't last long.
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Pufferpunk
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Re: Dwarf Puffers Keep Dying

Post by Pufferpunk »

Did you treat their food with the IP med?
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...

"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
PufferGab
Puffer Fry
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Joined: Mon Apr 04, 2016 7:22 pm
Location (country): U.S.

Re: Dwarf Puffers Keep Dying

Post by PufferGab »

Yes, I did. I used the Tetra fizzie tabs and broke them into pieces and soaked then in their bloodworms in the fridge overnight.
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pufferjw
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Re: Dwarf Puffers Keep Dying

Post by pufferjw »

I'd try PraziPro, it's the best by FAR.
220 Gallon - 1 Super White Leopoldi Stingray
55 Gallon Planted - No Fish
29 Gallon Planted - 1 Duboisi Puffer
29 Gallon - 1 Red Congo Puffer
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