Sick dwarf puffer. please help

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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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goomes
Puffer Fry
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Sep 03, 2016 11:16 pm
Location (country): singapore

Sick dwarf puffer. please help

Post by goomes »

tank size: 2.6 gallons/10 litres
(20x20x25cm)

PH 7.6
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate 5.0 ppm

inhabitants: used to be 2 dwarf puffers. now, only 1 dwarf puffer.

there's enough floating plants and grass and a miniature rock cave for hiding.

the bottom is rounded pebbles.

the filter is the GEX Slim Filter.

we have had this tank for a year.

previously, we had a panda cory with these 2 puffers. the panda cory had a fungus. the puffers looked like they had fungus too, so we treated all of them with API fungus cure, as advised by our fish store. sadly, the cory didn't make it.

the puffers suffered terribly from the medical treatment. it looked like the medicine ate up their skin :( I was horrified and stopped the treatment. luckily we had placed each of them in their own quarantine bowls.

But our puffers have gotten sick again. I saw that they developed something that looked like a sore on the top of their head. I was unsure if they scraped themselves or if it was a growth. but it was just like... a bald patch? it wasnt a fuzzy growth.

they started to lose their appetite, their bellies getting shrunken. and now the remaining one is very weak.

i couldnt attach a photo here so have uploaded a video of my poor sick puffer

https://youtu.be/M7aslgIhO2M


please help. any advice would be much appreciated. I dont want to lose any more puffers this way.

my other larger tank of fish is perfectly healthy. I just dont know how to help my puffers when they get sick, lose their appetite and die. I am worried about medication because I saw the effects of the anti-fingal and have been wary of using it ever since.

The fish stores here dont seem to care when i ask them questions about sick fish...it is as if it is normal for fish to die. But i dont want my fish to keep dying. i want to give them a good life.
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Pufferpunk
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Posts: 32776
Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
Gender: Female
My Puffers: Filbert, the 12" T lineatus
Punkster, the 4" red T miurus
Mongo, the 4" A modestus
2 T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
Also kept:
lorteti
DPs
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Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
Location: Chicago
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Re: Sick dwarf puffer. please help

Post by Pufferpunk »

It looks like a very advanced case of IPs. Is it still eating?
I don't recommend a tank that small. 3g minimum, 5g is much better.
http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/lib ... treatment/
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!"
goomes
Puffer Fry
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Sep 03, 2016 11:16 pm
Location (country): singapore

Re: Sick dwarf puffer. please help

Post by goomes »

he isnt eating anymore :( he has no appetite. but the onset was very sudden... he was hungry and ate a day ago. then I woke up today and he was in this state.

The tank looked like an ok size because there were just 2 of them and that was all I had available (I had to remove them from the larger tank as they were harassing my albino fish)

does a small tank contribute to sick fish? I usually siphon the water daily, 20mins after feeding them.
User avatar
Pufferpunk
Queen Admin
Posts: 32776
Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
Gender: Female
My Puffers: Filbert, the 12" T lineatus
Punkster, the 4" red T miurus
Mongo, the 4" A modestus
2 T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
Also kept:
lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles
Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
Location: Chicago
Contact:

Re: Sick dwarf puffer. please help

Post by Pufferpunk »

Would you feel stressed/depressed living in a very small closet? I'm afraid he's really far gone. :(
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!"
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