URGENT - Help needed

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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URGENT - Help needed

Post by Lukedt95 »

So I bought my Red Eyed Red Tailed puffer yesterday, my water was tested by the LFS and was fine, she ate the same day I got her and was fine, however today, she's very dark in colour, with cloudy eyes and is sitting at the bottom of the tank.

The tank size is 15 Gallons

I've not made any changes since I got her

I've fed her yesterday and attempted to feed her this morning, I've used Aqua fin dechlorinater and Tetra Safe start

The aquarium has been set up for almost 2 weeks now.

I'm sorry, I cannot give you any of the imformation above as the LFS was the one that tested my water. I have no testing kit on me.

What should I do?

Thanks in advance.

EDIT: I rang the LFS from where I got her, and they've said it is normal for the first couple of days, I don't think this is normal? Can someone verify that for me?
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Re: URGENT - Help needed

Post by J-P »

usually a change of environment can stress a puffer, but are you sure it isn't sleeping?
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Re: URGENT - Help needed

Post by filofilo »

Probably she is just fine. But two weeks of maturation is not enough for a tank to be safe. You could be still completing the nitrogen cycle and having a peak of NO2!!! No matter which bacterial activator you used 4 weeks its the minimum to be sure that the filter is mature.
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Re: URGENT - Help needed

Post by Lukedt95 »

filofilo wrote:Probably she is just fine. But two weeks of maturation is not enough for a tank to be safe. You could be still completing the nitrogen cycle and having a peak of NO2!!! No matter which bacterial activator you used 4 weeks its the minimum to be sure that the filter is mature.
I'm an idiot, I was told by the LFS that it would be fine to have fish, but I should of been more weary.

Do you think she will survive? She's very dark and is still in that corner.
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Re: URGENT - Help needed

Post by puffykid »

When did you use the tetra safe start? Your suppose to add it to the filter box and add the fish immediately, if you waited a few days between bottle and fish then some of the bacteria may have died off as it needs to be fed. Also for preparing your water pick up some prime at your lfs today if possible as something you can do right now, it will help lock up the ammonia and nitrates that are making your buddy not feel well.
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Re: URGENT - Help needed

Post by J-P »

opps totally missed that part.

Get a test kit, some seachem's Prime and start on the water changes.
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Re: URGENT - Help needed

Post by puffykid »

+1 to j-p
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Re: URGENT - Help needed

Post by Lukedt95 »

Thanks for the replies, my LFS will be shut now but I'll rush down there early tomorrow to get some Prime, what does it do?

I've done a 20% water change, I'm guessing I shouldn't feed her while she's like this?
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Re: URGENT - Help needed

Post by J-P »

Prime detoxifies the ammonia.

It still helps with they cycling of the tank but it makes the ammonia harmless to fish. It is also used to treat tap water.
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Re: URGENT - Help needed

Post by Lukedt95 »

Right, I know it's a difficult question but do you think she'll survive the night?
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Re: URGENT - Help needed

Post by J-P »

oh... she'll survive most likely. How she will do tomorrow is a different story.

It has only been in the tank 1 day so I can't see a huge problem with it. Make sure to clean up any remaining food left over so that it doesn't foul the tank.
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Re: URGENT - Help needed

Post by puffykid »

pretty much does this

" Prime removes chlorine and chloramine (even in high chloramine levels), and detoxifies ammonia and nitrite. Provides essential ions and stimulates natural slime coat. Prime also detoxifies any heavy metals found in the tap water at typical concentration levels"


It locks up or neutralizes ammonia, nitrite, nitrates from affecting your fish so that they don't get poisoned by the buildup. I agree with your not feeding him right now, it will cause more build up of the nitrates inside the tank. You may want to bring some of the water to the lfs to get it tested again, but it should be on your list of stuff you need to buy (api master fw kit its about 25 bucks on amazon) this kit can only test some of the basic aspects of what is going on in your tank but these are important parameters that directly affect your fish so you should have the tools you need to test them.
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Re: URGENT - Help needed

Post by Lukedt95 »

Ok, I'll get that prime tomorrow morning. How should I introduce it to the tank? Just put it straight in there or add it in along with a water change? Like a 40-50% water change?
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Re: URGENT - Help needed

Post by J-P »

I add it with the water change. 40% should be good tomorrow. You did 20% today. Don't forget the test kits.
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Re: URGENT - Help needed

Post by Lukedt95 »

The only thing I managed to get was something called Nutrafin Cycle, which removes ammonia and Nitrite over the course of 3 days.

It says to add it with water changes, for the first day (today) I've added 31ml (I followed it's guidelines) Tomorrow and the day after I have to add more, hopefully it'll help her to recover. (It say's you can add it with fish in the tank)

Out of interest, could it of been the blood worm that upset her?
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