The Puffer Forum

Hi Pufferpunk, he was a Carinotetraodon irrubesco, and so was my first puffer.

Thanks everyone. When my first beloved Puff died, I think I waited about three weeks until my LFS got another one in. My puff that just died was a "secondhand" puff, he was traded in to the store. Maybe he already had issues. Miss you tiny puff... I buried my first beloved Puff under an es...

When I got home from work I found out he had died.

I don't know what to do... The ich hasn't affected the four neon tetras that are in the tank. What should I do now to make sure it's completely eradicated so that the next puff I get will have a long, happy, healthy life in that tank?

I'm considering doing either a saltwater bath or a Paragard bath for my puff when I get home (depends on if I can find Paragard at my LFS). I'm worried about one thing though. When my last puff was lying on his side on the bottom of the aquarium and it was clear he wasn't going to last much longer, ...

Hi eieio, do I really need to post my water parameters when I'm doing an 80% water change every other day? Not to sound like a smartass. The tank has been established for over a year, and the neons that are in it are showing no signs of distress. Maybe they are more resistant to ich because they hav...

I'm not sure if I can reduce filter flow, don't really know how to do that except put more water in the tank so that it covers the water outlet. I do have an airstone in there too. How do I do a saltwater bath? Also, can I combine Melafix with Ich Attack? I feel like such a failure. I don't know why...

I just went home to check on him at lunch. He is very pale and very weak. Still drifting vertically at the surface of the water. It seems to me when they are that weak there's no hope. He easily gets swept around by the slight current coming from the filter outflow.

Hi Bertie, the water temperature is already always at 82-84 degrees.

Hi all, I've read time and time again that ich is really "easy" to treat and goes away soon with heat and salt. I have not found this to be true! I've been following Pufferpunk's protocol for treating ich for a week now and puff is NOT getting better. He started off with a few white specks...

Thanks for the super quick answer. If I bleach the stuff, what should the bleach concentration be (i.e. like one part bleach to 10 parts water)?

I'm treating my puff for ich and I've been doing 80% water changes every other day (in addition to salt + Ich Attack). I have another aquarium that's been neglected since I started treating my puff, and I need to do a water change on it tonight. I only have the one gravel siphon and set of buckets. ...

Thanks to both of you. How much Epsom salt do I put in? It's a 10-gallon tank and it already has 1 TBL of aquarium salt in it.

I am using straight RO water. I had no idea it wasn't good for the fish. Is 7.2 too low for PH? I do have some minerals I can put in, Seachem Equilibrium.

Hi all, First, tank parameters: PH: 7.2 Ammonia: 0 Nitrite: 0 Nitrate: .5 ppm Phosphates: around .75 ppm Tank: Freshwater, 10-gallon, low-light, planted, established for one year Puff: Carinotetraodon irrubesco (red-eyed red-tailed puffer) Tank mates: four neon tetras Feeding: Once a day, live black...

Hi Pufferpunk, Thanks for the quick reply. He's a freshwater dwarf puffer, a Carinotetraodon irrubesco (red-eyed red-tailed puffer). About the water change, you said to do an 80% but I'm concerned about the warning at the top of this page, which states: Note - if you do not normally do large water c...

I brought home a new puffer friend a couple of weeks ago and I think he's sick. He was hiding last night, and this morning when I turned on the aquarium light, he flashed or scratched his body on a plant leaf and the side of the aquarium. His color is dull. I think he has ich, althought there are no...