Sick puffer

Oh no! Sick fish?! Come here and see if someone can help!
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.
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Amandamaddux24
Puffer Fry
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Aug 26, 2019 4:11 am
Location (country): Bonney lake Washington

Sick puffer

Post by Amandamaddux24 »

Hi my poor puffer is sick and I am not sure what to do.he is about 9 inches long. In his own 75 gallon hexagon tank. This all started about 2 weeks ago I woke up to his tank leaking rapidly. I have a 55 gallon community tank I put a divider in and gave him almost half of the tank and immediately went and bought a 36 gallon to home him temporarily while I had his tank re sealed. He started acting abnormally as soon as I moved him, lost interest in food and barley ever swims around. I test both my takes water weekly and all levels are normal. My 55 has been established for almost a year now and have had no issues with other fish getting sick and still don't. He seemed to get worse in the 36 gallon and I was worried because I didn't have time to cycle it properly that it was making him sick so I put him back with my other fish he seemed to be a little better when i did this but continued to decline in the days fallowing. After I got his tank back I filled it let it filter for 3 days used bacteria supplement to jump start the tank and moved him home. This was about a week ago. Some days he will eat others he he has no interest some days he bumps into the food as if his coordination is off
For the most part he just lays on the bottom. His breathing is not over labored but a little ruffer than normal and I have noticed some fraying on his fins. I am currently treating with ichx as this has helped with fin problems with other fish in the past. My puffer is normaly very active when people he knows come in he gets excited swims around following his people if I run my finger up the tank normally he will come up to the top let ne pet him and wait for his snails these are his favorite snack and has never turned one down before this. He hardly acknowledges that I am at the tank rubbing on the glass anymore I am lucky to get his fins to wiggle for me which I take as a sign of affection from him. So I am hoping that some will have some advise he did not puff up threw this entire ordeal, is he in shock and I should wait it out he hasn't lost any weight yet so I'm not worried about starvation. The fraying dosent look like finn rot to me and there are no other wounds on him. How can I help him feel better ive had him since he was the size of my thumb going on three years and would be devastated to lose him and I hate seeing him suffer.
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Pufferpunk
Queen Admin
Posts: 32764
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 puffer

Post by Pufferpunk »

So sorry your puffer is feeling poorly! Please answer all the questions above in Red, so we can better help you.
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!"
User avatar
Pufferpunk
Queen Admin
Posts: 32764
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 puffer

Post by Pufferpunk »

So sorry your puffer is feeling poorly! Please answer all the questions above in Red, so we can better help you.
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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