help with porc
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.
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.
- casc
- Figure 8 Puffer
- Posts: 126
- Joined: Wed May 29, 2013 2:24 pm
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: "Juke" porcupine puffer 150G FOWLR
10G Aqua scape tank with Dwarf Puffer
~Non puff tank:
30G reef tank with Hawaiian Dwarf Peacock Lionfish
~GF tanks:
90G freshwater w/ fancy goldfish
90G freshwater w/ oscar - Location (country): USA, Vermont
help with porc
Hi im new to the forum and puffer owning. I have a porcupine puffer whom i addore. Love him like my dogs, who are my children. He is always very social and i love that about him. "Juke" is only 3ish inches long. Iv had him for 4 months. My 150 has been going for 5 months, pretty new but i test a few times a week. All levels are at 0 except ph which is 8.4. i also have a damsel and a potters angel. Love them all but recently iv wittnessed my angel being some what aggressive. he seems to have claimed all of the rock n cave area as his own. He flick his taill and dirt at Juke. Not all of the time but my porc seems like hes getting stressed. Breathing heavily occasionally, not as active. Still has an apetite but i cant think of anything else that could be bothering him. I havnt made any changes to my tank since iv had them. He has no visible problems. I feed frozen mysis, snails and sometimes gut loaded ghost shrimp. Iv tried multiple other food which he spits out. Very picky but still never turns down the foods listed above. i think he is acting strange because of the bullying. He will suddenly act strange then better for a few days then lethargic again. I love the angel but juke is my main fish and i considering rehoming the angel. Not quite sure what to do but i dont wanna wait til its too late! Any advice or insight? Thanks
- bertie 83
- Moderator
- Posts: 5298
- Joined: Tue Apr 12, 2011 4:28 pm
- Gender: Male
- My Puffers: lineatus R.I.P, South American puffer. Valentini puffer, porcupine puffer.
Non puffer
Danios, Tetras, Redtail Rasporas,
Harlequins, CAE's, Yoyo
Loaches, Clown loaches ,Eels, various shrimp, tangs,wrasses, damsels, chromis - Location (country): Brighton, England
- Location: brighton , england
Re: help with porc
Hi and welcome to the forum. I think the bullying could potentially be the cause of the problem, puffers are very smart and depend on comfortable surroundings in order to thrive. Try rehoming the angel and see how he does then.
It's amazing how easy maintenance is. If done regularly and thoroughly
- sgtmyers88
- Moderator
- Posts: 1294
- Joined: Fri Feb 10, 2012 12:37 am
- Gender: Male
- My Puffers: Green Spotted Puffers
- Location (country): USA
- Contact:
Re: help with porc
Yes time to rehome the Angel. Puffers come first.
WARNING: Puffers are mischievous little blimps with enchanting powers. You may not be content with having just one.
- casc
- Figure 8 Puffer
- Posts: 126
- Joined: Wed May 29, 2013 2:24 pm
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: "Juke" porcupine puffer 150G FOWLR
10G Aqua scape tank with Dwarf Puffer
~Non puff tank:
30G reef tank with Hawaiian Dwarf Peacock Lionfish
~GF tanks:
90G freshwater w/ fancy goldfish
90G freshwater w/ oscar - Location (country): USA, Vermont
Re: help with porc
Thank you. Absolutely right, puffer comes first. I rehomed the Angel 2 days ago and iv never seen Juke be more active. As sad as it was, seeing him happy makes me feel like it was the right decision.
Tho as im wring this he just puffed up. Seemed like for no reason. Then he went back to normal size and swam off like nothing. Iv seen him puff randomly 3 times. Is this normal?
Tho as im wring this he just puffed up. Seemed like for no reason. Then he went back to normal size and swam off like nothing. Iv seen him puff randomly 3 times. Is this normal?