Hi all,
Wonder if you could help me.
I've been keeping fish now for several years and have a few tanks with things like angles, dwarf ciclids, rams, panda corrys, gouramis, loaches etc and have been quite successful in keeping them.
I purchased a figure green spotted puffer a couple of weeks ago, check with the store what water he was in (completely fresh) and put him in a tank that's been established for over 3 years (well planted, > 50% water cycle every week) and is home to some chain loaches and a couple of honey gouramis. I was going to keep the figure of 8 in here for a little while and then slowly move him into another tank i have to turn into a brackish tank. He was really healthy looking and swimming around. I fed him on the frozen blood worm or brine shrimp blocks you get and he was eating happily (had a fat belly a couple of days). by the 5th day he was very lethargic and hiding under a rock and by day 7 i found the little guy dead in the bottom of the tank.
tank temperature is around 78f with minimal nitrate, nitrite and ammonia readings.
would love to hear your feedback as i'd be interested in keeping a puffer of some kind.
thanks
Whats gone wrong?
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.
-
Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32773
- 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: Whats gone wrong?
What does this mean?50% water cycle every week
Please post EXACT readings.minimal nitrate, nitrite and ammonia readings
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!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
-
eieio
- Mbu Puffer
- Posts: 1033
- Joined: Sat Jun 13, 2009 11:34 am
- My Puffers: *
The Congo Puffer:
"olivia"
and.......
The DP:
"cream puff"
RIP cream puff :-( - Location (country): U.S.A.
- Location: Prescott, Arizona
Re: Whats gone wrong?
sorry about your loss
there are no acceptable amounts of nitrite or ammonia in a healthy tank
their readings MUST be zero
that's why we need specific readings
what kind of test kit are you using?
what size tank was the puffer in?
by "water cycle", I figure you mean water changes
is that right?
there are no acceptable amounts of nitrite or ammonia in a healthy tank
their readings MUST be zero
that's why we need specific readings
what kind of test kit are you using?
what size tank was the puffer in?
by "water cycle", I figure you mean water changes
is that right?
"I plan ahead. That way, I don't have to do anything right now!"
Re: Whats gone wrong?
Tank is 125l, has been running for over 3 years so fully cycled. It has 2 honey gourami a in it and 6 chain loaches and 2 ottos. 50% of the water is changed as a minimum every week using seachem prime as the conditioner. The tank is planted and I have 0 nitrate and nitght with minamal increase in ammonia from start of change to the point it's cycled. I have no fish losses in this tank for over 2 years since the original zebra danios that were in the tank passed away.
Tank is fully dirted with john innes compost on bottom with play sand on to if that with various plants in there. There are mts in the tank to keep the soil from compacting and to stop gas buildup in the substrate (which is the same in all my tanks). The tank is a jewel with built in filtration and the only other item in the tank is some slate slabs to create a rock feature.
Seems odd to lose a fish in the space of a week going from really healthy and eating to being dead.
Tank is fully dirted with john innes compost on bottom with play sand on to if that with various plants in there. There are mts in the tank to keep the soil from compacting and to stop gas buildup in the substrate (which is the same in all my tanks). The tank is a jewel with built in filtration and the only other item in the tank is some slate slabs to create a rock feature.
Seems odd to lose a fish in the space of a week going from really healthy and eating to being dead.
-
Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32773
- 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: Whats gone wrong?
How large are the gouramis? A fully cycled tank should never show any ammonia. It is very possible the GSP's immune system was finally compromised from not being in BW & stressed from ammonia. Even the smallest amount is toxic.
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!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"