Hi
I'm new, please be gentle.
I have a figure 8 puffer, on his own in a 70L tank. It is freshwater. There may be a couple of the white snails in there, but to be honest he eats them as soon as they go in so doubt any are actually living in there.
We had a big issue with cyanobacteria that we have been fighting for months now. He's been having weekly water changes, with tank cleans and thanks to Blue Exit treatments we seem to have gotten it under control. The tank is at the start of a Blue Exit treatment at the moment (water change and first treatment on Saturday).
We recently finally got a large piece of wood in the tank to give him some entertainment. This seems to still be leaking some tannins and have white fungus, despite our boiling and soaking of wood prior to putting it in. The shop keeper has assured us this is fine and if we keep up on the water changes it will stop.
On Saturday we also managed to finally get the tank planted up so that he has lots of entertainment (the cyanobacteria had killed most of the plants we started out with).
He is fed with pieces of frozen shrimp, frozen blood worm, or live snails from our community freshwater tank.
We haven't done the water parameters recently. I will get my husband to check this as soon as he finishes work and will then add to the post. The tank was cycled before any fish were put in, and has been running for maybe 3 years. It had a male fighter to start, then a dwarf puffer and finally this figure 8 puffer.
Ok that's my background info. Now the problem. Our F8 puffer has now twice been seen on his side on this wood with his tail curled around him. He sits very still like this for quite a while. We've never seen him do this before, only since the wood has gone in. Is it normal? Is he ill? He seems active an fine after but we've had him a year and never seen this behaviour before.
Thank you
Dans
Figure 8 puffer on side, tail curled
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.
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El Scorpio
- Fahaka Puffer
- Posts: 534
- Joined: Sun Sep 19, 2010 12:11 pm
- Gender: Male
- My Puffers: none, at the moment...
- Location (country): Louisville, KY.
Re: Figure 8 puffer on side, tail curled
Could you post a picture of how he is laying?
Re: Figure 8 puffer on side, tail curled
He's been swimming around happily since I posted , next time he does it I'll post a picture. Thank you
Dans
Dans
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Iliveinazoo
- Fahaka Puffer
- Posts: 826
- Joined: Thu Jul 17, 2008 8:09 am
- Gender: Male
- My Puffers: 1xFigure 8
- Location (country): UK
- Location: Southampton
Re: Figure 8 puffer on side, tail curled
He may be sleeping but the fungus on the wood suggests that it is rotting - does it still have the bark on? If so this should be removed. Did you collect it yourself?
I don't know what Blue Exit contains but try to avoid putting additives in your tank if you can. I used to suffer with cyano. & I managed to get rid of it by upping the flow in my tank so it is worth trying to upgrade your filter or adding a pump.
Lastly your figure 8 will benefit with a little marine salt. If you maintain your salinity around SG1.003 you will still be able to grow many plant species.
I don't know what Blue Exit contains but try to avoid putting additives in your tank if you can. I used to suffer with cyano. & I managed to get rid of it by upping the flow in my tank so it is worth trying to upgrade your filter or adding a pump.
Lastly your figure 8 will benefit with a little marine salt. If you maintain your salinity around SG1.003 you will still be able to grow many plant species.
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Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32773
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
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- My Puffers: Filbert, the 12" T lineatus
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C valentini
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Also kept:
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Re: Figure 8 puffer on side, tail curled
I agree--NO MEDS!!! And remove that horrid fungused wood.
What you describe is your puffer sleeping.
What you describe is your puffer sleeping.
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!"
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Welch4
- Fahaka Puffer
- Posts: 698
- Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2014 5:22 pm
- Gender: Male
- My Puffers: 1 GSP
- Location (country): USA
- Location: Abington,MA
Re: Figure 8 puffer on side, tail curled
I didnt think cyano could live in fresh only salt could be wrong though. As far as the wood get rid of it. I went through the same thing with a peice of mopani that i ended up boiling close to 8 times before giving up and getting something else. Save yourself the hassel and get another peice. I agree with the prior posters no meds and start raising your salinity.
Forget other advice about puffers you don't hear here - Pufferpunk
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Iliveinazoo
- Fahaka Puffer
- Posts: 826
- Joined: Thu Jul 17, 2008 8:09 am
- Gender: Male
- My Puffers: 1xFigure 8
- Location (country): UK
- Location: Southampton
Re: Figure 8 puffer on side, tail curled
Cyano can definitely live in fresh water but it appears to prefer sluggish water movement.Welch4 wrote:I didnt think cyano could live in fresh only salt could be wrong though. As far as the wood get rid of it. I went through the same thing with a peice of mopani that i ended up boiling close to 8 times before giving up and getting something else. Save yourself the hassel and get another peice. I agree with the prior posters no meds and start raising your salinity.