SICK FISHY
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.
SICK FISHY
I just got my puffer yesterday and he's already not doing too hot! I don't know the pH of the water or any of that stuff. The tank is like a gallon big and I just have the one puffer. I've used AquaSafe water conditioner and tried to feed him bloodworms, but he just sits at the bottom and doesn't eat. Like, I said, I've had him for less than a day!
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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: SICK FISHY
Sorry that your first post is under such circumstances but:
1. What type of puffer?
2. A 1 gallon tank is too small for any puffer.
3. You need to know more than pH, you need to know ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and hardness as well but ammonia and nitrite are by far the most important.
4. All tanks need to be cycled, this means that the tank has been given sufficient time to build up bacteria that can convert ammonia to nitrite and then convert nitrite to nitrate. You then keep on top of nitrate by carrying out water changes. It takes time for bacteria to build to the point that the tank is cycled - normally around 4 weeks - and you need to add small amounts of ammonia each day during this period. You can instantly cycle a tank with products like Tetra Safestart or by seeding your filter with filter media from an established tank but I would always run a tank without fish first to establish that the water is truly safe.
Because your current tank is too small to house fish I would return your puffer to the shop that you bought it from and look into housing shrimps or snails but please look into cycling your tank before adding anything else to the tank.
If you would like to own a puffer like the one that you currently have in the future then please let us know what species it is and we can advise on the best tank size and set up.
1. What type of puffer?
2. A 1 gallon tank is too small for any puffer.
3. You need to know more than pH, you need to know ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and hardness as well but ammonia and nitrite are by far the most important.
4. All tanks need to be cycled, this means that the tank has been given sufficient time to build up bacteria that can convert ammonia to nitrite and then convert nitrite to nitrate. You then keep on top of nitrate by carrying out water changes. It takes time for bacteria to build to the point that the tank is cycled - normally around 4 weeks - and you need to add small amounts of ammonia each day during this period. You can instantly cycle a tank with products like Tetra Safestart or by seeding your filter with filter media from an established tank but I would always run a tank without fish first to establish that the water is truly safe.
Because your current tank is too small to house fish I would return your puffer to the shop that you bought it from and look into housing shrimps or snails but please look into cycling your tank before adding anything else to the tank.
If you would like to own a puffer like the one that you currently have in the future then please let us know what species it is and we can advise on the best tank size and set up.
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Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32772
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
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- My Puffers: Filbert, the 12" T lineatus
Punkster, the 4" red T miurus
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2 T biocellatus
C valentini
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Re: SICK FISHY
Thanks, I was in a hurry & don't always have time to write all those details. 
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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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: SICK FISHY
No problem we've all got to do our bit, I admit that my knowledge is limited but I will try to help when I can.