about a week ago i got a f8 puffer he did quite well the first few days i had him, he was very vibrant and seemed very happy and showed lots of personality. About 3 days later he started showing signs of fungus growth on his belly. i feed him blood worms everyday (around a glob the size of his eye) but he hasnt been eating them i did not feed him any more today because the ones he didnt eat yesterday are sitting at the bottom. to treat his fungal infection ive been putting in melafix and pimafix daily for 4 days now. his color seems darker and he seems very lethargic and just sits in the bottom of the tank under a fake plant.
nitrates: 0ppm
amonia: 0ppm
ph: 7.6
salinity: 1.002
20 gallon tank high
no tankmates
*note* ive cycled the aquarium twice since my puffer has moved in
plzzzz help sick f8
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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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: plzzzz help sick f8
Nitrate 0? What about nitrite? You should be showing nitrate in a cycled tank. How exactly was the tank cycled?
Are you defrosting, rinsing, draining the worms before feeding? Are you absolutely sure there are no worms rotting somewhere in the tank?
Are you defrosting, rinsing, draining the worms before feeding? Are you absolutely sure there are no worms rotting somewhere in the tank?
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!"
Re: plzzzz help sick f8
i havent checked nitrites i totally forgot and didnt buy the test kit. i havent rinsed my worms i didnt know i needed to. My tank was cycled with a siphon and i did 2 ten gallon changes
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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: plzzzz help sick f8
Unfortunately water changes don't cycle a tank, you need an ammonia source to cycle and it usually takes about a month to build up the necessary bacteria in your filter to convert ammonia to nitrite and then nitrite to nitrate.
You will need to change water daily at the moment until you can either return the puffer until the tank is cycled or until you get an instant cycling product. Tetra Safestart is known to work but unfortunately it may already be too late to save your puffer - I know that you have tested ammonia and it has read zero but if you haven't cycled properly then it may be a faulty kit or you may be doing it wrong.
You will need to change water daily at the moment until you can either return the puffer until the tank is cycled or until you get an instant cycling product. Tetra Safestart is known to work but unfortunately it may already be too late to save your puffer - I know that you have tested ammonia and it has read zero but if you haven't cycled properly then it may be a faulty kit or you may be doing it wrong.
Re: plzzzz help sick f8
OH! ok i thought you ment water cycles ok yeah i put startup bacteria before hand and i had it sit for a week before putting in my puffer. it did read ammonia levels when i first got him but i got rid of it
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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: plzzzz help sick f8
What "start up bacteria"? Most products are nothing more than dead bacteria in a bottle. Secondly, the bacteria needs ammonia (fish waste) to live & in a week, it would have all died off from starvation. Please DO check nitrite & buy Tetra's Safestart to add to the filter, after doing a 90% water change.
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!"