Sick Green Spotted Puffee

Oh no! Sick fish?! Come here and see if someone can help!
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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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morganeberhard
Puffer Fry
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Joined: Mon Jan 22, 2018 6:38 pm
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Sick Green Spotted Puffee

Post by morganeberhard »

Hi I am new to the puffer forum. I have a very sick puffer. I bought him about 2.5 weeks ago from Wal-Mart (he was the only one still living). I have been treating him for parasites with API general cure. His water is 1.004 salinity, in a 20 gallon tank. I know he will need larger but he is only a little over an inch right now. He has been a darker color ever since I got him. He has a little patch of green on top of him but that’s it. All is spots are clearly visible, he swims around and eats normally. I do have black substrate so I wasn’t sure if that would cause him to stay dark. I have 3 other tanks, so I’d consider myself experienced, just not experienced with puffers. I can’t post pictures of him because it says the file is too big but any advice would be greatly appreciated.
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Pufferpunk
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Re: Sick Green Spotted Puffee

Post by Pufferpunk »

[welcome]
I moved this to the Hospital Forum, so you can answer all the Qs above, in red.
I do think you have purchased a sick fish--especially since all the others were dead. I am totally against "saving" Walmart fish. This just encourages them to buy more, thinking, even though they mistreat them, they are still great sellers.
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!"
morganeberhard
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Joined: Mon Jan 22, 2018 6:38 pm
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Re: Sick Green Spotted Puffee

Post by morganeberhard »

What questions are you seeing? I only see your response.

I know. After I got him, I took pictures of the living conditions and sent it to the store manager. He said they will no longer be carrying them in that walmart because of the many “complaints and deaths of the puffers”. I went in there this week to see if they got any in their fish order and there wasn’t any.

I now see a small growth on his tail.
morganeberhard
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Joined: Mon Jan 22, 2018 6:38 pm
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Re: Sick Green Spotted Puffee

Post by morganeberhard »

I feel like an idiot not seeing the HUGE red box full of questions but here is all my info

PH- 7.5
NO2- 0.5
NO3- 20
Salinity- 1.004
Water Temp- 78F
Tank Size- 20 Gal. with 2 large fake plants, 3 little fake plants, 4 moss balls, 1 large java fern, 5 feeder guppies
Schedule- I feed him every morning with his food soaked in API general cure. I have been doing a 25% water change every other day (using a gravel vacuum) With the new water I put prime, and 3 tbsp of Instant Ocean (to keep the water a consistent 1.004)
Changes- I have added the moss balls, and another large plant. The tank is now set up with live plants and fake plants.
Cycling- The tank has been set up for almost a month

I have had a problem with this white hair looking algae growing. It looks soft and fluffy lol. The puffer fish has a white growth on his back fin, it does not look like ick.
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Pufferpunk
Queen Admin
Posts: 32764
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: Sick Green Spotted Puffee

Post by Pufferpunk »

Ammonia? Should never be showing any nitrite. .5 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!"
morganeberhard
Puffer Fry
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Jan 22, 2018 6:38 pm
Location (country): United States

Re: Sick Green Spotted Puffee

Post by morganeberhard »

sorry, ammonia is .08. I have been having a hard time with nitrite. I have no idea how to keep it at zero consistently in this tank
User avatar
Pufferpunk
Queen Admin
Posts: 32764
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: Sick Green Spotted Puffee

Post by Pufferpunk »

Your tank is not cycled. Did you read the link on cycling?
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!"
morganeberhard
Puffer Fry
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Jan 22, 2018 6:38 pm
Location (country): United States

Re: Sick Green Spotted Puffee

Post by morganeberhard »

yes, but it reqires me to take all the fish out, and I currently don’t have another tank to put them in. At this point I feel like I should do a 75% water change to bring everything back to zero. I also can’t have a filter cartridge due to the API general cure for his parasites. I’m stuck, I’ve never had problems like this with my water.
User avatar
Pufferpunk
Queen Admin
Posts: 32764
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: Sick Green Spotted Puffee

Post by Pufferpunk »

Yeah, I just wanted you to read what a healthy cycle entailed. Try this one now: library/water-filtration/emergencycycle/
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!"
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