Puffer almost dead please Help!

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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pufferkeeper411
Puffer Fry
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Puffer almost dead please Help!

Post by pufferkeeper411 »

Hi guys, yesterday my dwarf puffer swallowed an air bubble while eating. for a while after that I "burped," him and some air came out. Then I decided to let him pass the air by himself. Which he did by the way. After that he seemed really tired and couldn't really move, so I let him sleep. It was 10:30 PM by that time anyway. Now it is the morning and I have spent the last hour trying to get him to eat some bloodworms, and he can barely move to get them, usually he just misses them entirely. What Should I do?

By the way the PH is around 6.5, the tank has been cycled for almost a year now, the only other inhabitant is a neocaridina shrimp, and the tank is a 3 gallon and pretty heavily planted with a sponge filter.
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Pufferpunk
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Re: Puffer almost dead please Help!

Post by Pufferpunk »

He might just be traumatized from the whole thing. What is the pH coming from your tap?
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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pufferkeeper411
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Re: Puffer almost dead please Help!

Post by pufferkeeper411 »

The PH is around 7.1
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pufferkeeper411
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Re: Puffer almost dead please Help!

Post by pufferkeeper411 »

I guess you're right about the traumatization. I did just feed him a couple of bloodworms and he seems a little better. (I have been trying to feed them all day.)I'm posting some videos on Youtube now so you can see if he looks like he can come back from almost being dead.
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pufferkeeper411
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Re: Puffer almost dead please Help!

Post by pufferkeeper411 »

Hi guys I know that my recent posts haven't been approved, but my DP is okay now. He was just swimming around and following my finger like he always does. Thank you for your help Pufferpunk!
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Pufferpunk
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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: Puffer almost dead please Help!

Post by Pufferpunk »

Sorry, I'm on vacation and just got to the Forum before bed. Glad he's doing better! Find out why your pH is dropping so low.
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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pufferkeeper411
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Posts: 20
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2018 9:31 pm
Gender: Male
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Green Spotted Puffer
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Re: Puffer almost dead please Help!

Post by pufferkeeper411 »

Yea I think it's low because the tank has a lot of driftwood, but I'm slowly raising the PH up.
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pufferjw
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Re: Puffer almost dead please Help!

Post by pufferjw »

Glad your fish is better! And good call, you're gonna want to keep the pH as close to that 7.1 as possible.
220 Gallon - 1 Super White Leopoldi Stingray
55 Gallon Planted - No Fish
29 Gallon Planted - 1 Duboisi Puffer
29 Gallon - 1 Red Congo Puffer
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: Puffer almost dead please Help!

Post by Pufferpunk »

Yeah, I would find some Decor other than driftwood.
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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