What am I doing wrong?

Oh no! Sick fish?! Come here and see if someone can help!
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.
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theshelbz
Puffer Fry
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri May 31, 2019 7:46 pm
Location (country): US

What am I doing wrong?

Post by theshelbz »

Water parameters - Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrates 0 Salinity none. 29 Gal. One figure 8 puffer, 10 ghost shrimp. Feeding: Blood worms, snails, shrimp. What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so: None.
How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it: Over a month & I used filter sponges from older tank.

Problem:
Last week, I purchased two Figure 8 puffers. They were sold to me in freshwater, so I put them in freshwater with plans to adjust to low brackish. The first puffer died the very next day. I assumed he might have had a parasite because these were the very last two available at the fish store and this puffer had been spasming. The other puffer did well for a few days. However, it eventually (all of a sudden) developed a grey spot on his bottom half. Right now, I’m watching it take it’s last breaths. I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong or if I happened to purchase ill puffers. I have a pea puffer tank also, which has had no issues whatsoever. I’m open to any advice because I don’t want to purchase more Figure 8’s and run into the same issue again.
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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: What am I doing wrong?

Post by Pufferpunk »

Seems you bought two unhealthy fish that were doomed to die anyway. This one looks emaciated, probably either said incorrectly to starvation or IPs..
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!"
theshelbz
Puffer Fry
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri May 31, 2019 7:46 pm
Location (country): US

Re: What am I doing wrong?

Post by theshelbz »

What do you think about the grey spot in the picture?
Also, do you recommend treating all new puffers for IP when introduced to the 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: What am I doing wrong?

Post by Pufferpunk »

Not sure about the gray spot, could just be the coloring of a sick fish. I don't treat all my puffers for eye peas, only the ones that show symptoms. There's a great article on how to treat in our library here.
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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