Pea puffer beak/jaw injury...have you ever seen anything like this?
Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2020 8:19 pm
Hi there. I'm really concerned about one of my little pea puffers.
1) Water parameters - I just happen to be out of my testing supplies so I have no parameters from today but my most recent water test, 4 days ago, showed that the PH was 7, nitrites 0, ammonia 0, and nitrates were 0 ppm.
2) Tank is a 20 gallon with 6 Pea Puffers, 6 Pygmy spotted rasbora and 6 chili rasbora. I have a couple of amano shrimp and 3 cherry shrimp in there too.
3) I do daily 10% water changes. I use excel and flourish at the recommended dosages, the occasional PH buffer, and some shrimp mineral supplements every third or fourth water change.
4) Nothing different within the past week. All I can think of listing is that I rearranged some plants nearly 2 weeks ago.
5) Tank itself is 4 months old. I spent a month allowing the plants to grow in a bit and for the water to have consistently healthy parameters. I cycled the tank by adding "start smart complete" when I first set it up and adding a sponge filter. The rasboras and the shrimp were in there after the first month. The pea puffers were added after the second month. And here we are 2 months later.
As respectfully as I can word this... I have people get on me all the time about daily water changes and keeping puffers in a community tank but these things are working well for me and continue to work well in my other tanks too. The puffers have never never targeted the shrimp or the rasbora, all fish and inverts are safe and happy (injured puffer excluded, obviously).
I noticed yesterday that one of my puffers was swimming a little erratically. Darting around etc. I saw that there was something white sticking up from its 'nose' area. My first thought was that its a parasite. I wanted to take a look but he hid very effectively until this morning. When I was able to take a closer look I noticed it looks more like the puffer had rammed into something and broken its beak/jaw. Mouth is permanently open. I have observed her poking at plants etc but I haven't actually seen her eat. She hasn't been around during feeding time. The puffers usually surround my tweezers when I drop some bloodworms in.
I'm not sure what to do. Seems like euthanasia is probably the only option for the poor thing. Would be nice if I was wrong, though.
1) Water parameters - I just happen to be out of my testing supplies so I have no parameters from today but my most recent water test, 4 days ago, showed that the PH was 7, nitrites 0, ammonia 0, and nitrates were 0 ppm.
2) Tank is a 20 gallon with 6 Pea Puffers, 6 Pygmy spotted rasbora and 6 chili rasbora. I have a couple of amano shrimp and 3 cherry shrimp in there too.
3) I do daily 10% water changes. I use excel and flourish at the recommended dosages, the occasional PH buffer, and some shrimp mineral supplements every third or fourth water change.
4) Nothing different within the past week. All I can think of listing is that I rearranged some plants nearly 2 weeks ago.
5) Tank itself is 4 months old. I spent a month allowing the plants to grow in a bit and for the water to have consistently healthy parameters. I cycled the tank by adding "start smart complete" when I first set it up and adding a sponge filter. The rasboras and the shrimp were in there after the first month. The pea puffers were added after the second month. And here we are 2 months later.
As respectfully as I can word this... I have people get on me all the time about daily water changes and keeping puffers in a community tank but these things are working well for me and continue to work well in my other tanks too. The puffers have never never targeted the shrimp or the rasbora, all fish and inverts are safe and happy (injured puffer excluded, obviously).
I noticed yesterday that one of my puffers was swimming a little erratically. Darting around etc. I saw that there was something white sticking up from its 'nose' area. My first thought was that its a parasite. I wanted to take a look but he hid very effectively until this morning. When I was able to take a closer look I noticed it looks more like the puffer had rammed into something and broken its beak/jaw. Mouth is permanently open. I have observed her poking at plants etc but I haven't actually seen her eat. She hasn't been around during feeding time. The puffers usually surround my tweezers when I drop some bloodworms in.
I'm not sure what to do. Seems like euthanasia is probably the only option for the poor thing. Would be nice if I was wrong, though.
