Valentini help please!

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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Friendlyfish
Puffer Fry
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Nov 17, 2020 10:58 pm
Location (country): Pacific Northwest USA

Valentini help please!

Post by Friendlyfish »

Please please help ASAP

My valentini has been lethargic and laying down all day.
Seems puffed buy hard to tell from angle. No marks and usual color. Breathing seems labored and hastened.
Appears in distress
Rescued an already established tank last year. Got everything stabilized and everything has been going well- fish, coral, parameters all happy.
Been trying to find more info and looked through threads , but am not finding my exact situation and getting really nervous for puff.
Yesterday, While doing some regular maintenence, the magnetic scrubber fell near my valentini. It didn't look like it hit puff, but it did scare him and he puffed a little and was a little more wary instead of his usual following me around the tank.
He started acting more lethargic last night and seems puffed again , but I do not remember him looking so puffed last night. He has been laying down on the bed on the tank since yesterday evening. He ate some music this morning, but didn't react at all during dinner.

After the magnet fell, I was mid 25% water change and only observed him for a short while, other than being a bit more wary, and puffing a bit, he was acting normal.

Here are changes/variables that happened yesterday:
25% water change
Added new frags( frags clean and no chemicals or hitchhikers)
Scrubbed walls with magic eraser
Normal feeding.
Lighting was a little different than usual to help acclimate frags
I usually try to wait to change filter floss opposite water changes, but changed it just in case today.

1) Your water parameters -
pH- between 7.8 and 8 -just recently was getting lower readings (winter?)
Ammonia- 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrates between 5 and 10
salinity 1.025

2) 42 gallon
Fish- valentini, angel, hawk, file,
Other- urchin, snails, hermit, mussel, and variety of corals- Kenya tree, palys xenia, duncan, mushroom, candy cane.
All corals and other fish are doing good and look and acting healthy.
 
3) sparse TDO pellet in morning, mysis cube evening- i defrost and feed slowly do not give full amount unless they eat quickly. Give seaweed about 2xs a week sometime more. I have tried giving puffer an array of class, snails, shrimp... doesn't eat any of them. He does hunt the critters in the live rock at night though.

Water change- 25- 50 % change every week, occasionally every other, but not often.
I have rodi at home and use tropic marine salts.
I do not add anything to tank. I tests parameters weekly and sometimes daily especially when something is off- been trying to get ph higher and nitrates lower so have been doing more 50% changes than 25 and weekly changes.
Have protein skimmer, floss, live rock

4)isted above but also:
Had usually used hakari music butt LFS was out of them so bought sanfransisco brand instead.
Put in new T 5 light bulbs Sunday night
Was reccomended to use magic erasers to clean- they aren't suppose to have any additives but I rinsed them in ro water thoroughly before using... can't think of anything else

5) took in aquarium Dec of last year- i believe in had been running for few years. I took all water and it did not recycle.
User avatar
Infinity8
Figure 8 Puffer
Posts: 121
Joined: Sat Oct 19, 2013 10:27 am
Gender: Female
My Puffers: GSP- Burd
???- Tiberius the Tugboat
F8- Bonk
Potato Puffer- TBD, arriving 12/1
Location (country): United States
Location: Eastern Shore, MD

Re: Valentini help please!

Post by Infinity8 »

It sounds like you’re really doing everything you can for him. Fingers crossed. When you say magic erasers, do you mean like...the mr. clean ones? Did you use one the day before puff started having issues??

I hope he’s been okay in the time that’s passed.
Friendlyfish
Puffer Fry
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Nov 17, 2020 10:58 pm
Location (country): Pacific Northwest USA

Re: Valentini help please!

Post by Friendlyfish »

Thank you for your reply. PufferPunk was amazingly helpful and was messaging with me. Puff did pass early the next morning. I still do not know exactly what happened, but will not ever use magic erasers again. He is so greatly missed- everyone else is doing well.
They are just a melamine sponge and had been recommended by many people and fish groups and I thought I had researched thoroughly, but some hypothesize that fibers can go into the water. I had only used them that week and will not be using them again- the tank is acrylic and has quite a few scratches. Hopefully will find an affordable glass peninsula in the bear future.
Thank you all so much for all the advice and help on this forum. Hope everyone and their aquatic families are well
User avatar
Infinity8
Figure 8 Puffer
Posts: 121
Joined: Sat Oct 19, 2013 10:27 am
Gender: Female
My Puffers: GSP- Burd
???- Tiberius the Tugboat
F8- Bonk
Potato Puffer- TBD, arriving 12/1
Location (country): United States
Location: Eastern Shore, MD

Re: Valentini help please!

Post by Infinity8 »

Oh goodness, I’m so sorry you lost him. The community here really is wonderful. I appreciate you letting me know what happened! Your experience will help someone else down the line I’m sure. I’m glad the rest of your tank is doing well. Maybe another puff some day- the orange spotted tobies have similar requirements and are quite striking!

Best of luck to you!
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