Hello! Im new to this forum but Ive read a lot of the information here over the past few day and everyone seems experienced/educated in their responses so Im hoping someone out there or everyone out there can help me and my puffs!
Last Saturday during an unplanned trip to my local exotic fish and pet store my husband and I unexpectedly ended up bringing home two adorable f8's (Little Puff and Big Puff). We were told by the gentleman who sold us these two cuties that a 10 gallon tank would suffice for their lives and that they were purely freshwater fish and a whole list of what I didn't know at the time was complete walrus so much that despite being uneducated on them, we brought them home anyway, which is very unlike me. Anyway, after we got home and my studying began I learned just how wrong he truly was. With that being said, we did just purchase a 20 gallon long tank and crushed coral and marine salt to begin the cycling process of a brackish water tank for these two but as of right now they are the only inhabitants of a 10 gallon, freshwater tank. This tank had been previously cycled for about a month or so with mollies, a strange catfish that resembles a pelco and 2 actual pelco. When we got home we re-homed the others and I put the recommended amount of API Aquarium salt into the tank and then acclimated the puffs into their new home. I was instructed to feed them 1 frozen cube of either brine shrimp or blood worms (breakfast) and one clam a day (late evening) so that has been their eating schedule until yesterday when little puff stopped eating completely and I was only able to get big puff to eat a small amount of bloodworms that I had to literally put in front of his mouth, today they both ate a very very small amount of a frozen plankton cube and a frozen brine shrimp cube. The remainder of which I sucked out of the tank during a water change a few minutes after feeding. Their lack of appetite is not my biggest concern though, after watching little puff for a while two days ago I noticed he seemed to be bumping into everything, like he couldn't see right. Of course this strange behavior called for a water check; which to my horror read as follows: pH:7.0 // Nitrite: .25ppm // Nitrate: 5.0ppm and Ammonia: flippin' 4.0 ... I dont know what the hell could have caused such an extreme spike but I jumped on here and found this forum and started damage control to the best of my knowledge. The following days have consisted of (after an initial 50% water change immediately and Prime and Melafix (in hopes to help with the cloudy eyes Im seeing on the puffs, from the ammonia I know but I didn't know what else to do) and some Tetra safe start in the new water) 25% water changes every 8 hours or so, feeding since the crash Ive already explained hasnt gone well. My latest water parameters are: pH 6.8 // Nitrites:0 // Nitrates: between 10 and 20 and finally Ammonia is down to 1. From what I understand Im hoping that is still reading present because the Prime converts it into being less harmful but until fully changed out it will still show? So my Puffs dont really seem to be doing any better. I took out all but 1 of the plants in their tank and the 1 triceratops skull I had in there so that there were less thing for them to bump into since they really just swim around bumping into everything at full speed now. They do seem to have slowed their speed though which worries me because in addition to them not eating or being able to see it seems, Im afraid that could be a sign that they are becoming lethargic too. I really do love them even though they are still new and I would hate to see them not make it. I am trying everything I can here. Any advice would be welcomed!! I have a 1 and a half gallon tank in my sons room, it is the oldest tank in the house (which is really only a couple months) and after checking the water parameters, they are still good, Im thinking about moving the fish from that tank into a different one and putting them and a little prime and melafix into this tank just for a few days until I can get the spikes with the 10 gallon under control completely or I can get their new 20 gallon long tank set up properly and start moving them over there when its ready. I really dont know what else to do, or if there i anything I am doing very wrong, please tell me! Im new at this and open to suggestions! I am sorry for such an incredibly long post here but I wanted to be as detailed as possible! Also does anyone know if there is any possibility of their eye sight returning after they survive this terrible disaster! Please Help! Thank You!
Cycle Crash // 2 F8 Puffs In Danger! // Please 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.
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.
-
KelsieB1027
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Wed Jun 30, 2021 12:50 am
- Location (country): United States
-
KelsieB1027
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Wed Jun 30, 2021 12:50 am
- Location (country): United States
Re: Cycle Crash // 2 F8 Puffs In Danger! // Please Help!
I forgot to add that all water changes are done with my tap water run through an R/O filtration system... Dont know if that will make a difference but thought it might be important enough to add..