Hello! I have created this account literally in a time of need. We have a 5 month old tank. And about 3 weeks ago bought spiny box puffer that’s about 3-3.5 inches, and a Powerder blue tang, about 4 inches. At purchase, the puffer had a loose skin/an abnormality on one his spikes, which I initially thought was due to it being bitten in its previous tank. Over time , the puffer has gone from white to a grayish tone. We do weekly water change of about 25-20%. In Our last water change, I believe my boyfriend added too much Bacteria. We woke up to our tang being dead. And our puffer laying at the bottom in really bad shape. (We do not yet have a QT tank. If we started one today, would that be bad due to new tank syndrome?? ) we did about a %30 water changer, allowing salinity to lower, added API antibiotics And waited it out. Few hours later the puffer was up, and happy and swimming around and feeding and nearly back to its regular color.
as of this morning has another another deformed spike right next to the other. He is taking slightly gasping breaths. And not as responsive to our present on the tank, and color is horrible I have attached what he looked like at purchase and how his is looking now. Parasites? Marine ich?
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrate: was 80ppm , now 20ppm(still high, I know)
pH: 8.4
Temp: 74.6
Any ideas of what’s wrong? what we can do?
HELP!!Sick/Dying Spiny Box Puffer
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.
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Spinyboxpuffer10
- Puffer Fry
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- Joined: Fri Nov 26, 2021 10:21 am
- Location (country): United States
HELP!!Sick/Dying Spiny Box Puffer
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Pufferpunk
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Re: HELP!!Sick/Dying Spiny Box Puffer
Bent/shedding spines are normal.
Any nitrite? SW systems are best kept stable with live rock. A cycled tank should not be needing bacteria added. Please don't toss drugs into the tank when you have no idea what is wrong with your fish--also, adding an antibacterial can crash your system.
Are these the 1st fish you've added? How was the tank cycled?
Any nitrite? SW systems are best kept stable with live rock. A cycled tank should not be needing bacteria added. Please don't toss drugs into the tank when you have no idea what is wrong with your fish--also, adding an antibacterial can crash your system.
Are these the 1st fish you've added? How was the tank cycled?
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!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"