I finally got my irrubesco!! For real this time.

[Bleedingheartmommy]

Pufferjw- I paid 40$ a fish through eBay, though he was charging 20$ (on sale from 25$) on his site. I must say, Steve was incredible at Exotic Fish shop... he really took care of me. The fish were very well packaged and showed up bearing little stress coloration. The shipping was fast, I would definitely recommend this store. However, I snatched up all he had. I’m getting in touch with him re: my refund now, I’ll ask him if he can get more.

It’s crazy, they don’t bother my DP at all! They have zero stress coloration... they’re stunning! But Clyde definitely wants to mate and Bonnie wants none of it. Bonnie and Honey are thicker then thieves, sleeping together and swimming together. I think I’ll keep my girls together and move the perv out of the tank... if he hurts Bonnie I’ll loose it. It’s scary keeping fish that aren’t available, bc I know if something happens.. it’s my fault and my one chance at keeping my Holy Grail puffs will be done for. Will get those pics up soon and will get back about what Steve says!

[Pufferpunk]

They were lortetis--the more aggressive species.

[gkai]

Here in Belgium, when red eyes were still quite commonly available, it was always the irrubesco variety. From the web I got the impression that lorteti were more common, then irrubesco, then the 2 others were almost never seen.
But I have never seen any lorteti, no more than boornensis or salivator...only irrubescos.

[Bleedingheartmommy]

Bonnie




Clyde
(Honey the DP in the background)

[Bleedingheartmommy]

Pufferjw- I spoke to Steve and he said he would try to get more. He will let me know, but if you want to get it touch with him yourself feel free- it might help motivate him more if he actually sees people want them and not just taking my word for it. His personal number is on his website, tell him Leah sent you.

[Bleedingheartmommy]

Gkai- that’s crazy, as I got the same impression. Bornessis and Salivator are never seen, anywhere anymore. The lorteti used to be more common, but even in their available days the irrubesco were much more attainable. I think Lorteti will be the next puffers I try for, I almost got a male off this very forum Feb before last... but the owner changed his mind!

PP- how long ago did you have your Lorteti and how did you procure them if you don’t mind me asking?

[gkai]

did he mention some reason for irrubesco disappearance from retail those last 2 years, and how he got them back?

[pufferjw]

Pufferjw- I spoke to Steve and he said he would try to get more. He will let me know, but if you want to get it touch with him yourself feel free- it might help motivate him more if he actually sees people want them and not just taking my word for it. His personal number is on his website, tell him Leah sent you.

Thank you. He’s really close to me, only about 10 miles, so I’ve used him once before due to the speedy delivery. I’m trying to get a Carinotetraodon Salivator, but if I don’t find one I may just get an Irrubesco from him.

[Bleedingheartmommy]

Pufferjw- I spoke to Steve and he said he would try to get more. He will let me know, but if you want to get it touch with him yourself feel free- it might help motivate him more if he actually sees people want them and not just taking my word for it. His personal number is on his website, tell him Leah sent you.

Thank you. He’s really close to me, only about 10 miles, so I’ve used him once before due to the speedy delivery. I’m trying to get a Carinotetraodon Salivator, but if I don’t find one I may just get an Irrubesco from him.

That’s really cool, so it sounds like he won’t do local pickup then? I must say, you have a puffer collection to be envious of... if you got a Salivator you would have all the most lusted after and hard to find. T. Duboisi are so beautiful, rare, and pricey... only FW puff to outcost them is the T. Pustulatus/Cross river, but those are the true unicorns of the hobby. Plus they are from Cameroon and a vast majority of the fraud/theft comes from that region. Mind if I ask where you found your Duboisi and what you paid?

[Pufferpunk]

PP- how long ago did you have your Lorteti and how did you procure them if you don’t mind me asking?

LOL, no idea, it had to be 15 years ago.

[Bleedingheartmommy]

Well +1 to PP... Clyde is now in the snail tank. I threw up the 10 with cycled media but wanted to wait a few days to make sure the tank was stable before moving one of the puffs into it. All was good this morning, but after coming back from an hour trip to get groceries.... Bonnie has been F-d up. I’m livid, and heartbroken. She’s got a burn on her hump (she’s been hanging out below the heater a lot) a swollen bitten up mouth, and a chunk out of her tail. Honey even has a tail piece bitten off (very small, and isn’t effecting her). Bonnie is breathing heavily and definitely not doing good. I put two huge IAL’s in the tank and added Stress Guard, also added some exra wondershell to the tank and shut off the light. The water is freshly changed, but I will do another 50% water change tonight after she’s had some time to settle. Once the 10g has a few more days to establish then I’ll move jerk face Clyde out of the snail tank and into it.... hopefully he won’t decimate my snail population by then.

Any recommendations to help my girls heal faster? I was going to do a methylene blue bath but didn’t want to stress her with the transferring in and out.

[Bleedingheartmommy]

She’s gone. She was gravid with eggs... and had a huge calamanus worm load. I noticed she was rounded up but never having seen an egg bound fish of any sort, I didn’t know that was why. She had quite a few thin red worms coming out her vent... She had the mating bite marks as described in my last post, but it was nothing that should have killed her. The necropsy is how I found the eggs, and the extreme red worm load she had.

I’m beside myself, I want to give away my puffs and quit the hobby. 3 days. That’s all. I never felt so happy as when they came... Now she’s dead and I’ve never felt this angry, hurt and emotional. I guess I didn’t deserve them... I thought I would do better than this.

[Pufferpunk]

Oh gosh, I'm so sorry! No way would you know they would come to you like this. Please don't give up, you're an excellent pufermom!

BTW, when adding cycled media, there's no need to wait on a tank. As a matter of fact, leaving it fallow for any period of time would kill off any good bacteria in the media.

[Bleedingheartmommy]

Pp- thank you, that means a lot coming from you. I’m wondering if it wasn’t the IP treatment that did her in. Thursday was her first round, and not knowing how bad she was infected I gave the normal dose instead of a lighter one. She did have about as many dead worms in her as live. Also, a thought that crossed my sleepless mind last night- her eggs. Knowing squat about breeding, I genuinely wonder if a gravid female who doesn’t lay or have her eggs stripped can suffer negative effects from holding them too long. I can’t help but imagine Irrubesco fry, that would have been amazing.

As long as I have been treating fish, I never knew cycled media made an instant cycle.I thought it would need time to die back or ramp up for the amount of stock in the tank. I did known the B.B. needs to be fed, I had about 15 adult snails and 3 Amano shrimp in there to keep ammonia present.

I moved Honey my DP into the 10 now, and put Clyde back into the empty 20. I spoke to Steve at EFS and he said he has placed an order and fingers crossed he can get more, I hope he can- not just for me but for the hobby in general, I really enjoy(ed) these puffers. The female was more shy than the male, but both ate like pigs and would come to the sight of me approaching the tank. A very different reaction then what I’m used to from all my other puffs that are lurkers/ambush predators.

[Bleedingheartmommy]

Omg that reminds me, I’m so busy being heartbroken over the loss of my female I have forgotten about the male having IPS.

I desperately need advice, with treating Clyde. He likely has the same load going on as Bonnie did- how should I continue forward? Should I only treat at 1/2 dose? Is one IP med more gentle then the rest?!? He’s bulky and seems very healthy, but I know that can change quickly.