Help with my saddle back fugu

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Minxxy
Puffer Fry
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Jun 01, 2019 8:08 am
Location (country): United States

Help with my saddle back fugu

Post by Minxxy »

...videos from every day on youtube



Suppose i should start at the begining, 
Once upon a time, lol, i set a freshwater tank with intentions of getting puffers in the future. 
So Saturday morning i say, hmmm, i want some driftwood for my freshwater community tank.
Off to pet store ive never visited because why not check it out too while im out. 
I should stop and back up a bit, i was on the look out and posted online, iso 30 gal or better tank.
(Back to story)
I get to the store, in sketchy part of town, very mom and pop kinda store. I chat up the " manager" as i look around, mention how ill be setting a puffer tank eventually but doing freshwater at this time. He perks up and sais we have 2 puffers, he proceeds to say you can have then for $5 bucks a piece. This immediately concerns me for 2 reasons...1 puffers are Not 5.00 and 2 he knows (as i told him) i dont have a prepped tank.

He shows me the puffers...

Wow, ones in ROUGH shape. Skinny skinny skinny. The other super healthy looking. 
Im staring at 2 Fugu puffers in a 15 gallon, maybe, tank.
I chat a bit more and ask about their care, he tells me he feeds 2 clams EOD. I ask about thr skinny one and he said, ya not sure.

At this time my phone alerts me to a responce to my ISO post...theres a 30 gal bow front free if i can pick up. 

FREE

well now my brain is spinning, free tank, neglected puffers. This timing cant be a coincidence (i know it completely was)

I can go get tank, clean sanitize, take filter mediafrom fresh water tank to cycle this, what would i need.....Salt. excuse me sir, where is the salt? The words came out before i could stop them....
He sais, we are out, but i will give you some.

Free tank, free salt, neglected fish....you all see where this is headed



So i decide that im jumping in both feet! Knowing i may not be able to save him but im gonna try

I go get the tank, clean and sanitize, fill, move filter media, add api start (4oz), start adding salt, turn on filter and wait.

I find out i left my debit card at the shop....back to the shop i go

This time i buy the drift wood and rocks too since im there
Ask if hes eaten and again i get an idk

Back home i go, water test looking good ammonia a bit high, add prime, test salinity add salt lather rinse repeat

Wake up sunday, temp stable 80° , salinity still low
..moooore salt

Ran around to a few pet stores to get "pest" snails to start a colony...scored about 8 dozen ramshorn and Mts ..throw them in a container with a cucumber slice and algie wafer

Back to check salt...its good 1.01
Ammonia looks better
Off to get Squirt and Runt
Sent from my Sprint Samsung Galaxy Note8.

    

Off to get Squirt and Runt...
I get to the pet store and the "manager " obviously happy to see me takes me to the tank.

He pulls Runt first
Hes even worse, hes clearly NOT eaten and whats worse he now has a gash on his head and body, squirt clearly attacked him. The manager goes, hmm poor guy, well ill give him to you for free maybe you can save him... RIGHT YOU WILL, you didn't feed him after we spoke and you didnt know he was attacked...grrrr

Squirt comes out next, fatty fatty that he is , lol hes not happy..bagged up and off we go.

Unexpected injuries mean another stop to get meds...

(Here's my post from other thread before i decided to start more detailed one just for them)

Well...runt and squirt are here, runt is well...very small compared, he also seems a bit banged up so i did treat with general cure and erythromycin, not sure if he has an internal parasite or not, hes very scrawny and has open sores so gonna watch him close

But the store gave him to me for free and only charged me peanuts for the other since i did question their care of these guys.
I did check his beak and its not over grown so thats a positive

Also put some prime in tank as i wasnt too happy with the level of ammonia in tank but cant change water just yet
Here goes, gonna give it my best go

Pics to come soon

OH almost forgot, upgraded this filter to a penguin 200 rated to 50 gallon so should help these guys too, im gonna run both for awhile since im medicating

Well 2 hours, runt is just laying on the bottom of the tank im hoping that the meds help him but worried he may just be too weak from the bad care he was getting.
Squirt however is loving the sand, that they didnt havr him in, and has taken no time digging in

An hour later so 3 hours post meds and Runt swam around and ate some blood worms..i only fed him because of how skinny he really is..is it too soon to hope 


Poor fella has had me like this for 3 hours now
Lol


He got stuck in filter twice so since i had 2 running i shut that one off...

HE WAS UP SWIMMING AND ATE A BIT...all i could do i have done, its bed time, light off

Day 2 in what im going to call the midadventures of Runt and Squirt
As soon as i turned the light on in the tank this morning 2 things happened, one Squirt IMMEDIATELY belly flopped into the sand so i could only see his eyes 
And RUNT SWAM UP TO ME.
He made it through the night and has perked up alot from yesterday. I was honestly scared the rehoming stress would be enough to overwhelm his alreafy stressed system
As soon as the clams hit the sand he attacked it. Hes so hungry, the pet store was only offering clams EOD and only 2 at that, im absolutely positive that he was being beaten to tje food by squirt so im oddly ok with him hiding from me right now. Hopfully Runt will put some weight on while squirt hides
Ive got 3 shells in there now im hopeing that when squirt decides to eat i can have enough offered that he wont have aggression to runt.
Im sure that the meds are helping.

Im trying to get pictures to show just how skinny he is..i have a video maybe ill post that to youtube and link here for you guys, its truely the skinniest fish I've ever seen

   


Husband is reluctantly fish sitting as i had to work today....so reluctantly that he went to the supermarket to get shell on fresh shrimp cuz "he looks hungry" lol...Runt is tearing it up..poor guys probably havent had enough food in months...squirt is still hiding


Day 3 and i have more hope and good progress from both my boys today! Squirt did hide when i turned the light on but quickly came out when i offered food, i think i had startled him. He ate again and stayed out of the sand for a bit so i got a good look at him today and he seems like hes doing good, beak looks good and nice full belly now! His tail fin does seem to have a bit of redness to it, its something to watch but the tank is being medicated with both erythromycin (second dose last night)and general cure (second dose tonight)(which does have metrondazole and praziquantel in it @coralbandit thanks for the tip)
Squirt swims up and down the glass alot maybe hes just getting used to the tank i may have to block one side off with a backdrop to settle him, not sure .
Runt had a breakfast fit for a king, shrims clams and bloodworms since im still wanting him to graze through the day, he even got the tiniest of bellies this morning. THEN HE POOPED! wasnt much but it means his insides are working, i didnt see any parasites in the poop but may do a second round of meds just to be sure since he is sooo small.
After breakfast he got stuck to the filter again and mommy had to save him, i think it embarrasses him because he mopes for a few minutes after lol. Since i have to work that filter gets turned off, i like running 2 but will only do it now when i can watch as he sometimes isnt strong enough to break away yet.
His head seems to be healing and the gash on his side seems better too! I tried to get a picture but as i said hes mopong right now
Heres a video, it shows compared to squirt just how small he really is, they are both same length

Oh and i did see squirt chase runt for a moment definitely need to keep an eye on that


So the boys fought a bit at feeding time, i guess 3 clams and 4 shrimp isnt enough
Moved the plants around to break up sight, need to buy more tomorrow thinking at least 4 more, its hard to find artificial ones that dont look "fake"...

Squirt is hiding again since i had my arm in the tank

Huge ammonia spike still cant change water for 48 more hours because of meds, added a healthy 3 cap fulls of prime, i know its because of all the food but runt has to eat....im thinking of adding my whole snail colony to help with the extra food, and to BE extra food.  How long does prime take to work? Also turned the second filter back on to keep the water moving.

Second dose of general cure in tank.

Snail tank SMELLED..changed water wondering if some are dead how do i know if some are dead

Day four, this morning i tested the water and theres tons of ammonia in it, no surprise since theres been TONS of food so i put in more prime and turned on the bubbler to keep air in the tank, im gonna do a water change tonight even though its 24 hours early, ive seen no sign of Runt expelling any IP so maybe its not worms that has his soo skinny.
His sore is looking so much better, no redness and is healing nicely, fresh water will help alot im sure 

Squirt didnt eat this morning but he did eat 2.5 clams and shrimp last night so may hes probably still full. I did offer a claim and shrimp and bloodworms, they didnt seem interested in shrimp so i removed after 10 min (again...ammonia ) i did leave the claim in. 
I added some MTS last night and runt picked at one but didnt seem interested, i did read that mts may be too hard for them at this phase so going to order more ramshorn i think, but they die so fast in the tank being brackish so idk. Is there a snail that will survive brackish?

Could just be me, but i think runt has put on some weight, his face doesnt look so drawn in. 
Ugh just as i typed that i look at tank and....hes stuck to the filter

Now hes moping again lol dont worry runt soon you will be stronger then filter again 
Today i will stop for the sponges as suggested above, until then, second filter turned off, and to work i go.
 

Lol my phone corrects clam to claim....ohhh the life of an auto claim adjuster, no phone i ment clam the animal

Day 6, im starting to see some personality from Runt! Squirt has tons already lol
Runt comes and sits by me every morning, today i could hear him "look food lady im getting a belly!"
 
His head is almost all healed and im not seeing any scars in his saddle colorings so thats amazing 
 

Next week i need to get them eatting snails since neither has shown any interest this week. 
Thinking of putting some ghost shrimp in tank as well to encourage hunting but not sure how ready Runt is for that. 

I did buy 2 mystery snails to get some babies to bulk up my snail population for them, they are living in my beta tank but i will pull clutches and incubate in snail tank. Thats the plan at least lol.
 

Gonna do 1st water change tonight, a bit nervous about getting salinity correct but will do my best, main tank is 1.013 currently so i have some wiggle room. 

Wish me luck lol

day 7
So its been a full week since i found these little guys, man have they stolen my heart.
Last week on the Misadventures of Squirt and Runt:
Runts head wound looks so much better and is growing skin now! His face doesnt looks so drawn and he definitely gets a small belly when he eats!
THIS WEEKS EPISODES
 WHATS ON MY TAIL???
NO really what is this, his tail was fine last night, i have video to prove it...
This is the best picture i have gotten yet, he wont open his tail  




Oh and the water change didnt bring the ammonia down so im doing another today

.........................

Sooooo if you read all that you see ive had a trying week
I post on another forum, yes i know these should not be impulse buys, and i have read the saddle back page here, and done tons of reading online

I also am very aware the tank is small, itt is only temp as we will be moving soon and they will have a bigger tank

Mostly im concerned with his tail now, can anyone tell me what they think it is? I think its a hole


https://youtu.be/0vQ4XKVp3YM
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Pufferpunk
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Re: Help with my saddle back fugu

Post by Pufferpunk »

I'm so sorry, I'm just seeing this! After your long story, it kills me that nobody responded! I run this site all by myself & I guess I miss a few posts. How are they doing now? Is the tail all healed up?
library/puffers-in-focus/takifuguocellatus/
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!"
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