I moved about 3 months ago now and have been battling ich ever since. My puffers apparently did not like the move. My boyfriend is now freaking out because not only has the ich we thought was gone come back but my Stars and Stripes Puffers tail is turning black! It looks pretty bad. It started with just the edge but has now spread all the way to half way down his tail. Thats pretty far since he is about a 14" now. He is swimming and acting fine but Im really worried. Any ideas? I know pics would help but I cant take any right now because our camera is not working.
Heres some other information about the new set up. We upgraded EVERYTHING when we moved.
Custom Acrylic tank 8'x2'x20"tall
90G sump, so total water volume is over 300G
Barebottom (starboard)
200 lbs. LR
Deltec 600 skimmer
Closed loop and lots of other flow
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 15
PH 8.1 (from monitor right now)
Temp 79 (chiller never lets it go past 79)
SG. 1.025
Fish:
14"Stars and Stripes Puffer
10"Porcupine Puffer
5" Green Spotted Puffer
8"Harlequin Tusk
2' Snowflake Eel
6" Kole Tang
4" Spotted Hawkfish
I feed them a mix of clams, mussels, prawn, formula 1, pellets, mysis, brine, live prawns (after QT), live crabs, silversides, once in a while chromis.
All the frozen stuff is thawed overnight in garlic and vitamins.
Water changes once every two weeks of 50G
Treating them has been hard...We decided with the ich the last time, to move the LR into a empty 65G we have and keep it cycled there and do hypo in our display tank as its barebottom. Worked well enough. This time, would like to do the same thing but it may not be a good idea if I have to use medication. I heard it can stay in the tank. But I did hear it stays in the silicone or something and since this is acrylic, there is no silicone. I dont think I can even treat the one Stars in Stripes in the 65G though because last time we tried putting him in there, he went very dark, was breathing heavily and puffing up for the few days we tried. We put him back in his tank and he was fine.
Hope all the info helps. Please let me know asap if you have any idea why my puffers tail is turning black and what to do!
Thanks so much!
Sick Puffer-Tail turning black???
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.
Re: Sick Puffer-Tail turning black???
Oh I think I should clairify something, the black is on his fin, not his actual tail or body.
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crazedpuffer
- Former Staff Member
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1xValentini - Location: Long Island, NY
Re: Sick Puffer-Tail turning black???
What size tank is it? Sounds sort of overstocked. Nice choice of fish though.
Re: Sick Puffer-Tail turning black???
Over 300G total water volume. Its a custom tank, so I do not know the exact Gallons but its around 220G for the main display. 90G sump.
Re: Sick Puffer-Tail turning black???
Im not so sure its overstocked either. We have had no aggression issues and water quality is always great. Never seen Nitrates over 15 which I think is good for a FOWLR with big fish. I hear of most being more like 30-50. My reef is even around 10.
We are adding a 20G refugium soon too, which will hopefully eliminate nitrates all together. My boyfriend does pretty big water changes every two weeks and lately, every two or three days.
We are adding a 20G refugium soon too, which will hopefully eliminate nitrates all together. My boyfriend does pretty big water changes every two weeks and lately, every two or three days.
Re: Sick Puffer-Tail turning black???
Ok, my boyfriend just told me I got the dimensions a bit off. I really dont know these things! Its 22" high, not 20" and its 220G. So a total of around 310G.
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Boxermom
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Re: Sick Puffer-Tail turning black???
Moving this to the hospital forum.
Tina
Puffers: Auriglobus silus x1, Tetraodon travancoricus x1, Tetraodon turgidus x1, Tetraodon miurus x1, Tetraodon nigroviridis x2, Tetraodon baileyi x2, Tetraodon lineatus x1, Tetraodon palembangensis x1
Puffers: Auriglobus silus x1, Tetraodon travancoricus x1, Tetraodon turgidus x1, Tetraodon miurus x1, Tetraodon nigroviridis x2, Tetraodon baileyi x2, Tetraodon lineatus x1, Tetraodon palembangensis x1
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Pufferpunk
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Re: Sick Puffer-Tail turning black???
I PMed our SW puffer expert, Puffer Queen. I hope she can help soon.
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!"
Re: Sick Puffer-Tail turning black???
Thank you, Im really worried! His tail is still quite black. He does not seem stressed at all or any different than normal but it looks bad. I hope I have not over-stocked the tank like the first reply said...We thought it was a reasonable bio-load, especially with the great skimmer we have. Like I said earlier, I honestly never see ammonia or nitrites and the nitrates are relatively low. Plus there is never any aggression issues. We purposely had a 8 foot by 2 foot tank built, so they would feel like they had a good amount of room. I feel bad now though if its my fault that he is sick.
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crazedpuffer
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 1755
- Joined: Sat Aug 06, 2005 11:57 pm
- My Puffers: 1x Porcupine Puffer
1xValentini - Location: Long Island, NY
Re: Sick Puffer-Tail turning black???
Your stocking is fine for a tank that size. Howe long have you had him and what meds have you used?
Re: Sick Puffer-Tail turning black???
Had him about a year and three months now. Never used meds with him, just hyposalinity for ich. yesterday we started hypo again for bit of ich and today I have noticed that it looks slightly better. It did not spread anymore and its not as black. Kind of like it faded a bit.
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Puffer Queen
- Mentor
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Re: Sick Puffer-Tail turning black???
Is it the fin only or the "fleshy" part of the tail ?
Can you post a pic of the tail?
Are the spots salt like or dusting? Bigger than salt?
How long did you treat with hyposalinity last time and for how long?
Do you quarantine the live foods before feeding - crabs, chromis, etc??
Can you post a pic of the tail?
Are the spots salt like or dusting? Bigger than salt?
How long did you treat with hyposalinity last time and for how long?
Do you quarantine the live foods before feeding - crabs, chromis, etc??
Kelly
Re: Sick Puffer-Tail turning black???
I will try to get a picture tomorrow. Its just the fin, not the fleshy part. Im really worried now though because it was all almost gone this afternoon and we thought it was finally going but this evening, its back and worse. It seems to come and go quite fast.
Spots are like most ich spots I have ever seen. I guess closer to salt-like. Its not anything bigger like cauliflower disease and not like velvet I dont think. I have seen both and these really look like ich.
Hypo was 6 weeks last time and about 3 months ago. Ich was gone for a while but came back a few days ago. Not really sure why...
I have not fed live foods in about 6 months but yes they were QT'd for a month before feeding. Chromis were not a usual part of their diet, just to get the new porc eating when he was new. Fed them once more after that though about a year ago, none since...
Spots are like most ich spots I have ever seen. I guess closer to salt-like. Its not anything bigger like cauliflower disease and not like velvet I dont think. I have seen both and these really look like ich.
Hypo was 6 weeks last time and about 3 months ago. Ich was gone for a while but came back a few days ago. Not really sure why...
I have not fed live foods in about 6 months but yes they were QT'd for a month before feeding. Chromis were not a usual part of their diet, just to get the new porc eating when he was new. Fed them once more after that though about a year ago, none since...
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Puffer Queen
- Mentor
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- Joined: Fri May 19, 2006 10:35 am
- Location: Louisville, KY
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Re: Sick Puffer-Tail turning black???
With feeder fish/inverts - all in and all out at the same time - if one is added to an existing tank with feeders, the quarantine period starts over.
Do you quarantine rock, inverts, etc?
Do you quarantine rock, inverts, etc?
Kelly
Re: Sick Puffer-Tail turning black???
We do not QT LR or inverts. We have not added LR for about 2 years now and inverts for about 6 months. The inverts were some crabs for the puffers and eel to eat.
I did know about the QT starting over if you add new fish. I can't remember if we ever added any new inverts or fish when others were already QT'd but if so, it would have been a long time ago.
Could this be something coming up now because of something we did a year ago???
Any ideas what it COULD be? I have not been able to take any pics yet. The back half of his tail keeps getting really dark and then within hours its pretty clear again. Right now its looking pretty good but last night it looked terrible! I dont know for sure, but after he eats, its seems to get darker. But not like how they change color all over, this is not a normal thing.
I did know about the QT starting over if you add new fish. I can't remember if we ever added any new inverts or fish when others were already QT'd but if so, it would have been a long time ago.
Could this be something coming up now because of something we did a year ago???
Any ideas what it COULD be? I have not been able to take any pics yet. The back half of his tail keeps getting really dark and then within hours its pretty clear again. Right now its looking pretty good but last night it looked terrible! I dont know for sure, but after he eats, its seems to get darker. But not like how they change color all over, this is not a normal thing.