Linus, my beautiful fahaka, rest in peace

Oh no! Sick fish?! Come here and see if someone can help!
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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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Boxermom
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Re: Linus, my beautiful fahaka, rest in peace

Post by Boxermom »

I wouldn't even know what the liver looked like, that's how bad I am. I thought about seeing if I could figure out if there was anything obvious inside him but figured it would be about like me trying to rebuild the transmission in my car. I wouldn't even know what the transmission looked like, much less where to find it. The only thing obvious externally on him was the few spots little spots on his back and some light pink striations on his belly. No idea what could have cause those or if they are normal in a large dead puffer or happened as or after he died.

I called the water department but they said nothing has changed recently. Its odd, though, my husband has lost several of his mollies recently and, come to think about it, his sole orange sailfin molly was behaving the same way shortly before he died. And those mollies are all in different a different tank.

I'm concerned about Leo, my turgidus, as well. He's usually pretty skittish and tends to hide in the back corner of the tank whenever anyone comes too near. This morning, though, he was laying on a leaf in the front of the tank, not moving much at all, even when I came close to him and took a close look at him. Other than his eyes, he really wasn't moving at all, not even his fins. So I reached into the tank and put my hand near him, which usually makes him shoot to the other side of the tank, and he just sort of hovered in my hand. He was moving a little more but not like his usual self. I'm afraid to go home from work now. :(
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
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spoot
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Re: Linus, my beautiful fahaka, rest in peace

Post by spoot »

Maybe check the copper levels in the water. Not sure what the symptoms of high copper levels are, but it's one of those things that goes unchecked quite often.
crazedpuffer
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Re: Linus, my beautiful fahaka, rest in peace

Post by crazedpuffer »

I guess that could be possible.

Apparently if you have copper water pipes you are supposed to let the water run for 15 minutes and then add it to the tank otherwise lots of copper gets in. Is that true?
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mikeosoft
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Re: Linus, my beautiful fahaka, rest in peace

Post by mikeosoft »

Sorry for your loss, I know exactly how you're feeling. I felt bad for like a month after my porcupine puffer Pierre died. Puffers are so personable it's really easy to get attached to them, almost like a friend.

I would call the water company to see if they've changed anything within the past couple months. Sometimes water companies add extra chemicals like chloramine (on top of their usual additives) when they get large bacteria spikes. FW fish are usually ok, but I've read about many reef systems being completely wiped out due to the water company making changes.
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sparks42
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Re: Linus, my beautiful fahaka, rest in peace

Post by sparks42 »

awww this post nearly made me cry!! I can't even imagine losing Chomper.... :(
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Hilly
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Re: Linus, my beautiful fahaka, rest in peace

Post by Hilly »

flamesofifreet wrote:I guess that could be possible.

Apparently if you have copper water pipes you are supposed to let the water run for 15 minutes and then add it to the tank otherwise lots of copper gets in. Is that true?
Then I could well be in the sh*t as all my water pipes are copper.
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Re: Linus, my beautiful fahaka, rest in peace

Post by crazedpuffer »

Me too but I haven't had a problem, maybe it just pertains to new pipes? Or maybe the book I read it in was wrong.
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Hilly
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Re: Linus, my beautiful fahaka, rest in peace

Post by Hilly »

You could imagine it to be true especially if the pipe begins to degrade somehow.
Hilly
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Peregrine
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Re: Linus, my beautiful fahaka, rest in peace

Post by Peregrine »

Sorry for you loss BM

flamesofifreet wrote:I guess that could be possible.

Apparently if you have copper water pipes you are supposed to let the water run for 15 minutes and then add it to the tank otherwise lots of copper gets in. Is that true?
I believe you are right...in that it is only an issue with new pipes...after a few months a coating builds up on the inside, and should prevent any copper sepage...still testing couldnt hurt...I think I may do some testing just to see what my base line levels are as well
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Re: Linus, my beautiful fahaka, rest in peace

Post by manutius »

So sorry to hear that BM, it is so painful when you loose a special pet. trust me I know :(
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Re: Linus, my beautiful fahaka, rest in peace

Post by OraLacerta »

Oh no Tina, I am so sorry to hear about Linus. :(

He did have a wonderful life with you, and sometimes, even with people, the right diet and environment will only go so far if their is a genetic defect or a rare disease. Whatever it was, hopefully Leo will not be affected and continue to thrive.

Hang in there.
-Michelle

Prevent unnecessary deaths due to disease- quarantine ALL new additions at least 4 weeks in a separate tank before adding to your main display tank!

Puffers: Hindenburg the Figure Eight, 75gallon Brackish
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