south american puffer problem

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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tamu
Puffer Fry
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Dec 29, 2007 2:40 pm

south american puffer problem

Post by tamu »

after researching the web for the suitable puffer i decided to buy a sap.
i just got him yesterday and he was doing fine when he first got into the tank.even ate jelly bloodworm and some baby brine shrimp.
when i woke up today to feed him he was swimming vertically his head upwards.and he ignored whatever i offered him.so i went to my LFS and got him some live bloodworm and freeze dried brine shrimp but again he ignored them.so i started to read as much as i can to find whats going on.his belly is concave and he breathes rapidly which makes me think its a IP.my tank was fully cycled and i kept and keeping checking the parameters all the time.finally i decided to change the water around %20.he looked a bit better but still hes swimming vertically and still ignoring the food.
my tank is 15 gallon and hes sharing it with a pleco which is a bit bigger than him and the pleco was in there a week earlier(pleco is 1.5 inc and the puffer is 1)
first i thought he swallowed some air and tried to help him get it out but hes swimming in the perfect position to get it out himself...
ph : 7.2
ammonia : 0
nitrite : 0
nitrate : 0-3

thx for ur helps
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: south american puffer problem

Post by crazedpuffer »

How was the tank cycled?
Was he netted in the air? Also how was he acclimated?
User avatar
Pufferpunk
Queen Admin
Posts: 32979
Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
Gender: Female
My Puffers: Puffers I have kept:
T lineatus
T miurus
A modestus
T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
C lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles
Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
Location: Greenville, SC
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Re: south american puffer problem

Post by Pufferpunk »

No matter what position a puffer hangs, it cannot expell air by itself.
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!"
tamu
Puffer Fry
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Dec 29, 2007 2:40 pm

Re: south american puffer problem

Post by tamu »

tank was cycled for a month and ofcourse i didnt put him in straight away and he has never been netted.also tried to hold his tail and gave him a shake, nothg happened.
now i am sure hes got ich.tomorrow first thg im gonna go to the LFs to get the medication for him
i never saw a fish gettin ich so probably that was why i didnt know whats going on.

Thanks all and have a great day/night
User avatar
Pufferpunk
Queen Admin
Posts: 32979
Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
Gender: Female
My Puffers: Puffers I have kept:
T lineatus
T miurus
A modestus
T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
C lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles
Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
Location: Greenville, SC
Contact:

Re: south american puffer problem

Post by Pufferpunk »

No medication--check the Ich article in our Library.
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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