HAIRY PUFFERS ARE HERE!!!!

[mandycat]

abc, I am going out of town until next monday....(on my honeymoon.....).....But I dont understand why your puffer would be sick, and you shouldnt treat fish with anything ever as a preventitive. (salt would be the only thing I would suggest, and seldom does that happen). Post some more pictures of your puffer, but I know that she is supposed to have a splotchy pattern. My puffer is active only a few hours a day, otherwise she is resting. And I will tell you that I beleive these guys need alot of room. Maybe your 29 is a bit on the small side....but dont think about that now. You dont want to move the puffer and get her more stressed out. Did you try frozen krill or squid? Mine LOVES both, and comes out to eat. Good luck with everything, dont do anything drastic, and get some pictures posted so RTR and others can take a look. I think however, you may be thinking this is something its not, and I hope you get some good help while I am gone being pampered and massaged everyday in a wonderful spa. Good luck again!!

[abc]

Hi mandycat,

Congrats on your wedding and enjoy your honeymoon! My, I can't believe you took the time to post anything here but thanks.

I'll try the frozen krill, but it's hard to take a photo. She's hiding very well in a thicket of plants, but from what I've seen it does look like a fungus (identifiable white spots on the head and body). If I can post pics, I will.

I'm weary to overmedicate but think I should do something otherwise she could get worse. there's plenty of food in the tank but perhaps she's too tired to chase down the shrimp so I'll try the krill. If I can pick up some raw squid on the way home, I'll get that too.

[Pufferpunk]

Gry adding a guarlic elixer to her water/food.

[abc]

well, I'm beginning to think it's not the real fungus but the white/grey bacterial infection that spreads all over the body if not treated. Either way, it's gotten a tad worse so I'm keeping up with both the maroxy and maracyn.

wish me luck... she seems OK and moves around but I have not seen her eat since I got her. Dropped the krill in the tank and will see if it disappears tomorrow

abc

[Pufferpunk]

I would never leave any food in a tank to rot. If not eaten in 1/2 hour, take it out. I'd add Melafix to the tank too (actually, that's all I would've added at 1st). Large water changes.

[abc]

well, the leftover krill is out of the tank, I did another water change, and I'm keeping up with the maryoxy and maracyn treatments. I have found melafix to sometimes work, sometimes not, and so it's not my favorite med. I use it as a followup after an initial 1st treatment.

all in all, she seems to be doing much better today. she actually is strolling around the tank right now. I still have not seen her eat, but all the snails have been wiped out of the tank (either crushed shells or empty ones) and I can't see one alive ghost shrimp. Her tummy is not concave, but seems slightly rounded, so I'm guessing that she's eating but I have not seen it. The white patches are shrinking and are isolated at this point in 2 spots (3rd spot disappeared).

thanks for all the help so far. I will keep you posted. abc

[YBeNormal]

I have found melafix to sometimes work, sometimes not, and so it's not my favorite med. I use it as a followup after an initial 1st treatment.

You will certainly find some folks on this and other boards that agree with that approach, medicate first and rely on nature second. Most of the more experienced fish keepers on this forum will default to pristine water conditions as the first and most important treatment, supplemented by M-fix and maybe P-fix. Salt is one other remedy that might be suggested for certain conditions. In other words, make the environment as hospitable as possible so the fish's natural immunity and healing abilities can do their job. Use of meds is a last resort for most of us. To each his/her own though.

[abc]

well, I won't claim to be among the more experienced puffer owners. The change the water only technique just felt too risky for me, given the huge investment for getting the hairy puffer in the first place. may be when I have more experience, I'll graduate to the big leagues

just an update, looks like things are looking up from here on out. this morning, she looked fairly active, and so I dropped some snails in, she zipped across the aquarium and grabbed the snail before it hit bottom, but spat it out. it was so fast, I thought may be she is hungry but not up for snails. so i drop some krill in the tank... and she ate everything before they hit bottom with gusto It was first time to see her eat!!

when I come home from work, I'll do another water change but I'm thinking she's out of the danger zone though I'll follow through with the med treatment just to be safe

thanks for all the comments! hopefully my next post will be with pics of a happy puffer (my kids are still deciding what to name her but look for an announcement later)

abc

[Pufferpunk]

Glad she is doing better. I was starting to think that maybe they were nocturnal eaters.

[abc]

off the med's now (or last one for tonight) and come tomorrow, one last water change and I hope I can get into a regular routine.

she's a pig right now. She'll eat 5 pieces of krill in a sitting before I stop because I don't want to overfeed. Right now, I'm feeding 1x a day until she gets a little bigger and then I'll wean to every other day, unless you guys/gals out there think it should be every other day from the start.

she doesn't seem to like snails. I'm wondering if this is indicative of the species or she eats them later on her own when I'm not watching. But I hope she takes to snails because I definitely don't want to clip her teeth later.

anyways, she looks great and is starting to get her colors back!

[Woland]

They eat snails...
Moved my specimen into a new tank today.
Three large apple snails & two amano shrimp present in the tank.
She attacked all apple snails like she would fish.
Eyeing them closely and then; ambush.
Not a typical crusher like the Fahaka, seemed to attack in the certain hope of getting hold of the snail itself.
Seen her take smaller apple snails into her mouth only to spit them out.
Size related?

This fish will eat anything that moves.
Of this I am quite certain...
She reacts promptly when there is detectable motion present.
As mentioned in another thread, first thing my specimen did was to kill and eat a L052 which matched her physical size easily.
Vicious beauty...

[mandycat]

I dont think these are going to be a puffer where you have to worry about overgrown teeth....

I would only feed yours every three days or so, abc. Shes too big to eat everyday.

[abc]

thanks for the info on the snails woland! mine seems to always spit out the small ones, so I'll go to the lfs and get a larger sized snail and see how she takes to it.

welcome back from your honeymoon, mandycat!

I already started to feed her only 1x every 2 days, but you're saying it's better to switch to 3? when I skip a day, she's quite famished it seems by day 2 and charges at the krill like a bull seeing red...

I can switch to 1x every 3 days, but how much do you feed then in 1 sitting. I'm thinking I have feed more (in my once every 2 day schedule, I fed 5-7 pieces of krill; should I now feed about 10 pieces? if I switch to a 3 day interval?)

by the way, how's your hairy puffer doing? have you noticed a significant growth? mine seems only to get a rounder tummy, slims down, and then a rounder tummy again. I don't think she's growing lengthwise at this stage...