My F8 today seemed to be breathing hard, after looking closer I noticed that only one gill was opening and closing. He still has a great appetite, but today I admit he did scare me when he "doyed" out for a while in the late afternoon, darkened up and curled up on the floor of the aquarium kind of nose to the ground...but then he started swimming around and did so the rest of the day til lights out. My ammonia is 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 5, Ph 8.0 SG 1.004, tankmates 2 BBGs.
I don't see anything coming from the gils, spots anywhere, nothing...just the closed gill thing and the "doy".
Any idea or experience with either or both of these things?
Closed gill on F8
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.
Closed gill on F8
~K
55 gallon - 2 juvenile GSP Puffers, 2 Blue-legged hermit crabs
40 gallon planted - 2 F8 Puffers, 2 BBG
30 gallon planted - Tiger Barb tank....a few otos, an SAE and a Red-tailed shark
5 10 gallon tanks with assorted plants, snails and smaller fish...or 5 attempts at JUST buying a new tank for a hospital tank.
55 gallon - 2 juvenile GSP Puffers, 2 Blue-legged hermit crabs
40 gallon planted - 2 F8 Puffers, 2 BBG
30 gallon planted - Tiger Barb tank....a few otos, an SAE and a Red-tailed shark
5 10 gallon tanks with assorted plants, snails and smaller fish...or 5 attempts at JUST buying a new tank for a hospital tank.
-
FishFan
- Figure 8 Puffer
- Posts: 208
- Joined: Wed Dec 19, 2007 4:08 am
- My Puffers: Orbicular Burrfish (Oblio, shown in the avatar), Striped Burrfish
- Location (country): Maine USA
- Location: USA
Re: Closed gill on F8
We've seen gilling on one side from several of our puffers. Another interesting habit is inhaling on one gill and exhaling on the other with mouth tightly closed. If your fish breaths on the same side all the time it could be gill flukes or some other gill irritation. What we'd do is keep an eye on it for a few days and see. We're not as experienced with puffers as some of the other people here, so others may have some better advice. 
A = Anne, R =Robert
There has to be a point.
There has to be a point.
Re: Closed gill on F8
Thanks for the reply,
I am glad others have seen this behavior, not so glad it has affected anyones pets.
Keith
I am glad others have seen this behavior, not so glad it has affected anyones pets.
Keith
~K
55 gallon - 2 juvenile GSP Puffers, 2 Blue-legged hermit crabs
40 gallon planted - 2 F8 Puffers, 2 BBG
30 gallon planted - Tiger Barb tank....a few otos, an SAE and a Red-tailed shark
5 10 gallon tanks with assorted plants, snails and smaller fish...or 5 attempts at JUST buying a new tank for a hospital tank.
55 gallon - 2 juvenile GSP Puffers, 2 Blue-legged hermit crabs
40 gallon planted - 2 F8 Puffers, 2 BBG
30 gallon planted - Tiger Barb tank....a few otos, an SAE and a Red-tailed shark
5 10 gallon tanks with assorted plants, snails and smaller fish...or 5 attempts at JUST buying a new tank for a hospital tank.