Anyway, about 4 weeks ago I bought two F8s and placed them in my 18 gallon tall tank. (Don't worry upgrade soon, read ahead). They seemed fine for 2 or 3 days. Then Zitrone's right eye got cloudy. Within 2 days it almost looked normal, except for a white bump in the middle. Within a week of starting treatment, it was completely fine. I'd treated with Melafix.
Then after 2 days of being off Melafix, it started looking cloudy again and little bit swollen. I treated with Epsom salt. He was fine again within 2 days. I might have imagined the swollen eye.
I acquired a 20 gallon long tank in between the sicknesses, and I'd had snails in there to breed for the puffers. I also had 6 ghost shrimp. Then I thought it was silly to have the puffers in the smaller tank, so I carefully switched them. At the same time, I changed the substrate for the puffers to crushed coral. They've now been there for 2 weeks. In the puffer tank, I also have several Windelov ferns, some Zebra rock and black slate from the lfs, a piece of driftwood with ferns attached, some Greek columns from lfs, a bamboo, and a bubble curtain. The filter is a Tetra Whisper for up to 30 gallon tanks. The heater is a Jager Eheim 125w.
Parameters: pH 7.8, nitrite 0, ammonia 0, nitrate 40 (might be higher as the test is hard to read). Test kit is the API saltwater kit. Salinity is 1.005. Temp is 79F.
A week after the switch, Zitrone started doing this odd coughing or chocking type thing. It occurred when he was eating and a couple times when he was just swimming around. When he was eating, he'd suck in the bloodworms or mysis shrimp, do the coughing thing, and usually the food came back out. He seemed to get enough to eat because his belly would get rounded. Sometimes I'd have to net Grün (the other one) against the side of the tank to ensure that Zitrone could eat. I started feeding them frozen brine shrimp the first 2 weeks as that's all the local store had in stock. I also fed snails during that time and frozen shrimp from the supermarket. Once I got to the bigger store farther away, I started feeding mainly the frozen bloodworms, frozen mysis shrimp, frozen supermarket shrimp. I also threw in live snails occasionally (eaten with fervor
) and sun dried baby shrimp. Zitrone seemed to be thinner than he should be even though he was eating just as much as Grün who was nicely rounded. I treated them with Gel-Tek Ultra Guard Px for IPs by soaking their food in it for about 20 minutes. I did this for 7 days. He didn't seem to be getting any fatter, but I didn't want to poison them.
Zitrone stayed rather light colored for 4 days after the tank and substrate switch. Grün went back to regular colors by the 2nd day. Zitrone also tended to pace in the corner of the tank or in the bubble curtain that's against the back of the tank. He also scared much more easily than Grün.
Then I tried to give them ghost shrimp which they ignored (they're still in there a week later). Zitrone did try to eat one, but it swam away so fast that Zitrone was surprised and gave up.
Then 2 days ago he jumped out of the tank in the middle of the night. Other than the weird action and the thin-ness, he seemed fine. Bright white belly, clear eyes, active, not seeming to be breathing too fast. And he may have been just fine for the thin-ness, it was just that he seemed so much thinner than Grün. I hope that's enough info. Ideas?
