Badly beat Modestus

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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Dinsdale
Figure 8 Puffer
Posts: 190
Joined: Wed Jul 05, 2006 1:10 am
My Puffers: Bak Mei, ~4" Auriglobus Modestus. In a 55g tank (since '06) w/ some guppies he pays no attention to.
Location (country): USA
Location: N. Illinois

Badly beat Modestus

Post by Dinsdale »

For the past couple years I've had two Modestus puffers in a 55 gallon tank. When they were very young they could be around each other, but for at least a year now I've had a divider in their tank. Never had any big problems and both puffers have always been happy and healthy with good appetites. A couple nights ago, however, Chamir got on to Bak Mei's side somehow and could not get back over. When I woke up, Chamir was laying on his side with Bak Mei swimming around next to him. Chamir is very badly beat up. His pectoral fins are chewed up pretty bad, and he's missing "skin" all around his caudal fin.

I setup a 10 gallon quarantine tank with gravel and filter media from their tank, and Chamir has been in there since yesterday morning. I've added freshwater salt, Prime, and Stress Coat to his water. He actually seems to like the Stress Coat - I pour some directly on him as he is generally resting by the surface.

By last night he was able to hold himself upright. Today, however, he is looking worse again and can not easily hold himself upright.

Is there anything else I can do for him to help him heal, encourage his will to live, or ease his suffering in any way? I will euthanize him with Clove Oil if he's just going to suffer, but I don't want to do that until I'm sure he won't make it.

Incidentally, I'm moving in 8 days and was going to give them both their own 55 gallon tanks :( ...

Thanks
Dan
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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: Badly beat Modestus

Post by crazedpuffer »

Wow thats terrible!
I'd try Melafix and Pimafix and hope for the best. I hope they make it!
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Dinsdale
Figure 8 Puffer
Posts: 190
Joined: Wed Jul 05, 2006 1:10 am
My Puffers: Bak Mei, ~4" Auriglobus Modestus. In a 55g tank (since '06) w/ some guppies he pays no attention to.
Location (country): USA
Location: N. Illinois

Re: Badly beat Modestus

Post by Dinsdale »

Thanks, good call on the melafix/pimafix - can't believe I haven't done that yet.

Luckily (!), only Chamir is hurt. Bak Mei does not have a single scratch on him. He is definitely the mean one.
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groovitudedude
Fahaka Puffer
Posts: 816
Joined: Sun Dec 02, 2007 12:25 am
My Puffers: 1X Dwarf Puffer, 1X Auriglobus Silus
Location: SoCal

Re: Badly beat Modestus

Post by groovitudedude »

I'm terribly sorry to hear that, and I hope he survives. Modestus' are great puffers.

I would just try to keep the water at the right temp and cycled. It sounds like you have enough chemicals in there between the Melafix, Pimafix, Salt, Prime, and Stress Coat.
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