Yeah, so I had to move my tank the other day (a whole 10 feet) because mom was rearranging the living room. The process took about 2 hours because my parents were convinced i could do it without having to take take out the fish and completely emptying the tank. Well, they were wrong. I took all my fish out and put them in a 5gal. bucket full of their water. I emptied the tank, moved it, got it filled back up, and put my 3 DP's, 4 kuhlies, and 2 oto's back in it. Then it turns out, the light burned out! so for 3-4 days my puffs didn't have light (wasn't worried about the kuhlies or oto's). I didn't feed them in that period.
When I finally got a new bulb, I fed the puff's. They looked fine.
Now, i look at them last night, and they are skinny as hell! I'm scared to death that they have parasites. I have no idea how they got them, or if they really even do have parasites. Mom thinks it is because they didn't get fed for four days. I think otherwise.
Anyway, long story short, what do I do? We do have garlic in the house on a regular basis, but I'm not sure what to do.
GAHHHH! Sorry, this is just the first time I have had to deal with one of my own fish being sick before! D:
Parasites D:
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.
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CtHM
- Figure 8 Puffer
- Posts: 165
- Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2007 8:23 am
- My Puffers: 2 beautiful SAP's, and 1 female DP.
- Location: Meridian, ID, USA
Parasites D:
"Little fishies go 'pook pook pook' "
~Lenore
~Lenore
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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: Parasites D:
It could just be because they didn;t eat. Are there bellies sunken in? You might want to feed them bloodworms soaked in garlic just to be safe, and to help stimulate there appetite a bit.
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CtHM
- Figure 8 Puffer
- Posts: 165
- Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2007 8:23 am
- My Puffers: 2 beautiful SAP's, and 1 female DP.
- Location: Meridian, ID, USA
Re: Parasites D:
I've been feeding them every day with garlic-soaked bloodworms, they don't look horribly sunken in, but it isn't getting any better.
"Little fishies go 'pook pook pook' "
~Lenore
~Lenore
-
CtHM
- Figure 8 Puffer
- Posts: 165
- Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2007 8:23 am
- My Puffers: 2 beautiful SAP's, and 1 female DP.
- Location: Meridian, ID, USA
Re: Parasites D:
Ps, i must have cursed myself, because just last night, my betta turned up with dropsy. I immediately did a water change and treated with tetracycline, but he didn't make it. He passed away this morning. D: I did notice before I flushed him with all-due-ceremony that he had a wound on his belly I didn't notice before. It was oozing, which was gross. Was the wound maybe what stressed him and gave him dropsy? or did dropsy cause the wound?
"Little fishies go 'pook pook pook' "
~Lenore
~Lenore
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Nick
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 3231
- Joined: Sun Oct 22, 2006 8:47 pm
- My Puffers: Mine:
GSPs - Shakespeare and Jillybean
F8 - Velvet
My fiance:
DP - Emma Goldman
Narrow Lined Puffer - Ulrike - Location (country): Northeastern USA
- Location: Middletown, CT
- Contact:
Re: Parasites D:
Dropsy is not really a disease, but a symptom of many different infections or disorders which cause a fish to swell up. Not a solid answer, but there almost never is with dropsy. As far as garlic as an antiparasitic, I've only ever heard rumors of it working, I think it boosts the immune system and bit and probably makes worm-type parasites uncomfortable, but is unlikely to do anything to actually eradicate the entire infection.
No matter how magnificent your successes or devastating your failures, the worlds' approximately 5 billion impoverished people could not possibly care less.
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CtHM
- Figure 8 Puffer
- Posts: 165
- Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2007 8:23 am
- My Puffers: 2 beautiful SAP's, and 1 female DP.
- Location: Meridian, ID, USA
Re: Parasites D:
Thats kinda what I figured. I'm just not sure what specifically to use to to get rid of parasites. I've heard of pumpkin seeds? Or is that for something else?
"Little fishies go 'pook pook pook' "
~Lenore
~Lenore