Hi
I hope any dwarf puffer forum members Will forgive me but I have posted this question there too as I am hoping to start any treatment ASAP and thought I would double my chances of some expert advise!
I have 3 dwarf puffers living together in an 18 G tank,which has been running happily for the past 7 months, all water parameters are fine. The smallest of the 3 ( a female) has always been the most active but in the last few days she has been acting quite strangely hiding away in the plants and not coming to see me as usual.her markings have changed to a speckled pattern and she kept missing her worms although she does eat well if I can persuade her to come out of her hidy holes. The other 2 puffs seem to have paired up and I suspect the larger female has been bullying her and I am now wondering if she has been bitten. I had a really good look at her today and she seems to have a swollen eye and as she keeps missing her food when she swims for it,I am now wondering if she is blind in that eye!!
I have some melafix but I am not sure if it would be appropriate to use and as I have never used it .Would it cause any harm to the other puffers or indeed my biological filter! I don't have another tank to put the little puffer in although I could separate her with a divider if I had to.
I am encouraged by the fact that she is still eating well but would hate to think she was suffering in any way and would really appreciate any advise
Thanks Sue
puffer with a sore eye
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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susiejames101
- Figure 8 Puffer
- Posts: 100
- Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2005 3:44 pm
- Location: uk
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crazyforpuffs
- Figure 8 Puffer
- Posts: 107
- Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2005 6:46 pm
- Location: The Big Smoke, Ontario
Melafix will not harm the other fish nor the filter. If you have charcoal in your filter you should remove it for the course of the treatment...other than that - go ahead and try it.
My puff had a case of cloudy eye way back and I used Melafix in combination with 50% water changes daily for a week or so and it cleared right up.
My puff had a case of cloudy eye way back and I used Melafix in combination with 50% water changes daily for a week or so and it cleared right up.
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susiejames101
- Figure 8 Puffer
- Posts: 100
- Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2005 3:44 pm
- Location: uk
Some call it a product of a mis-spent youth, I call it Rock n Roll ! 