Water Parameters:
Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = 15ppm
Hardness = Hard
Alkalinity = 200
PH = 7.6
I have a Tetraodon Suvattii (Arrowhead or Pig-Nosed Puffer). I've had him for about 2 years in a 28 gallon planted tank with sand and driftwood. I didn't know that driftwood would lower the PH, but when he refused to eat, changed to a light colour, and swam up and down the tank, I knew something was wrong. The PH was off the Chart!! It was probably at about 6 or less. I have had the driftwood in the tank for about a year, but I went on holidays and didn't change his water for close to a month or more. Then the PH just crashed, while the other parameters were fine. Anyway he hasn't eaten for over a week, will not eat ANY dead or live food. Now he rests on the bottom or on top of the plants (Java Fern & Java Moss). He is breathing heavily and his tail fin is fanned out when normally is closed.
What I've done:
As soon as I noticed the PH level, I changed 30% of his water. The next day I changed another 25%, and today I changed about 20%. I've added a little stressguard here and there, a couple teaspoons of baking soda earlier, and a few caps of cycle. He is now much darker in colour, but still lethargic, and refusing to eat.
I thought he might have some air trapped while swimming to the top trying to escape the low PH level. He also looked a little bloated near the rear. I tried burping him but he is still a little bloated looking and I didn't see any air come out of him.
If anyone has any suggestions, please share, I'm not sure how long "Tiny" will last like this...
Help! Suvattii Won't Eat, is Lethargic, Breathing Heavily
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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Pufferpunk
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Re: Help! Suvattii Won't Eat, is Lethargic, Breathing Heavily
Do another WC of 50%, to remove the baking soda & Cycle, neither of which is good for the system. Regular weekly 50% WC is all you need to keep him healthy.
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
Re: Help! Suvattii Won't Eat, is Lethargic, Breathing Heavily
Thanks for the suggestion. However, he's in rough shape and the 75% of his water changed over the last 3 days hasn't helped much. I'm hoping that he's just trying to recover from the PH crash. I ruled out parasites/infections through visual inspection and because I have been feeding him frozen shrimp. About a year ago, another tank he was in cycled and produced ammonia and nitrites, however when I moved him, he recovered within hours. It's been 3 days since the PH crash and he's still messed up.
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EliWhitney314
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Re: Help! Suvattii Won't Eat, is Lethargic, Breathing Heavily
good luck, I hope he recovers
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Dadof4
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Re: Help! Suvattii Won't Eat, is Lethargic, Breathing Heavily
If you have a cycled hospital tank I'd move him in there and then clean the tank, especially the substrate and look for decaying spots on the driftwood. Stir the substrate well then vacuum it well, check for gas pockets.
"Darwin swings...annnnnnd a miss. Boy Jim, Chuck's suffered at the plate tonight. He's 0 for 3 and I'm not sure he's recovered from that shoulder pull a few weeks ago. I'll bet the front office is re-thinking that contract."