my congo is breathing heavy

beapeman · Post by **beapeman** » Tue May 05, 2009 9:13 am

my congo is 1-1/2" big and living with 2 red eye puffers , one female one male

Post by **Christemo** » Tue May 05, 2009 10:19 am

beapeman wrote:my congo is 1-1/2" big and living with 2 red eye puffers , one female one male

Return the congo. There's not enough room in there for the two red eyes...

Post by **Pufferpunk** » Tue May 05, 2009 2:43 pm

I'm thinking lorteti or irrubesco? This is definately a massachre waiting to happen.

LilGreenPuffer · Post by **LilGreenPuffer** » Tue May 05, 2009 4:22 pm

Read up on this, too. You need to take tank size into consideration very, very carefully.
ug.php/v/PufferPedia/Freshwater/C_Irrubesco/

beapeman · Post by **beapeman** » Tue May 05, 2009 8:59 pm

Thanks for everyone's help. Thank you LilGreenPuffer. I bought the API kit and tested the water.

ph 7.6
high range ph 7.4
ammonia 0.5~1
Nitrite 0~0.25
Nitrate 0~5

I changed 25% of water right away and hope congo will be ok

edmlfc1 · Post by **edmlfc1** » Tue May 05, 2009 9:02 pm

Amm. and Nitrite should be 0 your tank is going through a cycle. Keep doing large water changes and test daily to make sure you keep your amm and nitrite as low as possible. These are both posion to puffers.

beapeman · Post by **beapeman** » Tue May 05, 2009 9:19 pm

Thanks edmlfc1. I will change the water and do the test daily to make sure the number is ok.
I plan to put them in a large tank after everyone's suggestion, thanks i will look for larger tank now.

LilGreenPuffer · Post by **LilGreenPuffer** » Tue May 05, 2009 10:18 pm

You should do 50% w/c's until the cycle is over. 25% probably won't do it.

When you say "them," do you mean all the puffers? Remember, these are pretty viscous fish, and they're certain to attack each other, probably with death as the result. In all likelihood, the only reason they haven't killed each other yet is that they're too sick. You'll need two larger tanks, one for the red-eyes, and one for the Congo. Since the Congo is small right now, you could keep it alone in the current tank for a couple of months, until you find a big enough one. Try craigslist.org for used tanks in your area - just the other day, I saw two 35g's for $10 apiece! You can get great deals if you look in the right place. Just don't delay too long, or your congo will be stunted, and its life will be quite a bit shorter than it should have been.

beapeman · Post by **beapeman** » Tue May 05, 2009 10:22 pm

thanks LilGreenPuffer. I will look into cragslist for the tank.

LilGreenPuffer · Post by **LilGreenPuffer** » Tue May 05, 2009 10:23 pm

Thanks for listening to us.

beapeman · Post by **beapeman** » Tue May 05, 2009 10:58 pm

I just chagned 33% of the water so about 50 % of the water in the tank is changed. the congo was moving quickly seems like he was shocked and wasn't swimming well at all. he seems very weak, I really hope he will get better soon, I hope tomorrow morning he will be fine...

LilGreenPuffer · Post by **LilGreenPuffer** » Wed May 06, 2009 1:07 am

Large water changes, contrary to popular belief, don't shock fish, at least not any that I've heard of. Maybe for the most delicate species, but not puffers. In fact, 50% per week is reccomended to keep puffers in good health. Goldfish actually require as much as 90% per week! Keep up the water changes - they're the key to your puffers' survival. How are the red-eyes?

katty · Post by **katty** » Wed May 06, 2009 3:03 am

What's the temperature in the tank? What are you feeding it? Do you see anything wrong with your puffer other than it just laying on the gravel and the color change (anything that might be a symptom of some sort of illness)?

In my opinion, test strips are pretty handy if you just want to do a quick water check but for serious problems, the API test kit is the way to go because they're more accurate. For test strips, I'd recommend the Jungle brand ones, they're around 10 to 15 dollars.

It seems like your puffer might be suffering from an uncycled tank. (I'm assuming it's uncycled because it usually takes much longer than just 3 weeks if you haven't added anything to help the process.) It might be handy to pick up something with the beneficial bacteria needed to help with the cycle. Only Dr Tims, Tetra Safe Start, and BioSpira have live bacteria in it. Anything else only has dead bacteria which wont help with the cycle. Make sure you do tons of water changes.

Good luck!

Agnate · Post by **Agnate** » Wed May 06, 2009 8:14 am

Not sure if someone's mentioned this, but it'd be worth your while to read this article:

library/water-filtration/emergencycycle/

Seems like you already understand a bit about ammonia and nitrite, but it might be able to provide some help to you. I hope things start looking better for your puff!

beapeman · Post by **beapeman** » Wed May 06, 2009 9:54 am

I woke up this morning and the congo is still breathing, which was a big relief for me. should I purchase a breeding tank for him to rest?
the red eyes seems to have no problems at all, they were swimming up and down, eating the bloodworm I fed them only the congo seemed to not move much at all, his skin color looks light brown and barely any colour change at all compare to couple days ago.

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