:( Dwarf puffer losing colour

Oh no! Sick fish?! Come here and see if someone can help!
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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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Polkadotpuffer
Dwarf Puffer
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:( Dwarf puffer losing colour

Post by Polkadotpuffer »

I have noticed that one of my dwarf puffers has been looking a bit pale compared to the other two? She looked quite colourful when i got her but now her spots seem to have faded and she keeps hiding?! Please help!
I <3 My Fishes....... :) Proud owner of:
x1 Black Ghost Knife fish... Klaus, x1 Fire Eeel...Slinky, x2 Convict Cichlid.... Snow & Zane, x1 Blue acara..... Jacob, x1 African flag cichlid.....Joburg, x1 Simaese algae eater.... Dave, x1 Cuckoo Catfish.... Eddy James. (So far hehe) R.I.P Yoshi & Mimi My Irrubesco puffers :( <3
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yunachin
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Re: :( Dwarf puffer losing colour

Post by yunachin »

Please answer the above questions in red.
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pufferpuggirl
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Re: :( Dwarf puffer losing colour

Post by pufferpuggirl »

Just to let you know, my DP's can change their colouring to an extent. I mean they can make their markings darker sometimes, and yours may be doing this. Is your puffer looking skinny, and has it lost it's appetite? Those would be better indicators of an illness rather than it's colouring, at least from my point of view, but that's only because I know mine can and do make their markings lighter and darker.
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lilacamy931
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Re: :( Dwarf puffer losing colour

Post by lilacamy931 »

My four have had their colours and markings go palers and darker. My bigger male is very moody and most of last week kept changing, my smaller female seemed to fade in colour as well. As they have gotten used to me or certain factors they seem to have their usual colours. I agree with schimscy, they may just be uneasy of something, though you do need consider if it is an illness.
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