That's not the major downside. Remember why we cycle a tank before we add puffers? Because the toxins kill it. Your goldfish probably died due to the cycling process. That's why we do fishless cycling.OCgatergal wrote:I've done that before, but the downside is that the goldfish probably has a lot of disease. I once bought a few feeders to cycle my tank and 2 survived and I didn't know what to do with them afterwards so I put it in a 3g bowl but it died in a few weeks
figure eight puffer sick!
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.
- LilGreenPuffer
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 5301
- Joined: Sun Jan 25, 2009 11:26 pm
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Dwarf puffer - Thumbelina (only mine in my heart now; she lives in CT with my friend)
RIP Inigo Montoya, Fezzik, and Vizinni.
RIP James Bond. - Location (country): United States
- Location: Kentucky
Re: figure eight puffer sick!
"I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man whom you may have seen, and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him or her. Will she gain anything by it? Will it restore her to a control over her own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to freedom for the hungry and spiritually starving millions? Then you will find your doubts and your self melt away."
Found among the papers of Mohatma Gandhi

Come and visit http://www.thetriopsforum.com!
I AM A DUDETTE!
NEED NITRIFYING BACTERIA FOR YOUR NEW TANK? PM ME!
Found among the papers of Mohatma Gandhi

Come and visit http://www.thetriopsforum.com!
I AM A DUDETTE!
NEED NITRIFYING BACTERIA FOR YOUR NEW TANK? PM ME!
Re: figure eight puffer sick!
What i don't understand is that all of the water was at the appropriate levels which i tested twice a day and he was still sick. That is why i added the salt which didnt help. I just tested the water again the water is the same as before i added the salt, i dont know why.
- dlowis
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 34
- Joined: Sat Oct 03, 2009 4:10 am
- Gender: Male
- My Puffers: Lorteti X5,Irrubesco X4,Travancoricus X6,Biocellatus X2,Erythrotaenia X3,Nigroviridis X2,Modestus and or Silus X2
Re: figure eight puffer sick!
take a look around at the puffer and maybe you can see if he is breathing heavy,see if he has small white spots or any skin abnormalities,or anything different from when you purchased him,also make sure his stool is not white and stringy and post it back along with your nitrates and health of the goldfish and maybe someone will see something more. sometimes you just get sick fish or they get stressed and then sick on their way to you.what you may be describing is clamped fins.which is commonly accompanied by whitespots that look like grains of sugar on their skin. That may not be it but it will get you to look closely at the fish. also google fish diseases take a look at list and check off some symptoms but i would suggest posting back before trying to treat because puffers are sensitive to some meds.
Re: figure eight puffer sick!
He is breathing very heavily and is sitting at the bottom of the tank with a curled tail and has trouble even making himself upright. He has a concave belly which i thought could be an internal parasit so i dewormed him. He does not have any white spots and does not appear to have clamped fins. I just tested the water and everything is perfect as of now. I have not tested the nitrates.
- LilGreenPuffer
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 5301
- Joined: Sun Jan 25, 2009 11:26 pm
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Dwarf puffer - Thumbelina (only mine in my heart now; she lives in CT with my friend)
RIP Inigo Montoya, Fezzik, and Vizinni.
RIP James Bond. - Location (country): United States
- Location: Kentucky
Re: figure eight puffer sick!
What kind of test are you using? Check the nitrates. If you find that there are none, then your test is defective, because a cycled tank always has nitrates, unless you've just done a 100% water change or if it's heavily planted.
"I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man whom you may have seen, and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him or her. Will she gain anything by it? Will it restore her to a control over her own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to freedom for the hungry and spiritually starving millions? Then you will find your doubts and your self melt away."
Found among the papers of Mohatma Gandhi

Come and visit http://www.thetriopsforum.com!
I AM A DUDETTE!
NEED NITRIFYING BACTERIA FOR YOUR NEW TANK? PM ME!
Found among the papers of Mohatma Gandhi

Come and visit http://www.thetriopsforum.com!
I AM A DUDETTE!
NEED NITRIFYING BACTERIA FOR YOUR NEW TANK? PM ME!
- dlowis
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 34
- Joined: Sat Oct 03, 2009 4:10 am
- Gender: Male
- My Puffers: Lorteti X5,Irrubesco X4,Travancoricus X6,Biocellatus X2,Erythrotaenia X3,Nigroviridis X2,Modestus and or Silus X2
Re: figure eight puffer sick!
how did you deworm him
- dlowis
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 34
- Joined: Sat Oct 03, 2009 4:10 am
- Gender: Male
- My Puffers: Lorteti X5,Irrubesco X4,Travancoricus X6,Biocellatus X2,Erythrotaenia X3,Nigroviridis X2,Modestus and or Silus X2
Re: figure eight puffer sick!
was his belly concave when you purchased him
Re: figure eight puffer sick!
His belly was concaved when i purchased him. I used seachem focus which I soaked black blood worms in.
- dlowis
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 34
- Joined: Sat Oct 03, 2009 4:10 am
- Gender: Male
- My Puffers: Lorteti X5,Irrubesco X4,Travancoricus X6,Biocellatus X2,Erythrotaenia X3,Nigroviridis X2,Modestus and or Silus X2
Re: figure eight puffer sick!
shouldnt have hurt but that is not for internal parasites (it is an antibacterial),praziquantel,levamisole,piperazine and fenbendazole are wormers general cure has been suggested but im not sure about in feed . someone may be able to give you some decent methods of worming,but you could look online and see other causes of concave belly. and maybe someone will come up with something. If you notice anything else post it and dont forget to post nitrates and if the goldfish is ok or if it died with any symptoms of illness
- dlowis
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 34
- Joined: Sat Oct 03, 2009 4:10 am
- Gender: Male
- My Puffers: Lorteti X5,Irrubesco X4,Travancoricus X6,Biocellatus X2,Erythrotaenia X3,Nigroviridis X2,Modestus and or Silus X2
Re: figure eight puffer sick!
to be on the safe side use your hydrometer if it goes to 1.000 and see if that salt shows up and post it too
- Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32975
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Puffers I have kept:
T lineatus
T miurus
A modestus
T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
C lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Greenville, SC
- Contact:
Re: figure eight puffer sick!
Excellent article on IPs in our Library. If he's breathing heavy, add an airstone. When was your last WC?
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!"
- dlowis
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 34
- Joined: Sat Oct 03, 2009 4:10 am
- Gender: Male
- My Puffers: Lorteti X5,Irrubesco X4,Travancoricus X6,Biocellatus X2,Erythrotaenia X3,Nigroviridis X2,Modestus and or Silus X2
Re: figure eight puffer sick!
that is a nice article, I seen your post on levamisole too, does this sound like IP to you
- Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32975
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Puffers I have kept:
T lineatus
T miurus
A modestus
T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
C lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Greenville, SC
- Contact:
Re: figure eight puffer sick!
Possible, or just previously ill-fed.
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!"
- OCgatergal
- Green Spotted Puffer
- Posts: 259
- Joined: Tue Nov 10, 2009 11:30 pm
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: 4 Green Spotted Puffers- Puck, Laika, Hubble ( the biter), Sputnik
- Location (country): CA, USA
Re: figure eight puffer sick!
LOL just a warning though, these puffers are like humans when it comes to medicine soaked foods, I have to almost stuff it down my fishes mouth hah

I believe you have small mud puddles mixed up with acres of rice paddies.
Re: figure eight puffer sick!
My puffer is doing worse than ever. He has been sitting at the bottom of the tank for hours on his side, breathing heavily and cannot swim. Is there anything else I can do. I am worried he will not make it through the night.