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.
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Pufferpunk
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Re: figure eight puffer sick!
When was the 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!"
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pufferpuggirl
- Mbu Puffer
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crayfish - Location (country): Yorkshire, GB
- Location: South Yorkshire, UK
Re: figure eight puffer sick!
Gosh, I feel really badly for you and wish there was something I could tell you to do that would snap him out of it, but with all that salt, I'm not surprised he's ill. Between the tank being so small and the ammonia/nitrite building up, and then all that salt -- it's a very bad combination.
The only thing I can think of is doing those water changes, I would say do them daily unless someone else thinks that's too often, but with him being ill, it seems to me that he needs as much fresh water as possible to flush his system.
The only thing I can think of is doing those water changes, I would say do them daily unless someone else thinks that's too often, but with him being ill, it seems to me that he needs as much fresh water as possible to flush his system.
"Puffer .... man's best friend?"
-
Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32976
- 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!
You can never do too many water changes.
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!"
-
pufferpuggirl
- Mbu Puffer
- Posts: 3979
- Joined: Mon Nov 03, 2008 3:04 pm
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Puffs & Stuff:
1 x M Abei
1 x M Turgidus
1 x T Palembangensis
1 x M Baileyii
1 x T Schoutedeni
1 x T Leiurus
1 x T Miurus
Rainbow crab
crayfish - Location (country): Yorkshire, GB
- Location: South Yorkshire, UK
Re: figure eight puffer sick!
Pufferpunk wrote:You can never do too many water changes.
When I got my very first suvattii, it was actually 2 of them that I got together. Well I thought the tank I had put them in was sufficiently cycled, and it wasn't. So once I had those 2 puffers in the one tank, I had issues with nitrites, and being afraid I was going to kill the suvattii, I started doing as many as 3 water changes in one day. Unbelievably my husband yelled at me saying I was going to cause the demise of the puffers from doing "too many" water changes! The man clearly did not understand how an aquarium works and what nitrites are and why water changes are good. We had more than one heated "discussion" about me doing too many water changes.
"Puffer .... man's best friend?"
Re: figure eight puffer sick!
Unfortunately he did not make it overnight...so sad!! Thank you for all of your help and i will follow all of your directions when setting up my next tank.
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LilGreenPuffer
- Former Staff Member
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Re: figure eight puffer sick!
I'm sorry. 
It's good to hear that you're not discouraged! How about a dwarf puffer for that 5g?
It's good to hear that you're not discouraged! How about a dwarf puffer for that 5g?
"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!
I was actually thinking about getting a dwarf puffer for my five gallon but i felt so bad for my figure eight puffer that I am worried about buying a dwarf puffer. What would I need to do to cycle the tank again after all of the salt that I put in?
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pufferpuggirl
- Mbu Puffer
- Posts: 3979
- Joined: Mon Nov 03, 2008 3:04 pm
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Puffs & Stuff:
1 x M Abei
1 x M Turgidus
1 x T Palembangensis
1 x M Baileyii
1 x T Schoutedeni
1 x T Leiurus
1 x T Miurus
Rainbow crab
crayfish - Location (country): Yorkshire, GB
- Location: South Yorkshire, UK
Re: figure eight puffer sick!
I'm very sorry to hear about the demise of your Figure-8. If I were you, and you wanted to get another puffer, a dwarf puffer, for that 5-gallon tank -- I'd take all the water out and start fresh! I would not even try to salvage it. If you do the fishless cycle, or rotten-shrimp process (hereby referred to as RSP), it won't take long before you can get another puffer. But please don't put anything more than a dwarf puffer in that small tank. If you want more puffers, think about upgrading to a bigger tank for their sake.
Good luck with any new puffer venture!
Good luck with any new puffer venture!
"Puffer .... man's best friend?"
-
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!
There is a fishless cycling article in the Library. Someone may have linked you to it in an earlier post. That will tell you everything you need to know to prepare the tank.
"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!