For about 5 days now, one of my F8 puffers has been scratching on the rocks, against the sand, and other decorations in the tank. Ive looked at the fish but there seems to be no ick on him no any of the other puffers in the tank. Theres also no other visible signs of parasites, fin rot, or any wound on the fish (nor the other puffers). What could it be? He's the only one scratching.
PS About 2 months ago, I treated the whole tank for Ick. After a week or so, all fish were recovering and within 2 weeks looked healthy again.
I have 7 F8s
75 gall. tank
temp ~79F
pH ~8.0
nitrate 5-10ppm (can never lower it)
sg = 1.005
i feed them black worms, ramshorn snails (which i breed), daphnia (which i breed), tubifex worms, freeze dried jumbo shrimp, from time to time i give them store bought shrimp.
F8 Scratching on rocks
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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erik7281
- Puffer Fry
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F8 Scratching on rocks
Last edited by erik7281 on Sun Mar 28, 2010 1:28 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Pufferpunk
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Re: F8 Scratching on rocks
SG?
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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erik7281
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Re: F8 Scratching on rocks
oh yeah duh... last time I checked was ~1.005Pufferpunk wrote:SG?
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bigfatfish
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- Location: Devon, UK
Re: F8 Scratching on rocks
I have had my 2 GSPs for 6 months now & one of them has always "flashed" against plants. Initially I was worried, but as there were no spots etc & my water quality was good I haven't done anything about it. He still does it. RTR suggested that there may be some irritant or other in the water, but really we don't know (& probably never will!). If yours have a history of ick, then I guess that has to be of some concern, but unless there are visible signs I think I would be loathe to treat for it at this stage.
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purplecandle
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Re: F8 Scratching on rocks
I had two puffers die the other day and I saw one of them scratch up against some thing in the tank..
after talking to J-P, I think it was because of a recent water change that involved spring water..something is just different about the spring water..I am not smart enough to tell you what
My puffs died more than a day after the water change..
My ph straight out of my tap had dropped to below 6.0..however by the time I tested the tank the Ph had risen. Is risen the right word? risen looks odd? never mind..
Anyway...have you tried giving them some stress coat? Have you done a water change in the past few days???
Just a thought??? I hope your puff gets better
after talking to J-P, I think it was because of a recent water change that involved spring water..something is just different about the spring water..I am not smart enough to tell you what
My puffs died more than a day after the water change..
My ph straight out of my tap had dropped to below 6.0..however by the time I tested the tank the Ph had risen. Is risen the right word? risen looks odd? never mind..
Anyway...have you tried giving them some stress coat? Have you done a water change in the past few days???
Just a thought??? I hope your puff gets better
-
erik7281
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 27
- Joined: Mon Jan 18, 2010 8:22 am
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2 South American Puffers - Location (country): Riverside, CA, United States
Re: F8 Scratching on rocks
thanks for the suggestions...purplecandle wrote:I had two puffers die the other day and I saw one of them scratch up against some thing in the tank..
after talking to J-P, I think it was because of a recent water change that involved spring water..something is just different about the spring water..I am not smart enough to tell you what
My puffs died more than a day after the water change..
My ph straight out of my tap had dropped to below 6.0..however by the time I tested the tank the Ph had risen. Is risen the right word? risen looks odd? never mind..
Anyway...have you tried giving them some stress coat? Have you done a water change in the past few days???
Just a thought??? I hope your puff gets better
no I have not done any water changes recently. I will prob get some stress coat or something for them. I tested my tap water and everything seems to be normal. i hope hes ok
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Pufferpunk
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Re: F8 Scratching on rocks
You're not doing regular weekly 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!"
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eieio
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Re: F8 Scratching on rocks
wondering........
what ich treatment method did you use?
what are your ammonia & nitrite levels?
why no water changes?
what ich treatment method did you use?
what are your ammonia & nitrite levels?
why no water changes?
"I plan ahead. That way, I don't have to do anything right now!"
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erik7281
- Puffer Fry
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Re: F8 Scratching on rocks
NO WHERE IN MY POST DID I SAY I DONOT DO WATER CHANGES ... lol
I said I had not done any recently (withing 1 day of when the itching started) to when a question was asked to me.
I do ~25% WC 1.5 weeks and 50% every month. Iam running two Marineland Magnum pro filters (200 gallon filter capacity)
To treat ick, I used (half dose) Super Ick Cure and I incresed the S.G. to from 1.005 to ~1.009-1.0010
I said I had not done any recently (withing 1 day of when the itching started) to when a question was asked to me.
I do ~25% WC 1.5 weeks and 50% every month. Iam running two Marineland Magnum pro filters (200 gallon filter capacity)
To treat ick, I used (half dose) Super Ick Cure and I incresed the S.G. to from 1.005 to ~1.009-1.0010