New to the forum- need help desperately

Oh no! Sick fish?! Come here and see if someone can help!
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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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SammyDee
Mbu Puffer
Posts: 1073
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My Puffers: 55g (2) GSP, (2) Maroon Clownfish, (1) blue damsel, And some soft corals and 1 Nem
45g FW community
20g snail and shrimp breeding tank for puffers
Location (country): USA USA USA USA
Location: Detroit, Michigan

Re: New to the forum- need help desperately

Post by SammyDee »

J-P wrote:2.0 ammonia, nitrites about 0, nitrates at about 2, salinity about .25

A) your tank still is not cycled as of yet ... you will need higher volume water changes daily or 2x daily

B) depending on the size of the GSP you will need a bigger tank eventually (the sooner the better).

Ammonia is the problem for the moment ... I had the same issue.

Are you on well or city water?

Start the changing the water soon .... adding declor if needed (city water). Time (at this point) is not your friend
Pufferpunk wrote:
So do massive water changes and ignore them?
100% yes!!!

At 10g, your tank may never cycle with a 2" GSP in it. If at all possible, try to get a 30g ASAP & put everything from your tank (substrate, decor, filter, water & puffer) into it as soon as it's set up. Be sure to use Prime to dechlorinate the new water you add & that it is the same temp ads your old water. Continue to test & do water changes accordingly. If at all possible, see if you can get Dr Tim's to add to your filter. Do not add salt, until your tank is cycled. BTW, Stresszyme does nothing for cycling tanks & aquarium salt does nothing to reduce stress.

Also, please remove the ammonia remover, this is preventing your tank from cycling. Read my sig:[

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"DREAM AS IF YOU'LL LIVE FOREVER, LIVE AS IF YOU'L DIE TODAY' -JAMES DEAN
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J-P
Former Staff Member
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Re: New to the forum- need help desperately

Post by J-P »

Rusty wrote:If your tap water is suitable use that. Water needs buffers and trace elements.A PH of 1.8 is practically battery acid!!!
:) the Ph is 8 ... that was a ref to point #1. forgot to put the space in there ... don't panic yet ;)


These are your warning signs:

Lethargy, floating, swimming blindly, bumping into things, getting caught on the filter intake and eventually death. These will happen in 24- 48 hours due to ammonia poisoning and nitrite poisoning.

What your LFS said is partly correct.. don't do water changes while cycling.. IF YOU HAD NO FISH.... but since you do, and the fish you have are sensitive.. you're going to be doing water changes.. and a lot of them :)

To help things along ... try to be ahead of the game by at least 1 water change. Have a bucket of tank ready water to go at all times. This water must be dechlorinated. Drain the tank to the appropriate level, add the bucket. Fill the bucket .. add dechlor.. repeat the process as often as necessary.

Sometimes we can sound harsh ... don't take it the wrong way. That harshness is not directed at you personally, but at the situation. :D
if you follow me, you avoid stepping in the crap that I just did...

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Pufferpunk
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Re: New to the forum- need help desperately

Post by Pufferpunk »

No need to dechlorinate overnight or fer even 5 minutes. For 30 years, I have added dechlor directly to the tank, before refilling. You just need to add enough for the entire water volume of the tank, not just for the water you are adding.
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!"
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pufferlover1686
Puffer Fry
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Joined: Mon May 24, 2010 6:19 pm
Location (country): United States

Re: New to the forum- need help desperately

Post by pufferlover1686 »

Thank yall for the help. I have done two 100% water changes, one yesterday and one today, the ammonia is less than 0.25 and close to zero. Hopefully we can keep it that way. He has started to move faster, but still has dark lines and thin rear. I think this might have to do with the stress coming from the water changes. I appreciate all your responses hopefully he will make it.
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SammyDee
Mbu Puffer
Posts: 1073
Joined: Thu Sep 10, 2009 1:50 am
Gender: Male
My Puffers: 55g (2) GSP, (2) Maroon Clownfish, (1) blue damsel, And some soft corals and 1 Nem
45g FW community
20g snail and shrimp breeding tank for puffers
Location (country): USA USA USA USA
Location: Detroit, Michigan

Re: New to the forum- need help desperately

Post by SammyDee »

Now feed him some snails to make him feel trustworthy to ya. I always feed after a WC so the think theyre arent gonna be my food
"DREAM AS IF YOU'LL LIVE FOREVER, LIVE AS IF YOU'L DIE TODAY' -JAMES DEAN
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Rusty
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Re: New to the forum- need help desperately

Post by Rusty »

Pufferpunk wrote:No need to dechlorinate overnight or fer even 5 minutes. For 30 years, I have added dechlor directly to the tank, before refilling. You just need to add enough for the entire water volume of the tank, not just for the water you are adding.
While this has worked for you( and probably many others, including myself in the past) i always try and recommend on the cautious side.As you know everyone's water is unique, and at various points of the year is different, Mine tends to come out of the tap at around 8.2 but by the next day is 7.5. I have needed to do this in the past(contaminated water)and even when the ph is right I have found my fish really didn't like it (i think the little gas bubbles also bothered them) i dont know about you but my water doesn't come out of the tap 78F( i should have included raising the temp in my first post, my bad :badboy: ).PP Im not arguing with you im just trying to give you my point of view. :)

PL: I'm really glad to hear he is doing a little better. I hope i didn't come of like a jerk. i was tired and confused, along with being pissed off at stores continuing to sell puffers( and other fish) without proper care info. These kind of post are so common that I almost feel like some of these places pull this stuff purposely so people will buy multiple fish. Sorry :redface:
Old fishermen never die, they just smell that way.
Rusty
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