Glad to hear he's feeling better.
What size tank do you have him in? Bala sharks and goldfish are not good companions by far, and by themselves need 100+ gallons, not to mention the 125 or so the puffer itself will need. Maybe the goldfish are harassing him some too, they'll try to eat whatever fits in their mouths (and even stuff that doesn't).
Sick new guy??
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.
he's in a 55 gallon, just temporary till I can get a new one setup in the new apartment in a few months, he's only about 2-3 inches so I think he should be okay for there for a few months. The commets and bala's are moving out (just in there till my lil bro can take them back.
Parasites... I hope not, I think he may just be skinny cause they neglected him so much in the store. There were multiple puffers and the tank could have been no more than 20 gallons. I'll keep an eye on him though.
Parasites... I hope not, I think he may just be skinny cause they neglected him so much in the store. There were multiple puffers and the tank could have been no more than 20 gallons. I'll keep an eye on him though.
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Myaj
- Tech Team
- Posts: 4587
- Joined: Sat Jun 04, 2005 12:27 pm
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Bubba, turgidus
Paris, lined burrfish - Location: SE Wisconsin
- Contact:
I would as well. Pretty much all puffers are wild caught (since other than a few types, they have not been bred in captivity) and have parasites. In the wild, the parasites don't get out of control, but during the stress of being caught, shipped, shipped again, put in a display tank with probably not the proper conditons, then bagged up and sent home with someone, the fish's immune system is lowered and the parasites can really take hold and do some damage.
I deworm all my incoming fish, especially if they were wild caught.
I deworm all my incoming fish, especially if they were wild caught.
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YBeNormal
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 506
- Joined: Sat Jun 04, 2005 1:19 am
- Location: Northern Virginia
- Contact:
Discomed is the favored treatment. It is no longer produced but you might still be able to locate it on the internet or in your LFS. If you cannot find Discomed, see the stickie "Levimisole, alternative to Discomed" in the Hospital section