carinotetraodon salivator not doing so well

[timwag2001]

for the past 2 days my salivator has been sitting out front of my tank. he looks a little bloated (not puffed, just a little thick), his eyes seem to be sunk in a little bit. he didnt move for a worm or a ramshorn.

my tank is a pretty heavily planted 55g. bright lights and co2. i use ro water and bring the gh back up with dolomite, calcium sulfate and magnesium sulfate. my gh sits around 3dgh and kh sits at around 1dkh. nitrates, phosphates and potassium are dosed on sun, tues and thurs. micros are dosed on mon, wed and friday. 50% water change on sunday religiously.

i had 6 pygmy corys that were in quarentine for at least 2 weeks before they made the trip to the big tank.

suggestions?

[J-P]

ph?


Sorry, I am just starting to understand the need for RO water in a planted tank.. and then adding ferts to supplement that which was taken out.. maybe tomorrow I'll get it.

The Q's in red at the top of the page...

Other than the corys was anything else added to the tank that could have caused an imbalance? The Corys may have cause a mini cycle because of the bioload changing suddenly. Or if you added anything else...

for some reason I have a feeling it is a chem question ... with levels that low, adding new fish will change those levels quickly.

Again I am no pro but that is a gut feeling.

[timwag2001]

when keeping softwater plants such as erios, toninas and syngonanthus you need to have softwater. when it comes out of the tap higher than you need it, its easier to keep my levels where they need to be. in my tanks with your everyday plants like rotalas and such i use regular tap.

these are pygmy cories. they are very, very small. definately no chance of an imbalance. i dont make rookie moves like that. although i am definately a rookie when it comes to puffers, i'll admit that.

questions up top

1. i'll get you the appropriate ph tomorrow after co2 off gasses. ammonia and nitrate are 0. i have two eheim canisters (eheim pro 2 and a classic eheim). nitrates are dosed by potassium nitrate to 10 ppm three times a week.

2 tank is a 55g with 5 dicrussus sp, 5 pygmy cories and the puffer.

3 feeding once per day (sometimes every other day if he doesnt feel like coming out). water change 50% every sunda religiously and i use prime

4 only change is the 5 pygmy corys

5 tank has been set up for years.

any other questions that can help you help me?

[Dadof4]

How long has the puffer been in the tank and have you changed brands of ferts lately?

[Flutter]

How are ammonia and nitrate 0 if you're dosing nitrates? Did you mean nitrite?

Can you please get a nitrate reading?

[timwag2001]

i did mean nitrite. sorry. i was pretty much asleep when i typed that.

he's been in there for about 7 months i think.

all of my ferts are dry and i've been using the same ferts the whole time.

i can get you a reading later but its generally at around 10ppm untill sunday monring then it reads close to 0. i have a high light heavily planted tank. it sucks the nutrietns out very quickly

[J-P]

7 months..

I posted this Q on another board just to brain storm a little. This was a good reply:
"His KH seems pretty low. I try to get about a 2dkh to 3dkh for my fish tanks."

"His puffer could have also picked up worms from live food."

"Salvitors are really freaking sensitive... Probably not the best puffer to start out with..."

I edited the reply to reflect points that were not relevant. But IPs are a possibility.

A) what are you feeding and what is the procedure?
B) you had the corys in QT, were they treated? Was this done to the puffer 7 months ago? was he QT'd and treated also?
C) are you using the EI for dosing? How are you mixing the ferts and how are you applying them? (walk us through the procedure).
D) are you buffering the water after adding it to the tank? (what's the procedure)

[timwag2001]

ip huh. interesting. i keep red wigglers in a worm composter. that's where my worms come from. i havent added any new worms since i set it up either but i suppose that its possible that something could have come in with some flies or something. could i put him in quarintine and treat with fenbendazole? is that an ok way to treat ip? or is there a med that i should give a try

answers to your questions
a) i feed with either ramshorns or red wigglers (thats pretty much all that he eats). depending on the size of the worm i might cut it in half. ramshorns i'l toss them in one at a time and wait till he's eaten untill i add another, usually up to about 5. i just throw the food in there and he usually spots it immediately and goes right after it.

b) i usually qt all of my fish. i dont really treat, i toss them in the hospital tank for a few weeks with uv and watch for signs of illness, or death. i dont like medicating for no reason at all. when i added the puffer though there were no other inhabitants in the tank so he just went right in. there was a uv sterilizer running in it.

c)i do use ei. i do not mix the ferts. the dry ferts are added directly to the current in the tank.

d) buffering... i fill a 55g water drum with ro water and add dolomite and gh booster to that. this way the water that i add is right where i want it. as you mentioned at the beginning of your post about the kh being low. i agree however its also the water that i use for my shrimp tanks (thats where it needs to be for those guys) i suppose i could raise the kh another degree but do you really think thats a concern for a fish that originates from softwater anyway?

[J-P]

On the chem side... I am not sure... that is why I asked outside advice.

I have all my dry chem in a bag, and mix them in separate water bottles, labeled and dated. Then add the ferts to the water column from the water bottle pre shaken. I never add dry raw ferts to the tank. They just don't dissolve the way we (or the fish) would like.

Chem is more an RTR question. My concern was with such low levels there may be a flux in the water perams between water changes. This just may be assuming too much.. I don't know.

IPs are a definite consideration...

How is his poop? White (or clear) stringy is indicative of too much mucus in the stool or IPs. Stool that looks like a string of pearls is also another indicator.

[timwag2001]

lol. i was just reading your thread about me that the planted tank.

when he is out, he's looking for food. otherwise he sits back in the plants and waits for me. that was the first indicator that something was wrong because he was right out in the open. so since he is partially hidden i cant tell if he's deficating... or if he's ever for that matter.

do you think it would be a good idea to medicate and if so what should i use?

[J-P]

haha you caught me

anyway you can safely medicate the food without doing the entire tank.

Just search the hospital thread and you'll get a bunch of hits. Jungle fizz tabs are apparently very good.

because of the conditions the puffers come in from the wild, to distributors, to LFS, the chances that they have something are pretty high. Many puffer owners will treat new puffers for IPs regardless. The fact that he is swelling is a sign. Constipation could also be another reason, but that would have to be some serious stuff and your plants would not like it. It requires epsom salts.

I hope some of the mods, or mentors can jump in here.. there are a lot of variables to eliminate.

[timwag2001]

i know that some people feed peas to their fish for constipation. but i cant imagine him eating a pea.

and actually plants do like epsom salts. epsom salts are magnesium sulfate and i dose it every week.

i'll start to search for ways to medicate but like you said it would be really awesome to get some more help here at this thread

[timwag2001]

ok, i know its mean to mess with a sick fish but i felt as though i needed to see him move. i gave him a tiny nudge and he swam straight up. on the bottom of the fish between his pectoral (is that what they're called on a puffer) and his mouth are three holes. almost like he was bit or bounced up against something sharp or the fless is rotting away.

thoughts? some sort of infection?

[J-P]

I PM'd all the Mods and Mentors...

I hope I didn't step on any toes.

As Overstocked said on PT .. I am probably over reacting... I feel it is a chem Q, but yes, there is a possibility of IPs since they were not treated and introduced 7 moths ago.

Feel safe that you can treat for IPs safely and not upset the balance of the tank. If your ferts already include Epsom Salts, you can rule that one out ... Do a search but I think the recommended is 5mg / gallon.

Anyway ... we should hear from the big guns soon (I hope).

[timwag2001]

do you think ip could cause the sores under his face?