GSP SICK !

[Purifire]

Hey all.
I have been doing a 10% every 48 hours and letting the salt dissolve overnight.
Strangeley, although both puffers are still sick, Georgia has had a white belly throughout. I have not seen her go grey at all.
Both little guys now have splotchy skin though, both on the green and white portions. Ive come to the conclusion that there was way too much salt added when I did the 55% change. My first 10% change was completeley fresh water and I think that put the SG closer to the level they are used to, but a little lower. My ammonia is at negligible levels as of yesterday, I took a sample to Petco and they tested it.
Through these changes, the NitRATES have stayed in the danger zone, but Im staying on the changes. My main concern right now is that I havent seen them eat in 48 hrs + and I know thats a really bad sign. Their favourite foods are Bloodworms and Hikari Freeze Dried Krill. Last night I tried them on BWs... No luck. Tonight I soaked some krill in garlic water and that didnt work either. Lenny actually pulled into that "comma" distress pose and puffed up maybe 50% capacity when he caught a whiff of it. I gently prodded him down a ways from the surface because I didnt want him to inflate with air, and he snapped out of it.
Georgia is still listless but Lenny is showing a little vigour now. Both have a tendency to alternate side fins sometimes. I am concerned about whether the spike in salt and resulting dwop could have them constipated, I havent seen them eat but both have rounded bellies still. I have some freeze dried peas soaking right now because I heard they will work as a laxative, but I have no idea if they will eat them...
Any thoughts you guys?

[Purifire]

Their still not eating, but appear round bellied.... If they are constipated, can i take a gallon or two of their tank water, add salt, and after its mixed, give them a salt bath to boost their electrolytes so they can poop? Or is this a bad idea considering that they were recently exposed to a salt spike?

[trekenk]

I would suggest a bigger water change than 10% more like 50% pre day. Treatment for constipation is 1 tbsp Epsom salt pre every 5g. Add epsom salt right to the tank when doing water change.

[Lola]

Before you start adding things to the tank water, I would make sure to have great water quality. It's kind of worrysome that your nitrates are still so high despite all these recent water changes. PP's right - patch the extra tank and get everything else out of there but the puffs. Anything else is a band-aid.

[sevenyearnight]

It is virtually impossible for your puffers to have such a reaction based on a .0005 sg change, that's just way too small of a change. I don't think they are constipated either, those high nitrates are going to make them feel pretty awful.
I agree that 10% every two days is just too little, 50% everyday until those nitrates are down.
I wouldn't stress them out further by attempting a salt bath personally.

[Pufferpunk]

My ammonia is at negligible levels as of yesterday

There are no negligible levels for ammonia. It must remain 0 at all times! Get yourself a good liquid test kit,k API is recommended & start testing 2x/day & do WC accordingly. Ammonia/nitrite 0, nitrate <20. If you see anything other than that, do a 50% WC. At this point, I'd go back to FW & start over, since your tank isn't cycled anyway. Then read the BW mixing article in BW puffers. After your tank remains stable for over a week, you can start slowly raising the SG. In the4 meantime, get that other tank going, get all the other inhabitants out of the 29g. You're eventually going to need a much bigger tank for those puffers though.

I use a 30g hang on back filter

You need a filter that has 10x the turnover rate, so in essence a 300g filter. I'd get yourself an Aquaclear 110 for that tank. Eventually, you'll need 2 of them for their upgrade.

[Pufferluv09]

Have you tested your tap water for nitrates as a control? I'd be curious if your tap water has high nitrates in it to begin with. Definitely keep up with daily water changes.

[sevenyearnight]

My tap water reads ammonia levels sometimes as high as 1.0.

[Pufferluv09]

Woe, that is high. I wonder how accurate the testing is... I recommend getting an API liquid master test kit.

[sevenyearnight]

Woe, that is high. I wonder how accurate the testing is... I recommend getting an API liquid master test kit.

I do have an API, it's also been verified through the water company.
My tap ammonia is anywhere from .25 to 1.0, pH 6.0 - 6.8, and KH 8-10 ppm.
My tap water is urine pretty much

[Pufferluv09]

Woe, that is high. I wonder how accurate the testing is... I recommend getting an API liquid master test kit.

I do have an API, it's also been verified through the water company.
My tap ammonia is anywhere from .25 to 1.0, pH 6.0 - 6.8, and KH 8-10 ppm.
My tap water is urine pretty much

Yuck. How do your fish handle it? Does Prime help a lot with the ammonia - or does the bio filter in the aquarium keep it in check with small water changes?

[sevenyearnight]

Prime locks it for 24-48 hours, and my bio-filtration wipes it out pretty quickly. 30% - 40% water changes weekly, never an ammonia reading. My marine tanks get RO DI water. My freshwater tanks are heavily planted, so I have to add a lot of extras to my water. Something gets added to the tank every other day, and I monitor the KH and NO3 daily.

[Pufferluv09]

Very good.

[Purifire]

Hi guys .
Georgia is VERY sick still. She is bloated to the max and cant swim right. Furthermore, she is getting very tired. Her colours are neon green and pure white belly still, except for around her anus, which is diallated and swolen. She hasnt dropped a bowel movement OR eaten in DAYS now. All she is capable of doing is hoping to "land" upright when she crashes to the sand or decor from exaustion, and she doesnt manage to anymore. She lays on her side or even winds up belly up everytime today.
I have tried the saline baths.I gave 1-2 a day for 20minutes or there abouts for 3 days maybe. Also I heard about peas being a good laxative, and soaked some dehydrated ones in garlic infusion. Lenny, my slightly older puff in the tank, ate half of one and it opened his pipes back up, but Georgia doesnt seem to notice the food. Soooo... after approx 36 hrs of trying to get her to take her laxative, I ground up one of the peas and placed it in her mouth with a soft syringe. Instinctually she swallowed it down... And it NOT agree with her. She got about a half pea worth at MOST. I stopped feeding and she semi-inflated for maybe 45 seconds. She got some air into her puff because I was feeding her near the tank surface and freaked out when she freaked out, you guys know how it is... So I "burped" the air out more or less as Pufferpunk described (Thanks Queen Moderator!). Got a couple bubbles out and she calmed down.
That was the last nourishment she took in. Maybe 36 hrs ago. I did not help her move her bowels and I dont have a clue what to do next. please help if you guys have any tricks up your sleeves.

Note: If Georgia and Lenny were guppies (which I love and Breed)... I would have euthanized her already. But I have seen Lenny spend hours out of every day, following her around and giving her course-correction bumps to keep her from getting sucked into the filter intake, or hitting a coral skeleton when the filter water pushes her down. When she comes to rest on the substrate, he goes to her and lays next to her. When this is happening and I put my face where he can see it... He looks back and forth between me and her rapidly and paces in a tight little arc. I dont want Georgia to suffer if theres NO hope, but I knew before from my research that these little guys are different from most animals, and now I KNOW beyond a shadow of a doubt how deep their minds are. A dog or a cat wouldnt do that much to try and help their bond mate. They wouldnt know where to start.
So for BOTH of their sakes Im continuing to try.

ANY advice would be appreciated. Im considering more and more drastic of stuff. I even saw somewhere this guy saying to do a float with some tankwater and a small dose of beer to give her the runs. I didnt try it but damn i thought about it for 1/8th of a second. Im that worried!
-Purifire

[Purifire]

Btw, yes Pufferpunk, I know what you meant about the cycle. I actually "seeded" the tank with water and media from others until I began to push the salinity up. Im working on how to go about the 25g tank re-fix but in the meantime I seeded a 10g out of my other tanks and re homed all but 2 tiny fry that have thwarted my attempts at capture (when I have time to look for them instead of worrying about Georgia that is).
Thank you for all your help, this site and all you fellow enthusiasts is pure gold!
-Purifire