I recently just lost my 2 1/2 year old green spotted puffer fish named Ovy to what I thought was a filter malfunction, he got sucked up and got stuck 4 days ago me and my bf bought 2 figure 8 puffers, last night I was feeding them like usual and dropped in blood worm frozen cube, they were both kind of stand offish at first but began to nibble at it, we woke up this morning and they were both floating in the trees, lifeless. Has anyone ever come across bad blood worms??? the blood worms were all black in the morning and my fish were dead I'm getting worried that I'm not a good fish mommy and its kind of scaring me away from getting another one, but I LOVE having puffer fish, they are such an awesome fish! Could someone please help me figure what went wrong!
OvyPuffer wrote: Could someone please help me figure what went wrong!
were the worms red when you fed the fish, then turned black overnight?
do you have any more of the worms? if so, defrost some, and see if they smell spoiled or rotten.
what size tank do you have, and can you fill us in on the water parameters?
actually, it would be best to post in the hospital forum and try to answer all of the questions in the red box at the top as well as you can
very sorry for the loss of your fishes
"I plan ahead. That way, I don't have to do anything right now!"
Did you check your water parameters? Its weird that 3 died in the same tank in a short period of time...
Did you change the water after your GSP died.. maybe the SG was to much for the F8s to acclimate to from the store.
Also i always thaw and rinse the bloodworm cubes before feeding but i have heard of people just dropping the cube in i don't think that alone would kill them... Unless they eat it immediately when you drop the cube in?
They were red and turned black overnight, I checked on them in the morning and they were swimming around, then an hour later they were floating in the tree I have a 20g tank, the temp is always between 72 - 76.
I cleaned out the tank completely when my GSP died, bought a new filter & rocks, added the necessary chemicals and salt to make it brackish (Sorry, don't know the technical names) even let the filter run for a few days before I put the new F8 puffers in. Its odd though because I bought a package of frozen blood worms and I gave them 1 or 2 cubes earlier in the week and they were fine. But this cube is all black at the bottom of the tank now. I do apologize I'm not familiar on how to check the water parameters and how to tell if the water is off or not.
i personally defrost mine with boiled water, rinse then drop in required amount with tweezers, if it was same batch may have thawed then refroze etc. check water quality with a good test kit and post the results
It's amazing how easy maintenance is. If done regularly and thoroughly
your tank is uncycled, and to small. Your F8s probably died due to stress and bad water, not the bloodworms. THough you should thaw out the bloodworms before feeding them.
RTR wrote:Fahakas do not have tank mates, they may have swimming food reserves.
xrayjeeper83 wrote:your tank is uncycled, and to small. Your F8s probably died due to stress and bad water, not the bloodworms. THough you should thaw out the bloodworms before feeding them.
I did add the cycle substance to the tank a few days prior to putting the new fish in, when you say it's uncycled what do you mean?
ammonia and nitrite 0 nitrate very low. get a liquid test not strips (they are very innaccurate ) cost more but last longer. could you fill us in on your maintenance regime etc or repost in hospital answering all the questions that appear in red at the top of the page this will help massively
It's amazing how easy maintenance is. If done regularly and thoroughly
cycle is a gimmick basically. most "bacteria in a bottle to help cycle a tank" is, the only thing a majority of the people use here is Prime to dechlorinate the water. thats it, cycling i can link to you a good article on fishless cycling. its more than the pet stores tell you with letting the water sit for about a week, adding cycle and a dechlorinator. i agree the tank is too small also, most people will do 20 gallons for their first F8 and maybe an extra 15-20 gallons for each extra and maybe a brackish water tankmate down the line like a few bumblebee gobies. you have to take into consideration the adult size of the fish and the amount of waste they put out when looking into stocking a tank. listening to a pet store will get your fish to live a couple months tops, find a good forum and follow their advice, you will have fish that last their whole expected life span if not more. F8's can live into their teens i believe. look over the articles, prep your tank, start some snail breeding in a separate small tank so you have a good population and you will have a nice starting point for a new F8
4 days ago me and my bf bought 2 figure 8 puffers, last night I was feeding them like usual and dropped in blood worm frozen cube, they were both kind of stand offish at first but began to nibble at it, we woke up this morning and they were both floating in the trees, lifeless. Has anyone ever come across bad blood worms??? the blood worms were all black in the morning and my fish were dead 
