Please help my Fahaka!
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.
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Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32976
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Puffers I have kept:
T lineatus
T miurus
A modestus
T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
C lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Greenville, SC
- Contact:
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BubblePUffer
- Dwarf Puffer
- Posts: 71
- Joined: Wed Mar 01, 2006 1:03 am
- Location: Edmonton, AB. Ca
Some call it a product of a mis-spent youth, I call it Rock n Roll ! 
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BubblePUffer
- Dwarf Puffer
- Posts: 71
- Joined: Wed Mar 01, 2006 1:03 am
- Location: Edmonton, AB. Ca
Here is a link to it: http://www.aq-products.com/geltek/geltek.htm Has anyone tried this product?BubblePUffer wrote:Will this help "Gel-Tek Ultra Cure BX" - Treats infections such as: septicemia, kidney disease, wasting disease and bacterial enteritis.
He's not doing any better. He's still lying on his back. When ever I walk into the room he'll try to flip himself over and sometimes he can, sometimes he can't. But when he sees me and tries to flip over the lump will go away; like he's using his muscles to flip over and it pushes the lump down... But the lump is definitely centred in his lower left. I'm still trying to find out what organ that would be. Thanks for your concern.BubblePUffer wrote:Hi Toofazt
Any update of your puffer situation.... how is he right now, much better?
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Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32976
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Puffers I have kept:
T lineatus
T miurus
A modestus
T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
C lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Greenville, SC
- Contact:
I emailed a bunch of different university icthiology professors. Only one has emailed me back and he said: "This is a medical problem, not one of anatomy. You should contact a veterinarian immediately to get referrals to someone who specializes in fishes (such people are not very common). Although they are marine-oriented, the Aquarium of the Pacific might be able to refer you to a fish-vet who might be able to help. Vet assistance costs $$$$ so be prepared to pay." That's what I didn't want to hear because I don't have a lot of extra money to take him to a vetPufferpunk wrote:So sorry we can't be of more help. Did you look into a vet or university?
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Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32976
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Puffers I have kept:
T lineatus
T miurus
A modestus
T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
C lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Greenville, SC
- Contact:
I just came back from the Chicagoland Family Pet Show. There were some representatives from the College of Veterinary medicine, in Urbana-Champaign, IL. They told me the "fish Dr" there is a Dr Thomas Everll. I tried a search at their site for him & nothing came up.
http://www.cvm.uiuc.edu/
http://www.cvm.uiuc.edu/
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!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
Well, I'm going to try this product because I have no other ideas. I haven't heard anything bad or good about it, but I don't know what else to do. The active ingredients are: Nitrofurazone 0.03%, Triple Sulfa 0.03% (Sulfadiazine, Sulfamethazine and Sulfamerazine). I guess you just offer the fish at least 5 drops twice a day in substitute for food. I know I shouldn't drop anything down his throat, but this is a gel and it won't clog anything. So I guess I'll be trying this and let you know how it goes...toofazt wrote:Here is a link to it: http://www.aq-products.com/geltek/geltek.htm Has anyone tried this product?BubblePUffer wrote:Will this help "Gel-Tek Ultra Cure BX" - Treats infections such as: septicemia, kidney disease, wasting disease and bacterial enteritis.
He ignores it. I don't really want him to eat though because of the swollen 'organ'. I figure this gel can't really cause any bad effects, so hopefully it helps.x0rtrunks wrote:Good luck.
If you have him close to the surface and you offer some form of food, does he respond at all, or just completely ignore it?