Okay, so a few days ago I thought that one of my GSP's looked a bit thin. However, comparing it to my other GSP, anyone could look thin. My smaller GSP has not eaten in 3 days, and does not even seem interested in food. I have tried several different foods, such as baby brine shrimp, frozen tubifex, and live mealworms. This little guy is not hungry. His color is a bit darker green than his normal, and his belly is dark and staying dark.
I have a 10 gallon FW (I know, I'm converting it to brackish this weekend), with 2 GSP's and a common pleco. There are a few trumpet snails, and a few live plants. I have a diy co2 system, and an 02 bubble wand, sand for substrate. My parameters are: PH: 7.4. Ammonia:0. Nitrite: 0. Nitrate: 10. I have performed a 25% wc today, but my little guy is the same. Usually after a wc, my puffers seem to like their new water. So, I noticed today that this little puffer is very weak, and is not swimming well. His left side fin does not move as much as his right side fin, although it does move a bit. It is not stuck to his body. He has been on the floor of the tank quite a bit today. My thought today was that my fish has a parasitic infection. My bigger gsp has a lumpy belly, quite bigger than it's normal, even before feeding. I have picked up a pack of API General Cure, which is wide parasitic treatment, and have given the tank it's first treatment. I took out the carbon from my filter. Any other thoughts? I also noticed that I had root rot on one of my plants about a week ago, and have not seemed to remove all of the darkened particles in the sand, however, I do just toss the sand that I have vaccuumed out since. We thought maybe at first it was because the fish are not in brackish water just yet, so we went to the lfs to purchase materials for brackish water, but figured we should treat for infection first.
Parasites?
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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bertie 83
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Re: Parasites?
Far too much bio-load for a 10g. I would sort that asap
It's amazing how easy maintenance is. If done regularly and thoroughly
Re: Parasites?
There are 2 fish in this tank, plus a pleco and maybe some snails, but I haven't seen any trace of the trumpet in about a week, so I am not sure.bertie 83 wrote:Far too much bio-load for a 10g. I would sort that asap
Re: Parasites?
also, I check my water parameters weekly, and always have 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite.
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bertie 83
- Moderator
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- My Puffers: lineatus R.I.P, South American puffer. Valentini puffer, porcupine puffer.
Non puffer
Danios, Tetras, Redtail Rasporas,
Harlequins, CAE's, Yoyo
Loaches, Clown loaches ,Eels, various shrimp, tangs,wrasses, damsels, chromis - Location (country): Brighton, England
- Location: brighton , england
Re: Parasites?
On top of that could be stress. 30g min for a single gsp. How big are they and how old?
It's amazing how easy maintenance is. If done regularly and thoroughly
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Pufferpunk
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burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
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Re: Parasites?
Please do not force that poor FW pleco into BW.
As far as your GSPs: viewtopic.php?f=68&t=28469
As far as treating for IPs, you must treat their food, not the water.
As far as your GSPs: viewtopic.php?f=68&t=28469
As far as treating for IPs, you must treat their food, not the water.
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!"
Re: Parasites?
I know that I will be losing my pleco when I change to brackish. I did not state that I was going to do that. I am researching brackish algae eaters. My gsp's are 1 inch, and I do not know how old they are. They were not born here. Also, how do I treat their food for parasites, if my little guy refuses to eat? I've put his favorites in their, and he doesn't even try to bite. My gsp is probably not going to make. He is looking worse and worse.
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Pufferpunk
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C lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Greenville, SC
- Contact:
Re: Parasites?
He may be too far gone but IPs are contagious, so you need to treat them both. Soak their food in the meds of an hour or 2.
What do you mean by "I know that I will be losing my pleco when I change to brackish"? There are no BW algae-eaters.
What do you mean by "I know that I will be losing my pleco when I change to brackish"? There are no BW algae-eaters.
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!"
Re: Parasites?
I will treat the whole tank. What I meant by losing my pleco, was that I will be moving him to a different tank. I have a 20g fw planted I sure he would enjoy. I really was just asking here to see if anyone else thought this problem sounded like a parasitic infection.Pufferpunk wrote:He may be too far gone but IPs are contagious, so you need to treat them both. Soak their food in the meds of an hour or 2.
What do you mean by "I know that I will be losing my pleco when I change to brackish"? There are no BW algae-eaters.
Re: Parasites?
this may post twice, my internet froze while posting, but here we go. I am going to move my pleco to a fw planted tank. I am going to treat the entire tank, but the directions on my medication box say to just pour powder medicine into water. I would like to know if anyone else has seen this with a parasitic puffer, as the link given states that some gsp's come infested with parasites. Also, everyone has their own ideas about how many fish to put into a tank. I have 4 inches of fish in a 10 gallon, and my water parameters are good.Pufferpunk wrote:He may be too far gone but IPs are contagious, so you need to treat them both. Soak their food in the meds of an hour or 2.
What do you mean by "I know that I will be losing my pleco when I change to brackish"? There are no BW algae-eaters.
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Pufferpunk
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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
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Re: Parasites?
Your pleco will grow to 18". Way too large for a 20g.
I don't care what the package says, treat the insides of the fish, not the outsides. FW fish, do not drink water. In 37 years, yes--I have treated many, many fish for IPs.
The 1"/g rule is for 1" long, slim-boddied species, not the large-massed species like a puffer. Read my article please.
I don't care what the package says, treat the insides of the fish, not the outsides. FW fish, do not drink water. In 37 years, yes--I have treated many, many fish for IPs.
The 1"/g rule is for 1" long, slim-boddied species, not the large-massed species like a puffer. Read my article please.
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!"
-
Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32979
- 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:
Re: Parasites?
Your pleco will grow to 18". Way too large for a 20g.
I don't care what the package says, treat the insides of the fish, not the outsides. FW fish, do not drink water. In 37 years, yes--I have treated many, many fish for IPs.
The 1"/g rule is for 1" long, slim-bodied species, not the large-massed species like a puffer. Read my article please.
I don't care what the package says, treat the insides of the fish, not the outsides. FW fish, do not drink water. In 37 years, yes--I have treated many, many fish for IPs.
The 1"/g rule is for 1" long, slim-bodied species, not the large-massed species like a puffer. Read my article please.
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!"
Re: Parasites?
So, does it sound like a parasitic infection to you, then?
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suvattii2012
- Green Spotted Puffer
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Re: Parasites?
I have researched, and found many sites that say I can have gsp in my 10g. I am here to research, not to be judged or ridiculed. I am not trying to defensive here, but I really just wanted advice on what could possibly be wrong with my fish. Believe me, I have read and read and read about my puffers, and the link below given i have already read. Not many people that have answered this have even stayed on task. I was trying to diagnose my fish, and still have not received any help.