I just got a porcupine puffer today, about 4 hours ago. When I first put him in, he swam around for about 16 minutes or so and seemed to be ok. Then he went behind a rock and laid down on the sand and has barely moved. He almost looks like he's gasping for air.
Tank specifics are this:
Nitrite 5
Nitrate 80
pH 8.2
Ammonia 0.25
Specific gravity 1.022
The tank is a 220 gallon with the following inhabitants:
5 Turbo snails
3 hermit crabs
1 emerald crab
10 or so tiny snails and crabs (don't know what kind)
1 yellow clown goby
2 domino damsels
2 green chromis
2 blue damsels (these were sold as "assorted damsels")
I feed a mix of Omega One flakes and Shrimp pellets in the morning and frozen mysis shrimp and frozen emerald treats in the evening.
The tank has only been up for about 10 weeks and I haven't done any water changes yet.
I've not added any products
For the first four weeks, my husband worked with the tank and added liquid ammonia and shrimp to cycle the tank.
After the spike, we added about half of the clean up crew and the 4 damsels and 2 chromis.
We haven't lost any fish.
Two weeks ago we added the yellow clown goby and the other half of the clean up crew.
Hopefully that's most of the information you need.
Just got porcupine puffer today... laying at bottom of tank
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
- Moderator
- Posts: 5298
- Joined: Tue Apr 12, 2011 4:28 pm
- Gender: Male
- 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: Just got porcupine puffer today... laying at bottom of t
Hi and welcome. Your tank readings tell me your tank is not cycled, you should not be showing any ammonia or nitrite and nitrates should be kept below 20 to keep healthy puffers. How long has the tank been set up? I would advise doing a large water change or two to get those numbers down
It's amazing how easy maintenance is. If done regularly and thoroughly
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bertie 83
- Moderator
- Posts: 5298
- Joined: Tue Apr 12, 2011 4:28 pm
- Gender: Male
- 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: Just got porcupine puffer today... laying at bottom of t
Just spotted its been up for ten weeks, how does your source water test? Do you have live rock?
It's amazing how easy maintenance is. If done regularly and thoroughly
Re: Just got porcupine puffer today... laying at bottom of t
We have about 40 pounds of live Fiji rock and 40 pounds of dead rock.
I'm assuming by source water you mean what I add to the tank?
It's water that I bought from the pet store and didn't test it.
I'm assuming by source water you mean what I add to the tank?
It's water that I bought from the pet store and didn't test it.
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G S P Freak
- Green Spotted Puffer
- Posts: 421
- Joined: Sat Sep 22, 2012 6:58 pm
- Gender: Male
- My Puffers: Figure Eight Puffers, Binks (29G)
Dwarf puffers, named "He-Puffer" (male) and She-puffer (female) (10g)
Non-puffer:
1 Red-eared slider, Tortuga (female)(100g)
1 rubber lip pleco - Location (country): USA, Indiana
Re: Just got porcupine puffer today... laying at bottom of t
Your problem may be the fact you haven't done a water change for 10 weeks! Even a well set up FOWLR needs 30-50% water change per month, leaving you about 2-3 water changes behind. I'd do a 50% WC asap.
No human being, however great, or powerful, was ever so free as a fish.
-John Ruskin-
"I have to laugh when people call fish-keeping a hobby, if anything, it's a science... and for some, an obsession." - Me
-John Ruskin-
"I have to laugh when people call fish-keeping a hobby, if anything, it's a science... and for some, an obsession." - Me
Re: Just got porcupine puffer today... laying at bottom of t
The LFS that has helped us set up the tank from the beginning said no water changes until at least 12 weeks because it will mess up with building the healthy bacteria. But this poor puffer looks so sad, I guess it's worth a shot.
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G S P Freak
- Green Spotted Puffer
- Posts: 421
- Joined: Sat Sep 22, 2012 6:58 pm
- Gender: Male
- My Puffers: Figure Eight Puffers, Binks (29G)
Dwarf puffers, named "He-Puffer" (male) and She-puffer (female) (10g)
Non-puffer:
1 Red-eared slider, Tortuga (female)(100g)
1 rubber lip pleco - Location (country): USA, Indiana
Re: Just got porcupine puffer today... laying at bottom of t
One word of advice, only trust the word of your LFS if you can back it up reliably online or from experts... Google is your best friend! The internet is full of people with similar experiences/questions. As for that advice, it has some merit but also 12 week is a little excessive. As soon as your tank is cycled and established you can start performing water changes, the nitrifying bacteria are present in your cured live rock, and attached to surfaces, and aren't present in the water column. What does this mean? It means as long as water changes are consistent in volume and water specifications (S.G., temp, etc.) then your bacteria will not die off enough to ruin your bacteria colony.
Also remember, puffers are scaleless and have sensitive gills, which means they are less tolerable of conditions that may otherwise not overly affect other scaled fish. Some fish may survive in conditions in which a puffers health would be compromised.
Also remember, puffers are scaleless and have sensitive gills, which means they are less tolerable of conditions that may otherwise not overly affect other scaled fish. Some fish may survive in conditions in which a puffers health would be compromised.
No human being, however great, or powerful, was ever so free as a fish.
-John Ruskin-
"I have to laugh when people call fish-keeping a hobby, if anything, it's a science... and for some, an obsession." - Me
-John Ruskin-
"I have to laugh when people call fish-keeping a hobby, if anything, it's a science... and for some, an obsession." - Me
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defool89
- Fahaka Puffer
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Re: Just got porcupine puffer today... laying at bottom of t
Yes do a large wc fast. Get rid of that water.
Find a store that carries this and add it to your tank, consider it an emergency since you already have inhabitants.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B003ODDS5 ... 1_1&sr=8-1
Find a store that carries this and add it to your tank, consider it an emergency since you already have inhabitants.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B003ODDS5 ... 1_1&sr=8-1
You have the right to bear Puffers.
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Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
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- Location: Greenville, SC
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Re: Just got porcupine puffer today... laying at bottom of t
If her tank is suffering from the LR still curing, this product won't help. 40lbs of cured LR, should support the bioload in there.
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!"