Hi,
I'm new to his site and need some help. My fahaka puffer has been show symptoms of being sick and I cannot identify what is wrong with him. He has redness around his entire mouth, has stopped eating, sits at either the bottom of the tank or floats on the top, and appears to have what looks like bumps or white spots in some places such as his back. I have been watching the redness for about two and a half weeks and has been getting worse (kind of like spreading around his mouth) and he hasn't eaten in five days. He also has "fits" in the tank on occasion - thrashing around violently (I've had him for three years and never saw this behavior), thrashing around in the tank in circles, running into rocks in the tank, etc. Also, last night I noticed small white worms crawling on the glass of the tank.
I have tested the pH of the tank for the past two and a half weekks and it has been stable at 6.8. He is the only fish in a tank of 170 gallons. I feed him frozen krill five times a week and snails or small feeder fish twice a week. I did move about 5 weeks ago but made sure the tank had cycled through before I put Howie back in. I have not added anything to the tank since I moved and the tank contains no salt, etc.
Any help would be much appreciated! Thanks!
Fahaka puffer...concerned
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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purplecandle
- Mbu Puffer
- Posts: 2019
- Joined: Sun Jan 24, 2010 2:18 pm
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Currently
2 Adult Green Spotted Puffers
1 Fangs Puffer
1 Baby Green Spotted Puffer - Location (country): USA (NC)
Re: Fahaka puffer...concerned
Ok. The white worms are planaria.
If you have those then you high high nitrAtes and probably ammonia.
That means more maintenance needs to be done on the tank. Puffers need weekly water changes.
Now the puffer is stressed due to the water conditions and is getting sick from that.
The flashing is a symptom of bad water quality as well as the secondary "infection" around the mouth.
There are also nutritional issues here. Krill & feeder fish are not appropriate for a fahaka nutritional wise. He also needs way more crunchy food and his teeth may be overgrown to the point were he can't eat.
You need to start doing more water changes ASAP and get a liquid test kit so you will know your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels.
If you have those then you high high nitrAtes and probably ammonia.
That means more maintenance needs to be done on the tank. Puffers need weekly water changes.
Now the puffer is stressed due to the water conditions and is getting sick from that.
The flashing is a symptom of bad water quality as well as the secondary "infection" around the mouth.
There are also nutritional issues here. Krill & feeder fish are not appropriate for a fahaka nutritional wise. He also needs way more crunchy food and his teeth may be overgrown to the point were he can't eat.
You need to start doing more water changes ASAP and get a liquid test kit so you will know your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels.
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defool89
- Fahaka Puffer
- Posts: 821
- Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2012 12:40 pm
- Gender: Male
- My Puffers: 1 Fahaka
- Location (country): United states, Garland Texas
Re: Fahaka puffer...concerned
Fahakas aren't fish eaters, they are bad for the liver and if you compromise the bodies filtration, you're making it more prone to illness. Feeders may carry a lot of bad junk.
You have the right to bear Puffers.
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Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
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- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
- Gender: Female
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T miurus
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burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Greenville, SC
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Re: Fahaka puffer...concerned
Have you gotten those test kits? How is he now?
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!"
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Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32987
- 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: Fahaka puffer...concerned
Have you gotten those test kits? How is he now?
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!"