Skinny dwarf puffer already treated for IPs

Oh no! Sick fish?! Come here and see if someone can help!
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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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Phoenix91
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Re: Skinny dwarf puffer already treated for IPs

Post by Phoenix91 »

I haven't been able to find any yet,I've got another place to try tomorrow, it wasn't open Monday or today so I'll go tomorrow. It's more of a saltwater place but they do have some freshwater so it's worth a shot. If I can't find them there is there anywhere online that sells them? I know it would be overnight shipping for live but if they'd help it'd be worth it.
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Re: Skinny dwarf puffer already treated for IPs

Post by Pufferpunk »

California Blackworms sells/ships them. Not sure what the smallest amount you have to buy from them is.
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...

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Re: Skinny dwarf puffer already treated for IPs

Post by Phoenix91 »

Great thanks, if I can't find any tomorrow I'll check out California black worms.
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Re: Skinny dwarf puffer already treated for IPs

Post by Phoenix91 »

It looks like my shopping trip will have to wait until tomorrow at the earliest, we got about 5 inches of snow last night and its still coming down. The good news is I found black worms for I think $19.99 inc shipping online. Plus Button finally discovered the joy of mid sized snails this morning with a bit of coaxing, once she got the hang of it she gobbled it up, she's got a nice little belly on her now.
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Re: Skinny dwarf puffer already treated for IPs

Post by Pufferpunk »

You're gonna need a brine shrimp net for rinsing the worms. Rinse them under cold water every day. Put into a Coolwhip (or similar) container with holes punched out of the lid, in very little water. I feed them with crushed flakes & boost them with Vita-Chem drops.
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!"
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Re: Skinny dwarf puffer already treated for IPs

Post by G S P Freak »

+1 To the above. I reccomend using gallon jugs of spring water for rinsing. Dechlorinated tap water seemed to always kill them for me but your water may be better, who knows!
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Re: Skinny dwarf puffer already treated for IPs

Post by RTR »

I use a lot of the old blue worm boxes and rinse w/aged and tempered water w/o problems. I also use powdered flake for feeding.
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Re: Skinny dwarf puffer already treated for IPs

Post by Phoenix91 »

Bad news i'm afraid.

I did manage to get some black worms from the local store and she was eating them. Unfortunately with the arctic chill my house heating couldn't cope; my house temps went down to 60 overnight on Monday night, i was so careful about checking both the puffer tank and my salt tanks heating and temps before i went to bed Monday night. I was more concerned about the salt tank since i have sps corals in there and any slight change is enough to kill them off. I checked Buttons tank and it was fine when i went to bed however when i got up Tuesday morning her tank temp was down to just below 70, i'd say 68/69. I think with the house temps being so low that the tank heater was working extra hard and failed. I use a different brand of heater in my salt tank than in the fw tank. I had a spare heater and put it in to warm her tank up, she was sluggish but i was hopeful. She was eating this morning, still sluggish but again i had hope she'd pull through. I came home from work and she was gone. The temp dive and the fact she was already struggling to recover from ips was too much for her.

I'm sad, she was recovering and eating well. Luck just wasn't on our side this time. She had 3 years with me which doesn't seem long but it was something. I'll keep her in the freezer until the front yard thaws out and bury her with her brother.

Here she is at her best :)
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Re: Skinny dwarf puffer already treated for IPs

Post by Infinity8 »

So sorry for your loss! :( That pic is precious!
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Re: Skinny dwarf puffer already treated for IPs

Post by Pufferpunk »

:(
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!"
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Re: Skinny dwarf puffer already treated for IPs

Post by bertie 83 »

You tried your hardest, sorry for your loss
It's amazing how easy maintenance is. If done regularly and thoroughly
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Re: Skinny dwarf puffer already treated for IPs

Post by GSP32 »

Ah so sorry :( How long do dwarfs usually live I wonder....
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Re: Skinny dwarf puffer already treated for IPs

Post by Phoenix91 »

Thanks, this was tough, I felt completely helpless over the last few days.

I don't know how long they live but I've checked and I had her for almost 4 years and I bet she was about 6 months or so when I got her.
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Re: Skinny dwarf puffer already treated for IPs

Post by G S P Freak »

Considering that life expectancy is stated at 3-5 yrs, it seem you did good. She had a full and happy life, she might have even just passed from old age, who knows. Sorry for your loss =/.
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Re: Skinny dwarf puffer already treated for IPs

Post by Phoenix91 »

Thanks. I had no idea how long they lived. I'm glad she seems to have been old aged when she went.
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