Sick Pupper?

[TDorr90]

I have had my puffer tank for about a yr. There are 3 puffers and 2 albino half-beaks. They all live in harmony together. Within the last 4 or 5 days I have noticed one puffer no longer comes out at every feeding, and has been hiding in a cave for the majority of the time. The other two puffers are perfectly fine. I have not made any new changes to the tank before my puffer started acting this way. Two days ago I did add a blue mystery snail to the tank. Yesterday (feb.7) was the only time I saw the puffer out at feeding time. Is my puffer sick, or is there something else going on with him/her?

[Pufferpunk]

Hard to tell anything without you answering ALL the questions above, in red.

[bertie 83]

Yes please answer all the questions above,

[TDorr90]

i did another strip test today. The nitrate is high at 80 (was not when i first did the test the day after puffer stopped coming out of cave). Nitrite is safe at 0. Total hardness is soft at 75. Alkalinity is low between 0 and 40. pH is neutral at 6.8. Its a ten gallon tank with 3 pea puffers. 2 albino half-beaks, a pleco and a blue mystery snail. Feed them a small amount of frozen brine shrimp at around 8 am and then again at 10 pm. Lights out at 1040pm. Water changes once a month, I only used distilled water. I do not use any additives. Again, the only change made was adding the blue mystery snail a few days after puffer stopped coming out. The aquarium is about a year old and cycled for a few days before getting any fish.

[TDorr90]

I did a follow-up ammonia test, and the levels are ideal for the results.

[RTR]

Most test strips are not reliable.

Frozen/thawed brine shrimp alone is not at all an adequate diet for those fish either.

A ten gallon tank is suitable for 3 dwarf puffers only. That tank is IMHO horribly overcrowded. There is little or no hope for the fish to live long healthy normal lives. With one water partial per month I would project less than 50% survival for one year. Sorry, but I consider that cruelty to the fish so housed.

[GSP32]

Like RTR said, way overcrowded.

You need a proper liquid test kit or to bring a sample to your lfs because strips are not reliable. You should do a wc once a week once your parameters are in check but right now I would do 2 25% ones a week until your nitrates are lower. Make sure that you clean half of your gravel per week, lift decorations to clean under them.

Do you rinse the thawed brine shrimp before putting them in? the liquid with them can foul the water.

Mystery snails are major poop machines... I had a few to breed and I had to do 2 wc a week to keep the water ok.

If you added the dwarf puffers you have in there new a few days after you put water in the tank then they cycled your tank, not sure how that will affect them long term. But I'm not sure if it was a few days after the tank was set up or a few days after it was cycled from your post.

I hope it's not a common sailfin pleco you have in there....

[bertie 83]

+1 to the posts above

[Pufferpunk]

Unless you have horrible tap water, do not use distilled. Tap water conditioned with Prime is all you need.
Get a good test kit like this one: http://www.amazon.com/API-Freshwater-Ma ... r+test+kit

50% weekly WC are always recommended. Do 50% daily, until your nitrate is <20. Then do at least 2x/week, until you re-home most of those other fish (especially the pleco). Common plecos grow to 18"!!!

You'll need healthier foods for them. Brine shrimp has no nutrition, being 98% water. Mine are spoiled & will only eat live black worms fed crushed plankton & soaked in Vita-Chem. If you can get them to eat frozen plankton/bloodworms, that's great, even freeze-dried plankton is good. Don't forget to offer them snails, as small as their eye.

[TDorr90]

I do feed them smaller snails once or twice a week. The pet stores by me all use the same test strips I used for my water testing. I will get a water test kit and retest the water again. The fish store I bought all of my fish from (including the pleco) told me that the amount of fish in my tank is fine as long as I do not add any more fish. Also recommended the pleco I bought as an excellent tank mate too. I will have to reconsider some of the decisions I made at that time. I am investing in getting a bigger tank for my puffers, but I will not put the pleco in there or add any more fish. Where is the best place to buy nutritional food for my puffers? Whats the best fish to use instead of the pleco? I use distilled water because I feel the conditioner in our water is too much for them. So i opted for distilled. it is also the water that I used when I set up the tank.

[TDorr90]

I would also like to add that I have a filter for a 15 gallon tank, not the filter that came with the tank. I felt that one was not working properly when I first set the tank up.

[Pufferpunk]

Puffer feeding tips: library/feeding/feeding-your-puffers/

Use tap water for now on & condition with Prime.
I'm glad you'll be getting yourself a good, liquid test kit! I've never heard of a fish store using strips!

[TDorr90]

Everything that I have been doing is what The Fish Place told me in regards to caring for my fish. I have learned my lesson not to follow their instructions and to do more research on them. Thank you everyone for all your help! It was also the fish store that told me about monthly water changes =/ I appreciate all of the help Is it ok to use the frozen shrimp as a treat for them, once or twice a week?

[TDorr90]

Where is the best place to find prime for the tap water? The local pet stores around me are petsmart, petco, pet supplies plus, and The Fish Place (where i buy the puffers and frozen brine shrimp). Or should I buy it online? And is there a specific one that is better than another?

[Pufferpunk]

I buy most of my fish supplies (including filters) from Amazon.