fahaka puffer

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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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Puffacus
Puffer Fry
Posts: 13
Joined: Sat May 28, 2011 1:45 pm
Location (country): Canada Winnipeg Manitoba

fahaka puffer

Post by Puffacus »

Ive kept 2 fahaka puffers in the last 5 years. My first once i bought as a little guy at around the 2 inch mark with absolutely no problems
But I ended up having to get rid of it due to being in a apartment and not being able to upgrade my tank size , had it in my 90g until it reached about the 11 inch mark . So the sad day came where i had to rehome it to a friend with a 240g tank

Now that ive bought a house and have my very own fish room 8) i got lucky to find a new 2 inch fahaka once again and time has gone and im sitting with about a 9 inch puffer , very happy guy and would eat blood worm at first then moved it up to night crawlers and shrimp and then i got frozen crabs and finally as a treat ill throw in some live crawfish
I have a 120g tank and do about 40 percent weekly water change and running 4 sponge filters and a Aqua clear 110 , and no you can never have to much filtration lol
This puffer ive never had to treat for anything never come across any issues until recently. About 4 weeks ago it with out any reason I can see it stopped eating , no signs of any issues it of course has lost some weight but no cloudy eyes nothing wrong with the skin , and teeth are fine seems active and still very friendly It seems to really like its belly rubbed lol
So spend about 6 hours of research on to why its not eating and coming across no real answer .Its hard to treat for something you cant see
Ive tried to tempt it with every type of food i can think of with no luck until today where it went for blood worm of all things , I have 4 crawfish who now live with him in the tank , one crawfish was literally hiding underneath my puffer
But anyways very happy to see a little appetite return
Has anyone else come across this type of behaviour of not eating for a long period of time?
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Pufferpunk
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Re: fahaka puffer

Post by Pufferpunk »

Please answer ALL the Qs above, in red.
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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Welch4
Fahaka Puffer
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Re: fahaka puffer

Post by Welch4 »

While we wait for the qs in red to be answered. Have you noticed any white stringy feces? Unless more info is provided the only thing i could suggest is treating for internal parasites. I have to do this with my gsp whenever i feed live crayfish. If i dont withing a couple of weeks i see the white stringies and if still left untreated is when noticable behavior changes kick in.
Forget other advice about puffers you don't hear here - Pufferpunk
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Puffacus
Puffer Fry
Posts: 13
Joined: Sat May 28, 2011 1:45 pm
Location (country): Canada Winnipeg Manitoba

Re: fahaka puffer

Post by Puffacus »

Ph is 7.8
nitrite 0
nitrate 0
amonia 0
Nothing of concern I can see with water test or anything physicAL on the puffer .

Great thing is I came back to 2 Crawfish that where eaten .The puffer seems to be eating but I'm curios on to why he stopped
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Pufferpunk
Queen Admin
Posts: 32975
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:
Contact Pufferpunk

Re: fahaka puffer

Post by Pufferpunk »

Why do you have 0 nitrate on a "cycled" tank???
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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Puffacus
Puffer Fry
Posts: 13
Joined: Sat May 28, 2011 1:45 pm
Location (country): Canada Winnipeg Manitoba

Re: fahaka puffer

Post by Puffacus »

Sorry nitrate is 20 ppm
Tds is 140 ppm
But I'm a bit concern with my phosphate level in my tap water which is 3.5 ppm are puffers sensitive to phosphates in higher levels ?
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User avatar
Pufferpunk
Queen Admin
Posts: 32975
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:
Contact Pufferpunk

Re: fahaka puffer

Post by Pufferpunk »

Nitrate is a bit high. Phosphates do not harm fish at all, even little delicate puffers. Sometimes if they are too high you'll get an algae bloom. TDS are fine.
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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Puffacus
Puffer Fry
Posts: 13
Joined: Sat May 28, 2011 1:45 pm
Location (country): Canada Winnipeg Manitoba

Re: fahaka puffer

Post by Puffacus »

Well it seems all is back to normal with the fahaka
eating well again
hmm ..... still no idea why it ever stopped ?
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