swollen sharpnose pufferfish HELP!

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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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puffywuffy
Puffer Fry
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swollen sharpnose pufferfish HELP!

Post by puffywuffy »

My sharpnose puffer began looking unusually puffed up in the abdomen region about two weeks ago. About 3 days ago he started looking like generalized edema, swollen everywhere, but as if fluid has entered the tissues, not as if it is inflated like a balloon. Help!

1) Salinity-1.03

2) 75gallons. All other fish are normal. Juvenile French Angelfish, Juvenile Blue Surgeonfish, Juvenile Parrotfish, Juvenile Rosy Blennie.

3) in the morning algae, at night shrimp. once a month water change.

4) 3 weeks ago we put in new live rock and did a thorough algae debridement.

5)More than 5 years? I don't remember.

Here are pictures of the puffer:
Image
Image
Image
This is what sharpnose usually look like:
Image
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Pufferpunk
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Re: swollen sharpnose pufferfish HELP!

Post by Pufferpunk »

Why is the SG so high? Try reducing it to 1.025. Add epsom salt at 1 tbsp/5g. Is he pooping?
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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puffywuffy
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Re: swollen sharpnose pufferfish HELP!

Post by puffywuffy »

Pufferpunk wrote:Why is the SG so high? Try reducing it to 1.025. Add epsom salt at 1 tbsp/5g. Is he pooping?
I actually rounded up the salinity number didn't think it would matter. (sorry!) just measured it again the exact number is 1.027

no he is not pooping, at least haven't seen him recently
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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:
Contact Pufferpunk

Re: swollen sharpnose pufferfish HELP!

Post by Pufferpunk »

Still no reason to be that high. Even with high-end corals, I never kept it higher than 1.026 & yes, it does matter that you don't round up ;)

Can you QT him & treat with the epsom salt? Otherwise, you'll be adding a lot to the 75g.
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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puffywuffy
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Joined: Thu Nov 10, 2016 9:14 pm
Location (country): United States

Re: swollen sharpnose pufferfish HELP!

Post by puffywuffy »

Pufferpunk wrote:Still no reason to be that high. Even with high-end corals, I never kept it higher than 1.026 & yes, it does matter that you don't round up ;)

Can you QT him & treat with the epsom salt? Otherwise, you'll be adding a lot to the 75g.
oh ok! thanks

I tried quaranteening him and adding salt, but unfortunately I think I waited too long to treat it. poor little puff died yesterday night. ;_;

thank you for the help! glad this forum is here to help out all the sick pufferfish.
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User avatar
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:
Contact Pufferpunk

Re: swollen sharpnose pufferfish HELP!

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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