My Puffer Died in the Tank, Is the Water Poisonous to me?

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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Doublev
Puffer Fry
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Sep 27, 2019 8:37 am
Location (country): United States

My Puffer Died in the Tank, Is the Water Poisonous to me?

Post by Doublev »

My Puffer Died in the Tank, Is the Water Poisonous to me? Also, do I need to empty the entire tank out before I ever put any new fish in or can I just do a large water change? Will the water poison new fish? Thanks for any info. Don't want to kill me or any fish, sad enough that my little puffer died.
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Pufferpunk
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Posts: 32773
Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
Gender: Female
My Puffers: Filbert, the 12" T lineatus
Punkster, the 4" red T miurus
Mongo, the 4" A modestus
2 T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
Also kept:
lorteti
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Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
Location: Chicago
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Re: My Puffer Died in the Tank, Is the Water Poisonous to me?

Post by Pufferpunk »

Only the internal organs are poisonous. I would do a 100% WC though, to remove any nasties that might have caused the puffer's death. Do you know the reason for its demise?
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!"
Doublev
Puffer Fry
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Sep 27, 2019 8:37 am
Location (country): United States

Re: My Puffer Died in the Tank, Is the Water Poisonous to me?

Post by Doublev »

The store said I only have to change 10% is that correct. She was eating and super energetic every day. She ate the night before she died at 9:30. I went to feed her agin at 10:00 and she swam up to in touched it with her beak and did not eat it- no usual for her. Is lockjaw possible? Would she die that quickly?
User avatar
Pufferpunk
Queen Admin
Posts: 32773
Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
Gender: Female
My Puffers: Filbert, the 12" T lineatus
Punkster, the 4" red T miurus
Mongo, the 4" A modestus
2 T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
Also kept:
lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles
Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
Location: Chicago
Contact:

Re: My Puffer Died in the Tank, Is the Water Poisonous to me?

Post by Pufferpunk »

Moving to the Hospital forum, so you can answer ALL the questions 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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