Pea puffers settling in

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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GillO
Puffer Fry
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Apr 04, 2022 5:20 am
Location (country): Uk

Pea puffers settling in

Post by GillO »

I am the proud keeper of 5 baby pea puffers. My waters are ph 8, nitrite 3 ppm, hardness 180 and kept at 27 degrees. The tank is highly planted and has a large hard landscaped green man in the middle, so many hidey holes. They were fed on live worms in the shop. I gave them live worms for the first 48 hrs which a few puffers reluctantly nibbled at. I put this down to stress. This was 10 days ago. Since then I have been enticing them to eat frozen blood worms. They refuse. They look vaguely interested as the bloodworm floats by, but nothing. Help please. They seem to be growing… and seem ok. But I’m losing sleep… I was the most I’ve been exciting for ages but it’s turning into a nightmare. Can anyone save us …

Ps done water change too x
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Pufferpunk
Queen Admin
Posts: 32755
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: Pea puffers settling in

Post by Pufferpunk »

Nitrite 3? How large is the tank? How was it cycled? My stinkers will only eat live.
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!"
GillO
Puffer Fry
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Apr 04, 2022 5:20 am
Location (country): Uk

Re: Pea puffers settling in

Post by GillO »

50 litres, fully cycled fish tank for several years beforehand. Nitrites 1ppm now after water changes.

Could they have worms? Or are they just picky?
User avatar
Pufferpunk
Queen Admin
Posts: 32755
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: Pea puffers settling in

Post by Pufferpunk »

ANY amount of nitrite is extremely toxic to your fish. I wouldn't eat either.
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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