Very unwell dwarf 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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Steve1976
Puffer Fry
Posts: 21
Joined: Mon Sep 23, 2019 3:30 pm
Location (country): Great Britain

Very unwell dwarf puffer

Post by Steve1976 »

Hi! First, parameters;

Tank size: currently 7Gallons
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0-5
Phosphate: 0
PH: 7.2
Tank team: 2 x dwarf/pea puffers
Food: dried mealworm, bloodworm
No changes in last week, tank fully cycled several months

Ok, we have two pea puffers. One is super healthy, one has always been grey and smaller. The smaller one a few weeks ago looked like he all of a sudden had overgrown teeth, within an hour this had gone down so I assumed it was a snail shell or similar (snails came in on plants).

The last two days, he has the same thing, not as bulbous looking but he can’t shut his mouth and whatever it is kind of juts upwards from his top lip. I’ve trie d to take photos but it’s hard! He can’t eat - he can get things in his mouth but spits them back out again, and as you can see from the photos he is so thin now I’m surprised he’s still around.

Any ideas? What can we do? Don’t want to sedate with clove oil to look as he is so tiny I don’t think he’d wake back up. He’s still swimming around, so he has some energy, but he is breathing quite heavily.

Any and all advice welcome, thank you

Sorry, all of the traffic hit is in my phone are coming up as too large so I can’t upload them
Steve1976
Puffer Fry
Posts: 21
Joined: Mon Sep 23, 2019 3:30 pm
Location (country): Great Britain

Re: Very unwell dwarf puffer

Post by Steve1976 »

Managed to resize the photos..
PP3.jpg
PP2.jpg
PP2.jpg
PP1.jpg
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Pufferpunk
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Re: Very unwell dwarf puffer

Post by Pufferpunk »

Poor guy! DPs don't have dental problems, so I doubt it is his teeth. His mouth has only looked this way for a week? Because that emaciated appearance would take a month to be this severe. Have you ever seen him eat?
You could try netting him & keeping him underwater, inspect his mouth. I think as small as he is, this would take 2 people. You will certainly need a light but also a magnifying glass.
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!"
Steve1976
Puffer Fry
Posts: 21
Joined: Mon Sep 23, 2019 3:30 pm
Location (country): Great Britain

Re: Very unwell dwarf puffer

Post by Steve1976 »

Thanks, Pufferpunk.

He was the smallest in the tank when we got them, that's why we picked him! He used to eat all the time, and get a little pop-belly, but he never grew. The belly would disappear and he would be back to skinny (granted not this skinny, but tiny all the same). The last time I witnessed him eat was two small bloodworms 3 days ago, but I mean tiny ones, the others he just swims up to and then backs off.

We got him out yesterday and it's really hard to describe, it's like a growth from his mouth, that is stopping him from closing his mouth and seemingly from chewing/eating. We thought his teeth but no, it's more skin-like. We couldn't get it off at all.

I've not seen him since around dinnertime yesterday, when he was sat on the wood in the tank looking so sad. I think perhaps he is just an unwell specimen. His tank mate has grown and just looks like a tiny GSP now, bright coloured, alert eyes, always quick to come say hi. This little fella hasn't grown, has always been grey, and though interactive, spent far more time in the shadows.

Sadly I think when we do see him next it will be to remove him from the tank. It's heartbreaking. We have just lost our special-needs Bolivian Ram, too, I think it's time to stop bringing home the ones that no one else wants, it's too heartbreaking
Steve1976
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Posts: 21
Joined: Mon Sep 23, 2019 3:30 pm
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Re: Very unwell dwarf puffer

Post by Steve1976 »

Just to update, we took him out and tried again to remove what was there. It was completely attached/part of him, and could not be removed.

He is now swimming at the rainbow bridge and no longer suffering
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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: Very unwell dwarf puffer

Post by Pufferpunk »

:rip: So sorry! I'm pretty sure he had internal parasites. I suggest you treat the other one.

library/hospital/internal-parasites-pre ... treatment/

https://www.pufferfishenthusiastsworldw ... vancoricus
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!"
Steve1976
Puffer Fry
Posts: 21
Joined: Mon Sep 23, 2019 3:30 pm
Location (country): Great Britain

Re: Very unwell dwarf puffer

Post by Steve1976 »

Thanks, we’ll look into this, though the other one looks super healthy, better safe than sorry
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