Sick F8

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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indecisivefrog
Puffer Fry
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Dec 18, 2022 2:53 pm
Location (country): USA

Sick F8

Post by indecisivefrog »

Hi, I have a sick F8 I could use some help with. I've had it for about 11-12 years. During that time everything was going well. Then about 1.5 months ago it stopped eating. It wasn't interested in any food. A couple nights ago I found the F8 just doing very tight circles at the bottom of the tank, while titled to the side. Since then I moved it into a smaller container in the same aquarium for observation. It's laying on it's side and trying to swim but not really going anywhere. It's definitely trying, it's fins are going fast!
Occasionally it pops up and swims in the water colum either tilted or completely vertical (spinning) with it's head toward the bottom for a few seconds before resting on the bottom again. It's colors all still look good and even though it hasn't eaten in a while the F8 doesn't look emaciated.

I've started to dose Seachem KanaPlex in case it's an infection. I also found that my heater was putting stray voltage into the tank, so that's been replaced too.

1. PH: 8, Nitrate: 20, Nitrite: 0, Ammonia: 0, Salinity 1.001
2. 36 gallons, canister filter, live plants (Val's & java moss), no tank mates. About 5 months ago I replaced the soil with Seachem AquaSolum.
3. Feed some raw shrimp every other day when eating. Change 5-10 gallons once a month.
4. None
5. It's been setup for 4 years.

Any help or suggestions is appreciated. It might just be age, but I thought I'd see if anyone has encountered anything like this before.
Thanks.
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Pufferpunk
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Re: Sick F8

Post by Pufferpunk »

All he's eaten is shrimp in all those years?
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!"
indecisivefrog
Puffer Fry
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Dec 18, 2022 2:53 pm
Location (country): USA

Re: Sick F8

Post by indecisivefrog »

Yes. It was raw with shell on shrimp from the grocery store. I would occasionally try clams and mussels, but it never really took to it. But shrimp the F8 would really eat.
User avatar
Pufferpunk
Queen Admin
Posts: 32764
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: Sick F8

Post by Pufferpunk »

Shrimp contain thiamine & should not be fed as a primary diet staple. All fish need a varied diet.
library/feeding/feeding-your-puffers/
library/puffers-in-focus/fig8/
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!"
indecisivefrog
Puffer Fry
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Dec 18, 2022 2:53 pm
Location (country): USA

Re: Sick F8

Post by indecisivefrog »

Thanks for the links. Unfortunately, my little F8 didn't make it through the night.
User avatar
Pufferpunk
Queen Admin
Posts: 32764
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: Sick F8

Post by Pufferpunk »

:rip:
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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