Fahaka Puffers keep dying

Oh no! Sick fish?! Come here and see if someone can 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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Figure85150
Puffer Fry
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Joined: Mon Aug 07, 2023 7:19 am
Location (country): McElhattan,Pennsylvania

Fahaka Puffers keep dying

Post by Figure85150 »

I have had two Fahaka puffers and both have died. I purchased one about 3 weeks ago and then another about 7 days ago. I bought them both from the same company. The water parameters are within the acceptable ranges needed for them. I have a 125 gallon tank. I have two sponge filters and a Seachem Tidal 110 filter. I fed them about 8 - 10 snails a day. The first one I purchased was about 1.5”. After that one died I bought another and it was about 2” long. They each died within 5 days of receiving them. Do they require more feeding than what I was giving them? The tank has about 3 inches of sand and a piece of spiderwood. No plants or rocks. They didn’t seemed stressed. They each swam around the tank, buried in the sand or just swam around the bottom of the tank. My water temperature was constant at 80 degrees. Should I purchase another one from a different vendor? I hate that they keep dying but am not sure what I am doing wrong. I really would like to raise one successfully. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you.
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Pufferpunk
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Re: Fahaka Puffers keep dying

Post by Pufferpunk »

I would definitely try a different source. No 1 food should be a staple in a fish's diet. How did they look when they died? What exactly were your water parameters?
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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