1. Iron 0, Copper 0, Nitrate 10, nitrite 0, total hardness 75, total alkalinity 0, Carbonate 40, freshwater PH 6.4, ammonia 0.
2. 40 gallon tank, 4 super red apistogram cichlids, 6 South American puffers, 2 guppies, 3 halfbeaks, 5 Cory catfish, 6 ottocinclus catfish, 6 amano shrimp, 1 loach, 1 female betta, 4 nerite snails.
3. Mix of bloodworms, cichlid food, betta pellets, and sinking catfish food. Algae wafer every few days. Done 5 Ich-X treatments following instructions of a 1/3 water change before each new application. Also added Kanaplex, tomorrow is the last dose of 3 again following the label instructions.
4. No new changes to the tank.
5. Aquarium has been set up for probably 6 months now. We cycled it for a few weeks prior to adding fish. We have a nice 70gallon filter on the fish tank, the AC-70 by Fluval. We made sure water parameters were perfect before getting the fish.
We have 6 South American Puffers. Soemthing has been going on with them for weeks. We began to notice small white spots on them all a few weeks ago. We thought it was ich, so we increased the tank temperature for about a week. It didn’t change anything so I began Ich-X treatments. We have done 5 treatments so far. They have continued to get worse - more white dots all over and their mouths look covered/blocked by white fuzz. I began Kanaplex a few days ago, again following the dosage of 3 doses every other day. I read that it may be something else other than ich and that raising the temperature might make it worse. We’ve now lowered the temp but these fish still look horrible. Ideas? Do I keep doing the ich-X treatments? Kanaplex says 3 treatments and tomorrow will be 3 and they’re still horrible. I’m at a loss as to what to do for these fish. And help is greatly appreciated! I’m trying to get photos to attach but I can’t get them to load, my apologies.
HELP - Sick South American Puffers :(
Forum rules
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.
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.
-
Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32975
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Puffers I have kept:
T lineatus
T miurus
A modestus
T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
C lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Greenville, SC
- Contact:
Re: HELP - Sick South American Puffers :(
This species is very prone to Velvet.
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!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
Re: HELP - Sick South American Puffers :(
Looking up the symptoms of Velvet, I don’t think that’s what they have. I wish I could get the photos to upload. They have white dots all over their bodies and fins, and fuzz around their mouths. When we increased the temps for a few weeks and did ich treatment it just got much worse. I’ve lowered the temp now to 70/72 degrees F and am treating with Kanaplex but I’ve done the 3 day treatment. I don’t know what to do next.
-
Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32975
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Puffers I have kept:
T lineatus
T miurus
A modestus
T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
C lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Greenville, SC
- Contact:
Re: HELP - Sick South American Puffers :(
Why lower the temp? I would think that would stress the immune system more. Kanaplex is not helping? Did you use the Ich-x at full dosage?
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!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
Re: HELP - Sick South American Puffers :(
Epistylis. Raising the temps and treating with such-X has only made the spots and fuzz around their mouths worse. Internet says raising temps can make Epistylis worse, which is what’s happened. Just not sure what to do from here for these puffers
-
Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32975
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Puffers I have kept:
T lineatus
T miurus
A modestus
T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
C lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Greenville, SC
- Contact:
Re: HELP - Sick South American Puffers :(
Never raise the temps. Did you try the Ich-x in normal tropical temps?
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!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"