I have three small F8s, at about a half inch each. I got the first one about two months ago. It's been doing fine, although I did buy another at the same time, and it died as soon as I was done acclimatizing it and put both the puffs into the tank.
A few weeks later, I got two more F8s, and all three have been doing well in a 45 gallon tank with four BB gobies.
The SG is 1.006 (premixed at water changes), ph is a steady 8, ammo/nitrites zero, and nitrates never over 5. I do 30% water changes weekly, but every once in a while I change closer to 50%. (When they get bigger, 50% will be the minimum standard.) The tank was cycled with mollies for at least six weeks before the first puffer was added, about two months ago.
I usually feed these puffs once daily - predominantly bloodworms with metronidazole mixed in, plus frozen krill, and sometimes grocery food items I got for my suvattii (snails when they get a bit bigger). I often medicate the water with MelaFix and PimaFix after water changes, since the two newer puffs looked a bit off for a while.
(I use half the recommended dosage for all medications for my puffers.)
In the last week, I noticed that one of the newer F8s is constantly emaciated. My guess is internal parasites, though they took at least a month to show up, and the other two puffers are doing fine. Anti-parasite medication has also been administered in their food for over a month, so I'm not sure what to make of this.
I haven't noticed any aggression, so I don't think this puffer is getting bullied. It's active, but very thin.
I did pull out all the fish and completely rearrange the rocks yesterday, but my little puff was thin before I did this. The new rock layout provides a great deal more plces to hide, but it follows the same rough layout as the old setup. The fish seem to like it.
Any ideas?
Three little F8s
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.
-
Bred
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 364
- Joined: Sat Jun 04, 2005 10:42 am
- Location: Toronto, Canada
- Contact:
Hm. I would observe very closely during feedings. See how much the little one eats before stopping. See if it spits out its food before it is as full as it could be.
It could be parasites or it could be that his mates are snatching all the food. Either way if you have a QT tank it might be wise to isolate until he's nursed back to good health.
Also I would discontinue feeding meds to the others if they don't clearly need it.
It could be parasites or it could be that his mates are snatching all the food. Either way if you have a QT tank it might be wise to isolate until he's nursed back to good health.
Also I would discontinue feeding meds to the others if they don't clearly need it.
Is metronidazole the antiparasitic you've been using? If so, it's primarily an antibiotic with only a bit of antiparasitic ability:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/drug ... 02365.html
Levamisole is really the best internal antiparasitic out there, so look for discomed or other medicines with levamisole in it.
Eric
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/drug ... 02365.html
Levamisole is really the best internal antiparasitic out there, so look for discomed or other medicines with levamisole in it.
Eric
Whew! It's a good thing I'm not breast-feeding my F8s. 
Thanks for the info so far.
The skinny puff is definitely getting its share of food when I feed them; it just tends to lose its fat belly really fast compared to the other two. I think it does spit out a bit more food than the others, though.
I'd rather medicate all three puffs at once, since the skinny one is definitely getting food. That way, once that particular F8 is out of quarantine, I won't have to toss another one into the QT tank. I could see a cycle starting that way...
I'll look around for a better anti-parasite med ASAP.
Thanks for the info so far.
The skinny puff is definitely getting its share of food when I feed them; it just tends to lose its fat belly really fast compared to the other two. I think it does spit out a bit more food than the others, though.
I'd rather medicate all three puffs at once, since the skinny one is definitely getting food. That way, once that particular F8 is out of quarantine, I won't have to toss another one into the QT tank. I could see a cycle starting that way...
I'll look around for a better anti-parasite med ASAP.
-
Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32979
- 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:
You don't have to QT to medicate for IPs. I do suggest feeding all tank inhabitants the medicated food, just in case others have gotten the "bug".
For future reference, 1/2 dosing of Mela/Pimafix is not necessary--both products are perfectly safe for your puffers & tank.
For future reference, 1/2 dosing of Mela/Pimafix is not necessary--both products are perfectly safe for your puffers & tank.
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!"
My thin little puffer got caught in the filter intake Thursday night sometime. I found it Friday morning/early afternoon. Its stomach was sucked out of shape, and it had open wounds. It was still alive, barely, but I was on my way out the door for the weekend. I doubt I could have saved it even if I had time, so I put it in a bag in the freezer. That was the best I could think of in a pinch.
The other two puffers seem to be doing just fine, and even after a weekend without food, still look fairly plump.
Except for an unidentified puffer (sold as a Target, but most likely a T. cutcutia - I have a thread on this puffer elsewhere on the forum), all my puffer deaths to date have been F8s. This was my third loss. I did give another F8 with a cyst to a new home, to avoid infecting my other F8s awhile back, too.
If I lose my last two F8s, I think I'll stick with FW puffers.
The other two puffers seem to be doing just fine, and even after a weekend without food, still look fairly plump.
Except for an unidentified puffer (sold as a Target, but most likely a T. cutcutia - I have a thread on this puffer elsewhere on the forum), all my puffer deaths to date have been F8s. This was my third loss. I did give another F8 with a cyst to a new home, to avoid infecting my other F8s awhile back, too.
If I lose my last two F8s, I think I'll stick with FW puffers.
-
RTR
- Mentor
- Posts: 6155
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 4:39 pm
- Gender: Male
- Location (country): East Coast, USA
Historically, F-8s have been my favorite puffers. Also historically they were rarely parasitized. Today it seems common. I don't know if it is from different collection areas, differences in holding and shipping, or some other factor. It has definitely become a major problem.
Where's the fish? - Neptune