South American Puffer is dying.
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.
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m4me
South American Puffer is dying.
Yesterday all my fish were fine, then i went to feed them last night and 2 of them had ick, so i treated the ick and this morning my puffer (who didn't have ick) is very ill looking. He only uses one fin, sits on the bottom of the tank unless picked up by the water current, and he just looks horrible. I'm about to do a 25% water change, but should i put my puffer somewhere separate for now? I'm not to sure what to do. He's my first puffer and i really don't want him to die. Any suggestions or tips would be nice. thank you!
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Boxermom
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 2182
- Joined: Sun Mar 12, 2006 8:34 pm
- Location: Wisconsin
- Contact:
What are your water parameters and how did you treath the ich? Many times, chemical treatments do more damage to the fish than the ich itself.
If you used a chemical, I would recommend a very large water change, as much as possible to remove as much chemical as possible. Then slowly raise the tank temp to about 85 and add 1 tablespoon of salt per 5 gallons of actual water volume. Make sure you dissolve the salt thoroughly before adding it to the tank. Continue this treatment for a minimum of 14 days, as thats how long it takes to be sure you have irradicated the parasite, even if you see no more on the fish. All of the fish in the tank need to be treated though so do not remove the puffer.
If you used a chemical, I would recommend a very large water change, as much as possible to remove as much chemical as possible. Then slowly raise the tank temp to about 85 and add 1 tablespoon of salt per 5 gallons of actual water volume. Make sure you dissolve the salt thoroughly before adding it to the tank. Continue this treatment for a minimum of 14 days, as thats how long it takes to be sure you have irradicated the parasite, even if you see no more on the fish. All of the fish in the tank need to be treated though so do not remove the puffer.
Tina
Puffers: Auriglobus silus x1, Tetraodon travancoricus x1, Tetraodon turgidus x1, Tetraodon miurus x1, Tetraodon nigroviridis x2, Tetraodon baileyi x2, Tetraodon lineatus x1, Tetraodon palembangensis x1
Puffers: Auriglobus silus x1, Tetraodon travancoricus x1, Tetraodon turgidus x1, Tetraodon miurus x1, Tetraodon nigroviridis x2, Tetraodon baileyi x2, Tetraodon lineatus x1, Tetraodon palembangensis x1
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Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
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- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
- Gender: Female
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C valentini
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C papuan
C lorteti
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suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Greenville, SC
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There is a thorough article on this, stickied at the top of this forum, although Boxermom has pretty much covered it. Add fresh carbon to remove all traces of the meds. It is quite comon for SAPs to develop ich when they are moved (almost every time). Also keep an eye on them getting skinny & treat for internal parasites. You should also read the Puffer Dentistry article, as your species puffers will be needing that too, eventually.
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!"