PLEASE HELP: My cat and my puffer - not a good mix

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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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fatley
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PLEASE HELP: My cat and my puffer - not a good mix

Post by fatley »

Hello,

I'm new here. Can anyone please help me with advice....

I have an abei puffer called Puff, he is about 6 months old. I woke up this morning and found that my cat had got Puff out of the tank and was staring at him on the floor. He hadn't actually bitten or scratched him, he was just watching and feeling pleased with himself.

So i put Puff back in his tank and kept the lights off. Now, about 6 hours later he is sat on the base of the tank in the sand. He has cloudy eyes and is very very pale and has covered himself in what looks like slime. He looks like he wants to move but cant very well - although he was swimming around when i first put him back in. :(

Is there anything that i can do at all to help him out? I guess that wait and see is best stress wise for Puff but really really want to do the best i can for him.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated...

Oh, and by the way; cant work out how my cat got him. The tank is is a juwel with the correct lid - the funny thing is that the lid was still on and in place when i noticed what was going on.

Please help...

Andrew
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bosshogg
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Post by bosshogg »

The cat might have jumped at the tank, the abei could then have panicked and jumped up and out the flap.

I would leave the light off and see what happens.
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Pufferpunk
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Post by Pufferpunk »

Be sure the water is pristine. I'd add Melafix.
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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HRPuffersnStuff
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Post by HRPuffersnStuff »

My target is spooked very easily, and he has almost jumped from the tank a few times. He is a pretty nervous fish and if yours is th same, I would say, in an effort to escape the cat, he jumped. I have had one of my puffers fully recover from a trip to the floor, then back into the tank. Hopefully your guy makes it through alright.
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Post by Nick »

Scaleless fish suffer skin damage much more quickly than they suffer from oxygen deprivation when out of the water... my guess is he isn't moving much because his skin still hurts a bit.
No matter how magnificent your successes or devastating your failures, the worlds' approximately 5 billion impoverished people could not possibly care less.
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fatley
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Post by fatley »

Hey guys,

Thanks very much for the replies. First up, I'll give an update.

Well its been a day and a half now since it happened and fingers crossed, Puff has made a good recovery Afro Afro

The sliming stopped after a few hours but he stayed on the tank floor until the evening but then he decided he was feeling better and started free swimming!!

I fed him a clam this morning and he managed to chomp through the shell so he still has some strength, amazing really.

Also, I keep him in a tank on his own. Puffers are aggressive so i don't want to risk any other fish 'on the off chance' that Puff will stay calm.

Going to Maidenhead Aquatics in St Albans this weekend because they sell river shrimps (big brine shrimps). They will make provide some good nutrition for him Smiley

Boss - i think the lights off was the best thing for him. He stayed out the way for ages before free swimming again.

Pufferpunk - what is melafix? i have never used or heard of it, is it like antistress?

HR - i don't know how he could have jumped? do you think he could have jumped, pushed the lid and the lid fell back in the original position? I cant work it out, but i have a big jar on the lid now :D Really lucky tho that the cat just played with and didn't eat!

Nick - Cheers. Is there anything that i can give him? Is that the reason Pufferpunk said melafix?

Cheers guys, Andrew
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bosshogg
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Post by bosshogg »

Glad he's doing better

Melafix info here
http://www.aquariumpharm.com/en_gb/prod ... edications
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manutius
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Post by manutius »

I can clear up how your cat got him out, I doubt he jumped. I have caught my cat sticking her head in the gap at the back of my Juwel and lifting the lid with her head and waiting for a fish to swim by. A quick squirt with a water pistol should do the trick, failing thatg et something to weigh the lid down.
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Pufferpunk
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Post by Pufferpunk »

A quick squirt with a water pistol should do the trick
That works great--only if you catch them in the act. Cats are sneaky!
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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manutius
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Post by manutius »

very true :P
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fatley
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Post by fatley »

I now have a large penny pot on the tank. Its either going to annoy the cat or give the puffer a headache!

Puff goes nuts when ever anyone goes near his tank, on the prowl for food i think. I guess he was at the top of the tank and was within scooping range when the cat went past. So lucky that he didnt get scratched on the way out.

Sneaky is bang on for a description of the cats. He is still sulking because his catch was taken away from him!

Cheers for the melafix link. I'll get some this weekend
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bosshogg
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Post by bosshogg »

Only buy medications when you need it, some have a shelf life!

Not a bad idea to check where you can get it when needed though.
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