One of my baby figure 8's has been hiding in the same spot under some bogwood for two days...only coming out briefly to feed!
I did a 25% change today and he swam around for 30 mins or so then straight back to his spot, i did notice that the water temp had crept up a degree to around 27-27.5 deg C (80 F).
Is this a sign he isn't happy, I've turned the stat down to its lowest possible position which usually leaves the water around 26 C (78 F) but obviously it will take time to fall.
I am tempted to do another 25% tomorrow and get a nitrite test kit aswell, checked the ammonia and its fine.
Any ideas?...is this a typical behavioral pattern for a sick puffer?
Is my little puffer poorly?
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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Pufferpunk
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Boxermom
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If you are going to keep fish, you're going to need good liquid test kits, such as the Aquarium Pharmaceuticals' Master Test Kit, which has all of the basics. In the meantime, you can take a sample of water to your local pet/fish store and have them test it, and tell them you need to know exact numerical values, not "good" or "fine." We can't do much else to help you without that information, its vital. BTW, if you don't have test kits, how do you know the ammonia is "fine?"
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
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burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
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Yikes, good point PP.... if anything is worse then tap water it would have been some sort of cleaner and tap water.
For tank decor, that is going to still be used in your tank, you only want to clean it with tank water, so when doing a water change pull out any decor that needs a cleaning and clean it off in the just removed water before disposing of it. Having a dedicated (NEW) cleaning brush just used for fish items is a great thing.
If you're cleaning empty tanks, or decor that isn't being used at the time plain distilled white vinegar (big jugs from grocery store are about a dollar) and water make a great solution and once rinsed away is completely safe.
For tank decor, that is going to still be used in your tank, you only want to clean it with tank water, so when doing a water change pull out any decor that needs a cleaning and clean it off in the just removed water before disposing of it. Having a dedicated (NEW) cleaning brush just used for fish items is a great thing.
If you're cleaning empty tanks, or decor that isn't being used at the time plain distilled white vinegar (big jugs from grocery store are about a dollar) and water make a great solution and once rinsed away is completely safe.
-
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:
I find Oxyclean to work the best for disinfecting.
Last edited by Pufferpunk on Thu Apr 19, 2007 12:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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!"
I have an ammonia test liquid test kit, but no others.
To clean the wood i soaked it in bleach and then painted it with white spirits...
no seriously i just scrubbed it in a bucket of de-chlorinated tap water.
Also i noticed a very thin, white worm around half an inch long swimming around in the tank...think this might have had a part to play?
To clean the wood i soaked it in bleach and then painted it with white spirits...
no seriously i just scrubbed it in a bucket of de-chlorinated tap water.
Also i noticed a very thin, white worm around half an inch long swimming around in the tank...think this might have had a part to play?
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Troender
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If it's those very thin white worms, it's probably one of those you can get if you overfeed your fish. I'm not sure of the English name of them (nor the Norwegian, to be exact 
)
)Inger Anne
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Just think how stupid the average person is, and then realize that half of them are even stupider! -George Carlin
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Just think how stupid the average person is, and then realize that half of them are even stupider! -George Carlin
really? I'll bare that in mind...
Funnily enough i did notice it just after i dropped some blood worms in to try and save poor Dave (who passed away this evening aswell
) and thought maybe it was in the frozen bloodworm block somehow?
Anyway i think I'm going to start again....I'm not convinced that the filter was properly cycled anyway, following the bad advice from the shop.
This time I'm firstly going to sterilize the tank, then get a nice hardy (and cheap) fish or two, give the plants a good clean to get rid of any slime etc...buy a more comprehensive test kit and then leave the one or two small fish in the tank for a couple of months.
Then when I'm absolutely happy that its ready I'll get another puffer(s).
Good idea?
What do you guys think is the best way to sterilize the tank....i was thinking to add loads of salt to the water and leave it overnight, then fill it with fresh water and leave it again, then empty and fill fill chlorinated water and some filter cycle booster and leave for a week or so before adding some tough little fish (suggestions on fish welcome)
thanks for all your replies btw!
Funnily enough i did notice it just after i dropped some blood worms in to try and save poor Dave (who passed away this evening aswell
) and thought maybe it was in the frozen bloodworm block somehow?Anyway i think I'm going to start again....I'm not convinced that the filter was properly cycled anyway, following the bad advice from the shop.
This time I'm firstly going to sterilize the tank, then get a nice hardy (and cheap) fish or two, give the plants a good clean to get rid of any slime etc...buy a more comprehensive test kit and then leave the one or two small fish in the tank for a couple of months.
Then when I'm absolutely happy that its ready I'll get another puffer(s).
Good idea?
What do you guys think is the best way to sterilize the tank....i was thinking to add loads of salt to the water and leave it overnight, then fill it with fresh water and leave it again, then empty and fill fill chlorinated water and some filter cycle booster and leave for a week or so before adding some tough little fish (suggestions on fish welcome)
thanks for all your replies btw!