After a never-ending string of bad luck trying to keep Figure-Eight Puffers (3 out of 4 dying of parasites within a week of purchase), I scrapped my 20 gallon brackish tank and decided to focus on my remaining ones.
However, the puffer addiction stayed strong. I had wanted to keep a Congo Puffer for a while but both had never seen them available and didn't have a tank for it. Nonetheless, I called up a LFS nearby that specializes in obtaining uncommon/rare fish and, low and behold, they actually were able to bring in a T. miurus. I was ecstatic. I consolidated my 29G community into my 60G community the following days and replaced the gravel with sand (part Tahitian Moon sand, part play sand from Home Depot).
Parameters looked great and I brought the Congo puffer home, acclimated him and released him into his new home. Immediately he buried himself in the substrate. That was on Friday.
Through the night he had buried and reburied himself in other spots. Yesterday evening, though, he unburied himself and started spazzing out, very quickly moving up and down against the glass in the back-left corner of the tank. He would do this for a couple minutes then, basically, fall onto the fake plant in that corner, usually at a funny angle (upside-down or on his side). He becomes rather listless after this - very slow breathing, doesn't even move. After about every half-hour of resting at a funny angle he'd repeat this. He's still doing it this morning. Parameters are 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrite, 5 Nitrate.
So my question for you Congo owners is - does this sound like typical stressed behavior or does my internal puffer pessimism sound correct in thinking something much worse is at play? Thanks for your responses.
Congo Puffer - Sick?
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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TheSilentPerogy
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 15
- Joined: Sat Jun 04, 2005 4:35 pm
- Location: Edmonton, AB, Canada
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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:
My Congo stays burried all the time unless she's hungry. Then she does as you describe as above, swimming back & forth near the surface, her head almost out of the water. She never lands like yours though. That's a bit worrysome. Maybe he's tired from all that swimming?
How was the tank cycled?
How was the tank cycled?
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!"
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TheSilentPerogy
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 15
- Joined: Sat Jun 04, 2005 4:35 pm
- Location: Edmonton, AB, Canada
The tank was cycled about 2.5 years ago with fish. It was a community tank up until the night before I got the Congo Puffer, when I put all the fish from it (7 fish, each 3-5") into my larger, 60G community.
Also, he is tank mates with 3 Ghost Shrimp (feeder shrimp until I get him trusting me enough to try dead foods). Last night when he first started doing the tank wall-shimmy, all three were still alive and strolling around as if they owned the tank. I didn't see them this morning however and am currently at work for another hour, so I'll check if they're around when I get home.
There is good news though - he re-buried himself right before I left for work. While I've been away, he unburied himself, did the same thing as last night for an hour, then re-buried himself again, which I assume is a good sign.
Thanks for the response!
Also, he is tank mates with 3 Ghost Shrimp (feeder shrimp until I get him trusting me enough to try dead foods). Last night when he first started doing the tank wall-shimmy, all three were still alive and strolling around as if they owned the tank. I didn't see them this morning however and am currently at work for another hour, so I'll check if they're around when I get home.
There is good news though - he re-buried himself right before I left for work. While I've been away, he unburied himself, did the same thing as last night for an hour, then re-buried himself again, which I assume is a good sign.
Thanks for the response!