I'm new here,
I have a Bronze Pufferfish, about a few years old. He lives in a small bowl because he's too aggressive for my other fish. Normally, he's quite active and looking for food. But lately he's been acting differently. To start, his eyes seem to have dilated, his pupil shrunk, and there appears to be a white film-like material over his eyes. I have no idea why, but I noticed this just a few days ago. He also seems to swim in a straight line, mouth wide open, with his fins on his side. It may seem like he is somehow sick, but I don't what to do about his condition. Does anyone have any advice?
Strange Behavior from a Bronze Puffer
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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Boxermom
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 2182
- Joined: Sun Mar 12, 2006 8:34 pm
- Location: Wisconsin
- Contact:
Welcome. No puffer belongs in a small bowl, not even the tiniest dwarf puffer. It needs to be in a proper tank with proper filtration. He most likely is being poisoned by his own waste if he's in a bowl with no filtration.
Please answer all of the questions at the top of this forum regarding water parameters and whatnot. Also, if you have a photo, that will help.
Please answer all of the questions at the top of this forum regarding water parameters and whatnot. Also, if you have a photo, that will help.
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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Boxermom
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 2182
- Joined: Sun Mar 12, 2006 8:34 pm
- Location: Wisconsin
- Contact:
First, can you respond to the questions so we can try to address what's going on, and whether it might be bacterial or something else that could endanger the other fish?
Edit: If you don't have test kits, you can take a sample of the water to your fish/pet store and have them test for you for free. Tell them you need exact numbers. In the meantime, do a large water change.
Edit: If you don't have test kits, you can take a sample of the water to your fish/pet store and have them test for you for free. Tell them you need exact numbers. In the meantime, do a large water change.
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
- 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 cannot kdeep that puffer with fish--it will kill them. It needs at least a 20g tank to swim around in, as they are an active fish.
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!"
Now, things are even more complicated...
So I moved him into a cleaner tank with some other fish; no initial concern. But I've been noticing that there has been a clear spot growing on his back, and this day I realized how serious it looks. It seems like some of the green skin on his back is 'peeling away', revealing a white layer underneath. This 'hole' grew significantly when I checked on the pufferfish this afternoon (now about a 1/4 inch in diameter). Additionally, I noticed that his gills are red, which automatically must be a sign of bad news. When I tried to feed him some tubifex, he was clumsy and it seemed like he couldn't really eat the worm very well; normally an easy task for him. I've no idea why these series of events have happened to my pufferfish, and the worst past is that I do not know what to do. Any help at this time would be MOST appreciated.
P.S. I couldn't upload pictures for technical reasons, so I'm going to have to do my best with my description of my puffer.
So I moved him into a cleaner tank with some other fish; no initial concern. But I've been noticing that there has been a clear spot growing on his back, and this day I realized how serious it looks. It seems like some of the green skin on his back is 'peeling away', revealing a white layer underneath. This 'hole' grew significantly when I checked on the pufferfish this afternoon (now about a 1/4 inch in diameter). Additionally, I noticed that his gills are red, which automatically must be a sign of bad news. When I tried to feed him some tubifex, he was clumsy and it seemed like he couldn't really eat the worm very well; normally an easy task for him. I've no idea why these series of events have happened to my pufferfish, and the worst past is that I do not know what to do. Any help at this time would be MOST appreciated.
P.S. I couldn't upload pictures for technical reasons, so I'm going to have to do my best with my description of my puffer.
Sorry, but where are the questions?Boxermom wrote:Welcome. No puffer belongs in a small bowl, not even the tiniest dwarf puffer. It needs to be in a proper tank with proper filtration. He most likely is being poisoned by his own waste if he's in a bowl with no filtration.
Please answer all of the questions at the top of this forum regarding water parameters and whatnot. Also, if you have a photo, that will help.
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PuffTheMagicFishy
- Figure 8 Puffer
- Posts: 166
- Joined: Sat Jul 22, 2006 12:51 am
- My Puffers: None at the mo.
- Location (country): California, USA
- Location: California
