please help me and my cowfish i think she is about to die

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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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tri_94
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please help me and my cowfish i think she is about to die

Post by tri_94 »

i have been treating my cowfish for 10 days with ich attack (non Copper herbal remedy), and she seemed to be recovering, however i left my mum to look after her for the weekend and she accidently turn her filteration system off. this has been left off for approx 12 hours and now my cowfish is struggling to breath, is white in colour and cant get herself off the bottom of the tank. im doing a water change at the moment and have put the filter back on. is there anything else i can do. please help me as quick as you can. thankyou.
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manutius
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Post by manutius »

This sounds very much what clooney my Mbu had. I think it is due to suffocation. Continue with a awater change and increase the suracfe movement. If you can aim you water flow up to the surface this will increase the O2 levels of the tank.

Please post any other info, tank size, other fish, water condition etc. The more info the better
tri_94
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Post by tri_94 »

tank size, other fish, water condition etc. The more info the better

thank you for getting back to me so soon. she seems to be getting better as we speak blowing water out the tank, swimming up and down and her colouring is coming back, however after these burst of activity she goes and slumps at the bottom of the tank again heavy breathing.
The tank is 22 gallons ( i know this is too small for her, and i am shortly going to invest in a larger tank when i move home). She lives with three small hermit crabs. water conditions are being tested now, but ammoniom is registering in the safe zone.

Thankyou so much
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Post by crazedpuffer »

How big is she and how long have your had her? It sounds like she is starting to do better. Good luck
tri_94
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Post by tri_94 »

shes is about 7iches inc her tail and ive had her just over a year
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manutius
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Post by manutius »

that still sounds like O2 defficiency to me, she starts to swim runs out of usable o2 and has to rest up. Have a look at this post http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/vie ... 4103#94103
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Post by Pufferpunk »

I would check the water parameters. The system may have crashed, due to lack of O2 to the filter. What kind of filtration are you using?
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...

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Post by tri_94 »

hi i have an external filteration system. my water parameters at the moment are
PH 8
Nitrite 0.6
ammonium 0
nitrate 12.5
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Post by Troender »

If the filter was turned off for 12 hours, you've probably lost a lot of the bacteria that you need to have in the filter. I will recommend that you keep a close eye on the water parameters in the days to come. What do you use for testing the water? Strips or those fluid tests?
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Post by Pufferpunk »

How much live rock is in there? Do you have a protein skimmer?
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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