The Puffer Forum

t1gerbee wrote:I love my ceylon too.

Anything at all noticeable on the ill SAP.. bumps, fluffy bits... anything?

Not a thing! His colours are good; fins and gills appear normal, too. I'm treating with eSha 2000 just in case.

He's still going.

If you're treating with an antibiotic, keep a close eye on the parameters. A better "just in case" med, is Melafix. Totally natural (tea tree oil) & won't harm your biofilter.

Pufferpunk wrote:If you're treating with an antibiotic, keep a close eye on the parameters. A better "just in case" med, is Melafix. Totally natural (tea tree oil) & won't harm your biofilter.

Thanks, PufferPunk. I use Melafix on my newts sometimes, as it's gentle and amphibians tend not to tolerate harsher treatments. Just wanted to make sure if there's anything sinister at the bottom of this, that I caught it quickly. Thought eSha 2000 was my best bet.

Checked the parameters this afternoon -- ammonia and nitrites still nil; nitrates down to 10 after this morning's water change. Will keep testing at intervals.

It's distressing to see the poor thing like this. I don't want him to suffer, but don't want to think about euthanising just yet. Maybe something will work.

I'm going to try putting a couple of river shrimp in the tank... might provide some interest for him. I've been feeding them pieces of river shrimp now and then, trying to get them to hunt and eat live ones eventually. I'd be happier if I saw him eat something.

Did you try the cooked shelled garden peas yet?
How about the puffer burping? If this is necessary, try trapping the puffer in a net under water and try to release any trapped air by tapping it gently. There's an article that PP suggested you look at in the library that might be helpful.

coldmachineUK wrote:Did you try the cooked shelled garden peas yet?
How about the puffer burping? If this is necessary, try trapping the puffer in a net under water and try to release any trapped air by tapping it gently. There's an article that PP suggested you look at in the library that might be helpful.

He wouldn't accept any food yesterday, but I will try again with the peas. I'm hoping he got some brine shrimp when I wasn't watching. My bristle nose plec loved the peas when I dropped them in his tank, though. He usually devours potato.

Repeatedly tried to get the SAP to expel air. Held him in the net several times, face up and prodded his belly -- read the article, which will come in handy in the future, I'm sure.

He made it through the night, anyway. The other two are still fine, if looking a little put out by the lights going on early.

OK, nevermind. He's dead.

Thanks anyway everyone. Hopefully it was just one of those things that happen.

What a drag, sorry to hear it. It sounds like you did just about everything you could do, but that doesn't make it any easier to deal with.

Sorry you lost him .

IMO the peas are a good preventive in a fish's diet. I'd keep feeding them every once in a while. It is very hard to maintain consistant water parameters adding chemicals and a lot of work! If you make any changes do them gradual so the fish are not shocked by a Big change in the water parameters.

TeePuff wrote:OK, nevermind. He's dead.

Thanks anyway everyone. Hopefully it was just one of those things that happen.

I'm really sorry to hear the outcome You're obviously a careful and conscientious fishkeeper so don't be put off by this. Sometimes, with puffs being wild caught primarily, there are things we may just simply not know about that lead to this sort of thing. You did what you could.

StormySkiez wrote:Sorry you lost him .

IMO the peas are a good preventive in a fish's diet. I'd keep feeding them every once in a while. It is very hard to maintain consistant water parameters adding chemicals and a lot of work! If you make any changes do them gradual so the fish are not shocked by a Big change in the water parameters.

Me too. I lost my red-tailed shark, Freeman, just the other day. He was my first fish, along with some Serpae tetras. Again, I don't know what happened, but it was upsetting. It always is.

I'm glad to have found out about the pea trick. I will do that.

I do bi-weekly changes, about 25% at a time. Just finished, in fact.

Thanks.

marksrush wrote:What a drag, sorry to hear it. It sounds like you did just about everything you could do, but that doesn't make it any easier to deal with.

Thanks. As I said above, I lost another fish the other day and was particularly worried about losing another.

coldmachineUK wrote:
I'm really sorry to hear the outcome You're obviously a careful and conscientious fishkeeper so don't be put off by this. Sometimes, with puffs being wild caught primarily, there are things we may just simply not know about that lead to this sort of thing. You did what you could.

Just hope I did the right things, and didn't do any of the wrong things in the first place.

Luckily, the other two are looking well, and the levels are perfect after today's water change. Hopefully no more casualties for a while.

Thanks for all your advice. I'm going to remember the thing about the peas.

Are you using tap water now?

Pufferpunk wrote:Are you using tap water now?

Yeah, I've reverted back to tap.