The Puffer Forum

What exactly are you medicating for? Adding any antibiotics to your tank will cause a possible system crash.

"Lifeguard Freshwater is an All-In-One non-antibiotic Treatment medication that treats a wide range of external fish diseases including bacterial, fungal, viral and parasitic. Extremely effective against fungus and ich on fish.

Lifeguard Freshwater comes in tablet form which makes it very convenient for treatment. Each tablet is scored which makes it very easy for fish owners to apply proper dosage for treatment. Each 1/4 tablet treats 2.5 U.S. gallons and is for use in freshwater aquariums. Before fish treatment always be sure to remove filter carbon and turn off UV sterilizer before use.

Active ingredients : 1-chloro-2,2,5,5-tetramethyl-4-imidazolidinone

Lifeguard Freshwater is a very effective treatment medication for fungus and ich as well as other external fish diseases."

Pufferpunk wrote:What exactly are you medicating for? Adding any antibiotics to your tank will cause a possible system crash.

lol is it sad I thought of the 'blue screen of death'....
I am really glad its the weekend and I am away from work...

Thanks for everyone's help. The spotted is doing better now that the medication is kicking in. No longer has color fade and is no longer gasping. It was not color fade from being sleepy. None of my others do that and if that were the case then that would have meant my puffer was sleepy 24/7 which obviously isn't true. His colors went from distinct to completely faded. No fish goes from always having color to all of a sudden having none all the time without there being a problem. I need to emphasize the fact that it was not merely tired, but was ill which I stated several times. Puffers colors will fade due to illness which is exactly what this was. I went to my pet store again. I really don't think it's a good idea to just ignore what your LFS has to say. They helped a lot with my situation. Only makes sense to go to them since I bought the puffer from them and they were dealing with the same problem I was with theirs. It would be pretty dumb and foolish of me to "not listen to any advice given by my LFS." Better to go to someone that can be more of a visual aid than to go on here and have a dozen different people chime in with their 2 cents without listening to what the person has to say and reading what he wrote. The time I waited for responses on here cost me 2 fish which wouldn't have been a problem with me if I wasn't being asked the same question over and over that I already initially answered. It's a waste of my time if people choose to not read and only worry about talking. Besides the frustration with that....my puffer is better. The figure 8 died and the red chromide died. Same symptoms. Since there was hardly any sort of physical displays of illness besides the swimming behavior, it was clearly a virus. You don't have an entire batch of puffers from the store, plus the ones that were sold all die the exact same way because of being sleeping or cause of water changes. It cannot be anymore apparent that it was a virus they carried. Plus with it being such a fast killer, that is another dead give away. Everything appears to be getting better now. I will continue with the "puffer safe" medication cause it is clearly helping. I dropped the dosage though just to be safe. Thanks for the advice from those who listened and helped.

I am very sorry that you feel we didn't listen and gave you advice that didn't apply. It's hard to grasp what is wrong with a puffer from just a description, as there are many things that could be wrong.
I'm glad that you have an LFS that gives good advice, but I think you will find, if you stay with keeping fish long enough, that most LFS's do not give the correct advice and do not know anything about puffers, and that is why I said what I said. I am not sorry for what I said. And as for the information about a sleepy puffer, again, it's difficult to know what is happening when you're only being given a little bit of information, and sometimes the obvious is over-looked. We are not magicians, just people who love and keep puffers and were only trying to help.

Yeah...so my spotted puffer is just giving me hopes now. He is acting really weird. One second it looks like he's going to die and then an hour later he is up and moving around better. I'm gonna just wait and see with that, but I posted a different topic in the general discussion section about an odd thing my dwarf puffer is doing if anyone cares to comment. I have a picture of it. I tried to upload a video I took of the scene, but it wouldn't work. Hopefully th picture helps. I think the subject is "what is my dwarf puffer doing?"

Thanks again. Sorry if I was a bit harsh. Hard dealing with one fish that just keels over in the matter of 20 hours and then all your other fish start going downhill.

Losing fish is not a good thing, no matter what they are. Trust me, we've all been there, but we honestly are trying to give you the best we can, but like I said, we are plain people who keep puffers and hopefully we are able to help, but it's not always the case.

I will have a look at your other topic.

Puffer710 wrote:Hard dealing with one fish that just keels over in the matter of 20 hours and then all your other fish start going downhill.

As I have been told several times ... the weakest go first.

Sorry for your losses. I am glad that you are seeing an overall improvement. I am also glad that you mentioned the 24/7 part. I might have missed that. Did the puffers ever show a dark belly?

Puffer710 wrote: I really don't think it's a good idea to just ignore what your LFS has to say. They helped a lot with my situation. Only makes sense to go to them since I bought the puffer from them and they were dealing with the same problem I was with theirs. It would be pretty dumb and foolish of me to "not listen to any advice given by my LFS." B.

Puffer710 let me start by saying I hope your fish are doing better but as J-P pointed out the weakest go first. I am curious to know if this is the same LFS that sold you all these fish knowing you had a 35 gallon tank. If it is this tells me that (A) they are just out to make as much money as they can from you or (B) They don't know what they are doing . IMO just my option here.

unless your LFS told you that GSP need marine and 30 gallons each, F8 are brackish and need about 15 gallons each, DP are freshwater, scats get to the size of a dinner plate so therefore need a big tank and that none of these fish require the same conditions, plus how archers are schooling fish and need basically a special setup of at least 75 gallons with 4 or 5 of only them in there to fully be able to admire why they are called archer fish. if they said none of this then i would say that its pretty fair to say not to listen to LFS when it comes to puffers(with very very little exception). regardless of how well they take care of their tanks. there is an aquarium superstore called "captain nemos" near me. i bought a red eye puffer, they told me is was brackish. little did they know that it wasnt neither a red eye nor brackish and the puffer died being in brackish after 3 days. just goes to show you that no matter the size of the store, the care they give the tanks, the amount of "good information" employees have, they still might not know anything about certain fish and special care and needs. were simply trying to make you aware of things a LFS wouldnt tell you because it would possibly make you not want to buy that fish anymore.