The Puffer Forum

Bah, the LFS doesn't have any live food in this week, and I can't find anywhere close to where my husband is working today. I shall keep looking. TBH, the way he was playing with his live bloodworm last week I don't think he would eat it anyway. We went away for the weekend and he seems to have really gone downhill whilst we were away. He's become just a stick with a head stuck on top!

Other than the suggestion of internal parasites I am at a loss as to explain why this is happening. I think I'm going to isolate hime and try treating for internal parasites. Its the only thing I can think of to do.
We can't get a lot of the antibiotics, etc you guys get over in the States, just proprietary formulations by the various aquatics suppliers such as API, Interpet, etc. I'm going to stop by our LFS tonight on the way home and see what they have there. Obviously meds to soak the food in will be no good since he's not eating - does anyone have any experience with meds that are used in the water column, or could recommend any?

Also, should I treat the remaining 5 DPs in the main tank as a preventative measure? Medicating the food shouldn't be a problem with these guys!

Purifire - I just saw your post when I tried to post this. I will give it a try. Thank-you.

OK, it appears anti-parasite meds are hard to come by here in the UK.
I have found one by Waterlife called Sterazin - anyone familiar with this?

I would treat them all as a preventative measure. It is very hard to get mess in the uk so maybe try the one you found and let us know, hope your little guy makes it

I am 100% sure your puffer has IPs & isn't long for this world, if you do not treat immediately.

I've moved him over to a 10g quarantine tank. He's mustered up the energy to go on a small exploratory jaunt around the tank.
One of our LFS stocked Sterazin so I'm going to start treatment with that.

Once he's settled a bit I'll try him with some garlic-soaked bloodworm.

Good luck! I really hope he makes it!

Keep us posted on the meds good luck

Well, I have to report that we lost him last night. To be honest, I've never had any luck pulling a fish back once they stop eating, but he was relatively active yesterday so I didn't think he was quite circling the drain just yet.

I've left my husband at home giving the puffer tank a thorough clean. The past few weeks life has got in the way a little and, other than water changes and a quick scrape round with the algae magnet, we've not had time to do much else. Once he's finished scraping all the thick coats of algae off the plants and I've replanted them all after he's "accidently" pulled them up I'm going to medicate the tank for internal parasites as a precautionary measure. I hope by doing this we'll avoid any of the remaining five getting sick.
Thank-you for all your help and advice.

You need to medicate the fish's food, not the tank, for IPs.

I can't find anything to medicate the food with in the UK. If you know of anything I would love to know!
The stuff I'm using is the only stuff I can find for treatment of internal parasites.

Can you not soak their food in the treatment you have

The problem for FW fish with tank water med is that FW fish do not drink water, so internal problems never get the needed med. They absorb water via their shin and gills. That "filters out" most meds. So you need med which are injected (for somatic problems, or which are eaten with food, for gut problems.

SW fish generally do drink water constantly.

HTH

Hi RTR,
It helps in term of information, but I still have the same treatment problem.
I've just discovered that this stuff I have contains malachite green, so I'm not sure if I should even use it for the puffers. Maybe I should not worry about it for now and just keep a very close eye on them. Of course, if another one stops eating and starts to go downhill then its probably too late to do anything about. I don't think that there is any easy answer to this.

Sorry you lost him.

We hav multiple UK memebers - what have others used for IPs in FW fish - with good results?

I would not use malachite green - unsafe and exterior only in any case.