The Puffer Forum

Be sure to pour Dr Tim's directly into your filter.

Ok things took a turn for the worse this morning. My smallest puffer is suffering from cloudy eye. Thankfully walmart had the melafix. It says to remove the carbon filter and not do w/c while I am dosing for 7 days. That is not going to go so well with the tank. So I can do a 100% w/c on the 30 gallon and put just the one fish in there for treatment. Run the filter without the carbon? Or just not run it at all and have air stones? I am thinking just run it with sponge filters?? Also there is a petsmart. It is almost a two hour drive, but we are heading out there in the morning I am going to pick up some prime and they also carry the aqua safe smart start stuff. So I can pick that up and give it a whirl. It can't do damage or anything right? I figure it is either a "will or wont" work situation. Should I leave him where he is at and just treat the whole 55 gallon tank? In case the larger puffer is going to catch something? From what I read he is like this because of the bad water he was in. I was keeping w/c up and all but without the tests, I didn't realize how bad it was. I am going to go break down and clean the 30 gallon and reset it up for the sick puffer. I will check back in here with y'all before I transfer him over. I also need to run all of my tests on the tanks, I have been gone most of the day.

They will not be staying in this tank forever. We are building our own home and we will be putting in a built in wall tank for them. I am going to have it running the entire length of the hall at least 6 to 7 ft long. By this time I will know whether to make it two separate tanks or one large. I want to give them that natural feel. Lots of caves and hiding places. I am aiming for a habitat more than a tank. I want the shrimp and snails living in there too with ample hiding places. May not be able to achieve the natural habit, but I will try.

Keep them in the 55, that's bs about no water changes, you can definitely do water changes, just replace the amount after the watery changes.
You really have to do water changes considering everything. His eye is probably cloudy because of the ammonia, so not doing water changes is a death sentence.

dixie wrote:Ok things took a turn for the worse this morning. My smallest puffer is suffering from cloudy eye. Thankfully walmart had the melafix. It says to remove the carbon filter and not do w/c while I am dosing for 7 days. That is not going to go so well with the tank. So I can do a 100% w/c on the 30 gallon and put just the one fish in there for treatment. Run the filter without the carbon? Or just not run it at all and have air stones? I am thinking just run it with sponge filters??

Definitely run that filter! You'll lose the bacteria you've been building up if you don't run it. A sponge filter won't help unless it's from a cycled tank with lots of bacteria. And do water changes during treatment, but replace the Melafix every time.

Also there is a petsmart. It is almost a two hour drive, but we are heading out there in the morning I am going to pick up some prime and they also carry the aqua safe smart start stuff. So I can pick that up and give it a whirl. It can't do damage or anything right? I figure it is either a "will or wont" work situation. Should I leave him where he is at and just treat the whole 55 gallon tank? In case the larger puffer is going to catch something? From what I read he is like this because of the bad water he was in. I was keeping w/c up and all but without the tests, I didn't realize how bad it was. I am going to go break down and clean the 30 gallon and reset it up for the sick puffer. I will check back in here with y'all before I transfer him over. I also need to run all of my tests on the tanks, I have been gone most of the day.

Tetra SafeStart? Sure, it can't hurt. And you can definitely treat both fish in the big tank. Melafix is harmless and won't affect the healthy fish. Most medications aren't like that, but you got lucky.

wow guess I should have came here before filling the 30 gallon back up LOL Wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to do the sand/plate trick. Which I figured the response might be to just leave him, which is why I checked in before getting him ready for the other tank. I had googled the issue with his eye this morning before I headed out. I am so glad I checked on him before leaving. Melafix was the recommendation. I about fell over when I seen it on the shelf at walmart. Couldn't believe they had it. We have only a half of one shelf dedicated to fish. I checked on him a little bit ago and thought his fin was missing, really scared me. He just had it tucked in. Never been so happy to see a fish fin in my life.

Ok I run the filter but should I remove the carbon filter material? I am guessing no since that is where the good bacteria is. Just didn't know if the carbon would deactivate the melafix.

Cut open the filter and remove the carbon chips, it will remove the medication.

Ok that makes sense now that you said it. Didn't even think of just removing the carbon. I medicated the tank. I pulled the filter material out and put it in a zip lock of the tank water. I guess now all that is left to do is remove the carbon, return the filter to the tank and rest. Very busy day today.

Thank you all so much for your help. Forgot to mention my nitrates are up to 20. Nitrites are still setting at 0. Ammonia .25 or less. It is a really light green, more of a tint. Every wonder how many fish lives you all have saved? I bet it is a lot! I am pretty sure my two would not have made it without this forum. I have learned so much here.

=)

When you feel up to it and when everything settles down, there is a "Support" button at the top.

dixie wrote:Ok that makes sense now that you said it. Didn't even think of just removing the carbon. I medicated the tank. I pulled the filter material out and put it in a zip lock of the tank water. I guess now all that is left to do is remove the carbon, return the filter to the tank and rest. Very busy day today.

Thank you all so much for your help. Forgot to mention my nitrates are up to 20. Nitrites are still setting at 0. Ammonia .25 or less. It is a really light green, more of a tint. Every wonder how many fish lives you all have saved? I bet it is a lot! I am pretty sure my two would not have made it without this forum. I have learned so much here.

Those numbers are a good sign, keep up with your water changes, you're little one with the eye issue is sure to feel better soon. When your ammonia stays at 0 (test before water changes) then you can go to weekly 50% changes.

Is there a way to just donate through a paypal link? I would rather have the entire donation go straight to the forum instead of part having to be spent on shipping, manufacturing etc. Not to say I wont still buy there, loved the coffee cup and might have to get one of those burp me onesies for any future grandbabies that might come along LOL

I can't wait for the little puffer to feel better. He is just laying at the bottom of the tank. The larger one is beside him protecting him. Last night after I turned the lights out I did notice the little one swimming around a little bit. He isn't eating though. I seen where you can soak their food in garlic to get them to eat. They are primarily on a live feed diet. Loaded ghost shrimp, ramshorn snails and crickets (bred by a friend of mine with lots of lizards). I do feed the freeze dried krill a couple of times a week, sometimes they eat them and other times they just go investigate and swim away. I haven't had luck with frozen food, they don't seem to want it. So I will soak the krill and see if he takes that.

Test, W/C, medication then breakfast for them and I am off on my road trip. So hoping they are not out of stock. That would just tick me off. LOL Guess if so we will just google and find a LFS in that area or something. So glad they have smartphones now! May be a long day but they will be getting at the very least some prime to protect them until my package arrives on monday.

dixie wrote:Ok that makes sense now that you said it. Didn't even think of just removing the carbon. I medicated the tank. I pulled the filter material out and put it in a zip lock of the tank water. I guess now all that is left to do is remove the carbon, return the filter to the tank and rest. Very busy day today.

Thank you all so much for your help. Forgot to mention my nitrates are up to 20. Nitrites are still setting at 0. Ammonia .25 or less. It is a really light green, more of a tint. Every wonder how many fish lives you all have saved? I bet it is a lot! I am pretty sure my two would not have made it without this forum. I have learned so much here.

You didn't pull out all the material did you? Just the carbon?

Is there a way to just donate through a paypal link? I would rather have the entire donation go straight to the forum instead of part having to be spent on shipping, manufacturing etc.

Yes, there is a link for donations under the Support tab, above.

I removed just the carbon the material is still in the filter.

Thanks for the information Pufferpunk, I will be happy to donate when payday rolls around.

Petsmart was a success. I am in love with that place. They had so many interesting pieces. Can't wait to head back and pick up some decorations soon! I got everything I needed and then some. Picked up some wisteria plants also and put them in the tank. I did another water change this afternoon (one also done this morning, both 15 gallon changes). Then I dosed it with the prime, smart start (poured into the filter) and the medication. I bought some baby medicine syringes so I could do accurate dosing. Also use them for filling up the tubes in the test kit, so much easier than trying to fill to the line, dump some out, try again. LOL How long do I wait before I do my next water change?

Still not sure if the little guy has eaten yet. He spent most of today hiding in the fake log. The bigger puffer did bring a cricket into the log, so he might have eaten some, I couldn't see him. He refused the krill in garlic. I know most puffers don't care for freeze dried krill but mine like it. He is more active as we get into the evening. And I saw him swimming around in the tank within an hour of me putting in the prime and smart start. Most of his eye is looking clear, with just one small white dot on his eye. I figure he will be ready to eat by tomorrow. I hope anyway. Not sure how long these little guys can go without eating.

I feel so awful! When I woke up I saw that my little guy had died. And as if that wasn't bad enough, my big guy is sad. He's just laying on the bottom with dark colors. I figure he will now stay by himself. I think I got lucky with the way these two were. By the time my tank has cycled and would be safe for a new addition, I think there would be to big of a size difference to introduce a new one. Aside from that, the two could just have clashing personalities. So I wont be getting another one. I will miss watching the two of them play and interact.

I am doing a w/c today. I don't think the smart start stuff did anything. My numbers are still the same on the nitrates. The Dr. Tims will be delivered today, so I will be adding that as soon as it arrives. I could tell the prime was working. My big guy was swimming all over the tank yesterday, his coloring was perfect and he ate like a pig. My little guy was even semi-active. He was surfing the bubbles and swimming with the big guy. That is why I was so surprised this morning. He seemed to be getting better. Everything except with eating. I know he did not have overgrown teeth, he was happily munching snails until he got sick. No parasites. I just don't get it. I am guessing starvation? That is just so sad. I tried so hard to get him to eat.

Yep, keep doing those WC. Do a big one before you add the Dr Tim's & then give it 48 hours to do it's thing. Get this guy healthy & active, before considering any tank mates.