The Puffer Forum

the issue with the water is the tap water' s ph is 8.1 and i have been having him in 7.1 due to the planted tank and co2 injection. i didnt want to shock him with the ph inbalance of the 2 waters. this way the co2 leaves slowly and he acclimates to tap water ph while in his hospital tank.

he didnt eat even when soaked in garlic guard. i dosed the water just cause he isnt eating and i read that the metronidazole will soak into his system through his gills slowly. i am doing this so he atleast gets some contact with the medication until i can get a food he will ingest. my girl is gonna get lamisole hydrochloride from our local feed store so i can deworm him also.

Yeah, I always use about 1/4-1/2 of the old water, to prevent any kind of pH shock.

Clarification: Nitrification bacteria (aka 'cycle" bacteria) require a surface to grow on. There are many, many forms of bacteria, lots of them can and do live in the water column

Okay... he still has the white string stuck at his anus, its just poking out and hasnt moved much if at all. I have read that people add epsom salt to the water to help things pass through to make it easier for fish. Could i and should i add some epsom salt to help him push it out? I didnt want to add any if it would harm him but it looks like the little guy is uncomfortable.

If he is having trouble passing it by all means add some epsom salt to help him pass it

boosted23 wrote:He is in a planted tank. I have 120lbs of eco-complete in my 150 gallon. Its about 2 inches thick.
I drained all the water out of the 10 gallon and transfer water from his 150 into it. That way i could put him right in and he wont get stressed from different parameters. I am soaking bloodworms in garlic guard and med right now. I will see if he eats it. He is small enough that he has a decent amount of space in the tank. He is still expelling white string from him. Hopefully he eats and this works.

ok, just my eyes playing tricks on me. lol little fish, big tank....

purplecandle wrote:

boosted23 wrote:He is in a planted tank. I have 120lbs of eco-complete in my 150 gallon. Its about 2 inches thick.
I drained all the water out of the 10 gallon and transfer water from his 150 into it. That way i could put him right in and he wont get stressed from different parameters. I am soaking bloodworms in garlic guard and med right now. I will see if he eats it. He is small enough that he has a decent amount of space in the tank. He is still expelling white string from him. Hopefully he eats and this works.

ok, just my eyes playing tricks on me. lol little fish, big tank....

Lol, yes, he is only about 2" himself. now i am getting worried. My girl says he is just laying there, not moving and he is thinning in the middle with a lump next to his anus with what looks to be a worm stuck or slowly coming out. Should i try to help push it out and then try to pull it out? Or should i try epsom salt bath? I dont want the little guy dying on me......

ok. he still has what looks to be a worm or something still trying to come out. he has these bumps on his belly also. are these bumps from air or the parasite? should i be worried?

i have dosed the water with 250mg of metronidazole cause he wont eat nothing. also dosed cephalexin as per l.f.s. and put epsom salt in there too tohelp him pass the parasite cause it looks stuck.


Untitled by boosted23, on Flickr


Untitled by boosted23, on Flickr

he is still alive. white belly, he still wont eat. i got api general cure that has praziquantal and metronidazole in it. his stomach lumps have gotten less, i seen him poopa little white string. he moves around at times but mostly lays there. i have added epsom salt to help him pass it. i am waiting for the levimasole hydrochloride to come in the mail and dose him with that. hopefully he passes whatever this is and gets back to his normal self. his tank misses him. he has a good amount of snails to eat now when he returns.

Untitled by boosted23, on Flickr

i got my prohibit levamisole hcl dewormer in the mail today. I dosed it to 4.5 mg/l in the tank. it has been about an hour and a half now and he is swimming around and he is finally eating snails again!!!!! i guess nematodes is what he has and he is on the road to recovery. i gotta dose it for 24hours every 7 days for a month to make sure it kills it in all its life cycles.

Woo-Hoo!!! Try earthworms injected with the meds.

He will touch earthworms.i got some from walmart and its a no go. He has def. perked up. He wont pluck snails off the glass but he hunts them in the substrate and plants now. i also got him some small crabs and he tries to eat them but he cant break the shell yet. lol. I am gonna keep trying earthworms too.

This may sound cruel but crush those crabs a bit and expose some meat. I used to do it for a baby f8...i leav the crabs/crawfish partially alive so they still twitch and move while meat and organs stand out...puffers go nuts for em

i was about doing that but now i have to try and find them.. i havent seen them in days now. they are either under the wood i used to make his cave or he ate them finally? i pulled the claw off the bigger one cause it pinched him and he didnt like it. but when i put the claw in there, he tore it up. that really kick started his eating again cause he wouldnt eat the snails but now he is alway on the hunt for them now.