The Puffer Forum

Your persistence should pay off. Try garlic soaking his foods. Melafix will not help with internal parasites

He is a little more alert this morning and not so thin. I looked through all my tanks and picked out newly hatched snails and added them last night. I also put some of the snails favorite food in the middle of the tank so they would all come out in the open. His belly is not so sunken today. I also did not see very many baby snails. I went ahead and added the Melafix to his tank following directions carefully. I also soaked some shrimp and dried blood worms in garlic water and tried to feed him. he actually came up to the tongs and touched his mouth to it but didn't bite the food. He went back to cruising the glass, drift wood, and water lettuce. I haven't seen him eat but he doesn't look so skeletal today. I am going to order some more supplies I really thought I knew how to take care of him but am finding that I could have been even more prepared. I am ordering some metronidazole, vitamins, one of those feeder things that you put worms and shrimp in, some of the worm meds listed in the articles I read and some different frozen food. I called every place I could think of that might sell fishing bait too. I am thinking of picking up some meal worms and trying that. Maybe chop them up a bit. I am going to cut up an earth worm and try it today too. I have a new bunch of baby ghost shrimp and will add them to the tank. I only saw the bigger ones in his tank today. I couldn't find any of the baby live shrimp so maybe he ate some of them. He did check out the adult ghost shrimp some but didn't bite it. I am hoping he gets better soon. I am already so attached to him.

Meal worms are too fatty, not recommended for puffers, their skin is very hard to digest also. Why add melafix if there are no external wounds? This will just stress the fish more

I was told to add it because the puffer developed a slightly cloudy eye. Today the eye looks like it has a tuft of something on it. He still hasn't eaten as far as I can tell. I had to leave the house for awhile and when I got back he was floating near the top of the water and looked bad again. I checked the water and the ammonia had jump to .25. I immediately did a massive water change using Prime. I also lowered the water level a little to get more oxygen in the water. I am really worried about him. he seemed better this morning but now looks lethargic and droopy. I went looking for some frozen blood worms but had no luck finding any. I found some dried krill and baby shrimp. I am rehydrating it in garlic water. I thought about smashing up a snail and seeing if he would go for that. I am really worried about him.

Keep doing big water changes,

Mine only eat small snails and ghost shrimp...

Well it looks like my first attempt at keeping a dwarf puffer has ended in failure. He died this evening. Both of his eyes clouded over and a white, cottony substance grew from them. I feel so bad. I am going to take the tank down this week and sanitize it. I don't know how he would have caught a fungus. The tank was well maintained and had been cycled for 6 months. He was the only fish that had been in it. I don't know if he could have caught something from the snails or plants I recently added? My other two tanks are fine. All the fish, snails, and shrimp are growing and multiplying like crazy. I am really bummed about this. I don't know if I am going to try again soon. I want a puffer but I hate the idea of putting another one through this if I did something wrong. I am going to keep reading and researching and make sure I have frozen bloodworms as well as snails and stuff next time.

Good try. I hope this does not stop you from trying another puffer in the future.

Sorry you lost him. You tried hard

I am going to try again but plan on waiting awhile. I keep going over what could have went wrong. I am taking the tank apart and cleaning every thing. I am pretty sure it was a fungus that killed him. I just do not know how he got it. He was also extremely thin. I am looking for all the worm meds that where suggested in the articles I read. I also ordered frozen food. I used a piece of found wood and I am wondering if it didn't contribute to his demize. I scrubbed it down and baked it for 30 minutes in a 300 degree oven but it had a lot of cracks and hard to get to places. A white stuff grew on it. Could it have possibly infected him? I am removing it and ordered some grapewood to replace it. I will bake the sand, clean the filter, dip the plants, and set everything up again. I never used fish to cycle the tank, only snails and shrimp. I had a problem within a couple of days of the ammonia rising to .25. I did immediate water changes and kept a close eye on it but it still raised some before each water change. I wonder if the filter just didn't have a high enough beneficial bacteria count. I am going to fishless cycle and then add a young molly from my main tank to build the bacteria up instead of relying on the snails. I have raised these fish from fry to juveniles and know they are healthy. I will be reading and reading and doing more reading to gain more knowledge on these interesting fish.

Good luck on your next try..

It is possible the wood was the problem. Sanitize everything in Oxiclean.

I feed from a cone

I took the tank apart and when I moved the driftwood I found a pile of young snail shells and a grown ramshorn with a large cracked place on top of his shell. Looked like something had tried to take a bite out of it but had just shattered the shell. So I know he was eating. The driftwood smelled really bad and had a black slimy substance growing on the bottom. There was a hollow in the bottom of the driftwood and that is where I found the shells. I really think that it was the driftwood that added to his demise. I have tossed it.

How do I use Oxyclean to clean the tank? Just add it to the water and let it soak? I usually use salt water and vinegar to clean and then let it air dry. Would that not be enough? I was going to bake the sand but it is coal slag (Black Diamond blasting sand) and I do not know if an oven would be a good idea. Any suggestions to getting it disinfected?

Just add it to the water and let it soak?

Yes, you can also run it thru your filter.