Please help! Porcupine Puffer with bloated belly :(

[bertie 83]

I dropped the ball there sorry, I'm still relatively new to s/w myself. If you are running filters would removing the live rock to cure in a seperate container to cure fully with the addition of a large water change + addition of bio spira not solve the problem? The live rock could then be added back in once cured.

[SmrtyPnts]

pufferpunk

My husband ran out to Petco and picked up some pre-mixed water.



It's better than me messing up a mix.

I will change it in the AM once it reaches at least room temp - I have a heater that I can put in a bucket, but it will only hold 1 5gallon container at a time.


Bertie 83

I was under the impression that the rock I bought was completely live and cured. The LFS told me I could add Bio-Spira to help "seed" the base rock a little quicker - ending with "well, it can't hurt".



My little guy is happily swimming around

[Pufferpunk]

I think Bertie is onto something. The reason your tank is so toxic has ti be the rock. You really are in way over your head here. That fish can NIT be in ANY nitrite AT ALL! You can do permanent damage to the fish. Like I said, lots & lots & lots of water changes are necessary here. 5g tomorrow, ain't gonna cut it. More like 75% daily.

[bertie 83]

I'm sorry but I believe the shop is mis informed. I had no problems with water after adding my live rock. The base rock could stay in the tank if you cure the live rock elsewhere. This is the only real way to de-toxify your tank water, other wise you will need to do as pp says for a good couple of weeks or more which will cost a lot. Don't get me wrong large water changes will be in your near future either way, but removing the live rock from your display tank could reduce the amount. Keep dosing prime too

[GSP32]

I have bought cured live rock from a lfs and put it in my tank (within 30 minutes) and I had absolutely no cycle, after testing 0-0-5 for 3 weeks I put a chromis in there and that was a year ago. Depending on your settup moving from your 33 to the 125 can cause another cycle. I just moved my 110g to a 93g cube but I washed my substrate well before putting it in (with a ton of live rock for 2 small fish at the moment) because I heard that that is how people get a cycle again.

I think that your lfs lied to you about the rock being fully cured or it stayed stagnant for a while before putting it in the tank? Or your test kit is wrong? How are you checking your water? test strips or drops? Old test kits can give you inaccurate results as well... my almost empty test kit was showing me over 40ppm nitrates a few months back (which didn't make sense to me with what was going on in the tank) and I got it tested with 2 other kits and it was showing 0ppm (which made more sense)

[SmrtyPnts]

I just wanted to update :

I have not been able to find a 100+ tank, so I bought a 60 gallon and while it's still not enough, it's at least almost double what he had and will hopefully buy me some time.

I also bought another 5 lbs of cured live rock.

I have bought LR from 4 stores, and think that perhaps the 5lbs I bought from one place may not have been cured (like you guys have said). It smelled for a few days after I got it (low tide ... Yuck) ! And had aiptasia that appeared after a large water change (I guess the WC woke it up lol) - guess I won't be going back to that shop.

The puffer is actually doing very well - back to normal

Swimming happily, eating well, and interacting with his humans.

Many large water changes await me!

[bertie 83]

Don't panic too much about aiptasia, if you panic it becomes a big issue. Take a deep breath and work out an attack plan, you could leave the rocks with aiptasia in the smaller tank and attack it there. Any particularly stinky rocks can be fully cured in the smaller tank. Keep us posted on your progression

[SmrtyPnts]

Well, we took the affected rock out and blasted the aiptasia with scalding hot water and vinegar, then my husband plucked at it with tweezers and removed the shriveled little legs.

I rinsed the affected section off and put the rock back in the tank.

So far ? No other signs of aiptasia OR foul smelling rock. That was HORRIBLE and unforgettable ... Like a dead snail. Even if you've never smelled one? Once you do? You know it and you never forget it lol

[bertie 83]

I fear that might make the problem worse, a single cell will form a new aiptasia.

[Pufferpunk]

Never mind, you probably killed off more good creatures & good bacteria... Keep looking for that perfect tank!

[SmrtyPnts]

I just wanted to update you all and thank you for the help!

I am still unable to find a 100+ gallon tank (that we can afford) so last week we bought a 60 gallon (it's not perfect, but it DID double his water volume)


He's been happily eating, swimming, and "riding" the current produced by the power heads.

I know it's not ideal, but I hope it will help hold him over for a few months while I continue to search for a tank.



The only other thing in there with him is a coral banded shrimp. I figured if it became food, no biggie : but so far they seem cool with one another (yes, I realize this can change).


(ETA: upside down pic? Really? Sigh. Sorry about that)

[sgtmyers88]

Yeah I can see a lot of your problems here. It is not ideal to keep fish in an upside down tank. Plus you will have a hard time keeping all the water in there. lol

[Pufferpunk]

Tell the fish to swim up, up!!!

[SmrtyPnts]

Lol. You guys are awesome!

[Pufferpunk]

You're not the only smartypants around here!