The Puffer Forum

FishFan, thanks for the insightful explanation! That really helps a lot. The lace rock I purchased has the spherical cavities that you mention. So that makes me think that you might have a point.

However, I put a comet goldfish in about 11 days ago, and he's looking better than when I first got the little guy. He had a torn caudal fin and some scrapes on his scales when I first got him, but he's healed quite nicely without any medication. He swims around vigorously from one side of the tank to another always on the search for food.

So unless this potential toxicity that you mention is only strong enough to kill f8 puffers (which are scaleless) but not goldfish, I'm starting to doubt that there's any toxicity in the water. I'm starting to suspect that the f8s were sick before they arrived at the lfs. Possibly cyanide capture like some of the people on this forum have mentioned.

PuffnStuff and Jimi, I've thought about your suggestion of waiting a week and see how the f8s look, but they always sell so quickly (or are dying off). From the last shipment, they only received four f8s. Because in a week, they're all gone. And most lfs don't carry f8s, just gsp. And I don't have a tank large enough to house a gsp.

In any case, I'll post another picture of goldfish tonight.

BTW FishFan, congratulations on winning POTM. That's one ornery looking giant spotted.

Here's a picture of Cheeto (a.k.a. guinea pig). I've had him in the aquarium for about two weeks now, and he's looking great. He's swimming well and always foraging for food. At this point I can safely assume that there's anything toxic in the aquarium. I'm somewhat hesitant about getting another f8 from the same lfs though. I'll have to find some other fish shop, whether local or otherwise.

Cheeto...love the name...Sure is cute!

Thanks. My wife likes him, but I'm not gonna get too attached to him. He's not very interactive, is a pretty dumb fish as far as goldfish goes. He doesn't even know to come up to the surface for fish flakes, and he doesn't eat any vegetables <blanched> that I give him (even though goldfish are suppose to eat some vegetable matter). So I throw in a piece of shrimp. And he really doesn't have any personality at all whatsoever. All he does is swim and forage for food. Thats why its easy not to get too attached to the lil guy.

All of the goldfish at the store I work at love food, so when I feed them they get all crazy and start jumping and running into each other, thats weird that cheeto doesn't do that. Hows the tank going?

The tank is going pretty well. Thanks for asking ^_^

The only annoying this is that I get brown algae on the leaves of the anubias and java ferns. So cleaning is a pain. I've just added in a few more dwarf anubias plants, but am thinking about adding in some floating water sprite to cut down on the light that the anubias and java are receiving.

Cheeto is a pretty boring and uninteresting fish. But he's at least keeping the tank cycled.

I'm starting to feel hesitant on getting another F8 because I've already lost two of them for no apparent reason. I'm concerned about the fact that they're wild caught, sometimes using cyanide capture, and often contract internal parasites. If I don't get another puffer, then I guess I'll just dump my snail and ghost shrimp farm because there'll be no use for that. I've taken care of fish for more than a decade and have never had fish die on me so quickly nor mysteriously. I was thinking about getting a betta instead of an F8. Any thoughts?

Bettas are borning, I would go with a f8. Look for a really fat one, and then treat for Ips right away. My figure 8s kept dying too for no reason so I switched to gsps and they lived! I was mad because just before the f8s died I tried gsp and they all died but I just tried my luck at f8s again and he seems to be doing alright.