911! 911! 911! 911! 911!
Forum rules
Read this before posting!!
Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.
1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.
2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.
3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)
4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.
5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.
We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.
While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.
Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
Read this before posting!!
Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.
1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.
2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.
3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)
4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.
5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.
We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.
While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.
Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
- xrayjeeper83
- Mbu Puffer
- Posts: 4167
- Joined: Thu May 06, 2010 9:31 pm
- Gender: Male
- My Puffers: Fahaka named Bloat
Abei named Huey
GSP named Bacon - Location (country): USA
- Location: Orange Park, FL
Re: 911! 911! 911! 911! 911!
Seems like it has had a happy ending. So happy for everyone
RTR wrote:Fahakas do not have tank mates, they may have swimming food reserves.
- Pufftastic
- Green Spotted Puffer
- Posts: 430
- Joined: Wed May 12, 2010 2:02 pm
- My Puffers: 1 x C travancoricus
Have also kept:
T biocellatus - Location (country): California USA
Re: 911! 911! 911! 911! 911!
Oh, awesome, you posted while I was writing mine. Hooray for one heck of a hardy little fish! And for you, for your excellent emergency puffer care.
Yo ho, yo ho, a puffer's life for me.
- goldielocke76
- Fahaka Puffer
- Posts: 878
- Joined: Sun Aug 21, 2011 7:19 pm
- Location (country): California, USA
Re: 911! 911! 911! 911! 911!
xrayjeeper83 wrote:PUfftastic dont stress, he is in good hands
Thanks Xray!!
Thanks everyone as well! It was an interesting experience, one I care not to repeat, but would if I had to, just because the end result was worth it. Although never again, I hope not LOL. Going to see if I can't get a few pics of his cute little face and I will post them on my F8 thread. =)
5.5g: Pond snails
5.5g: Red Cherry Shrimp and Rams
10g: PZ the Pee Wee (DP), Ghost shrimp, Otos x3
36g: Luau the F8, Zebra nerites x8, sometimes a herd of ghost shrimp for food
60g: Perches the starry blenny, 1 watchman goby Snaps the l.c. hermit, 2 emerald crabs, 1 red crab, 2 turbos, 7 asteas, 2 nerites, 2 clown gobies and 2 firefish gobies (upgrading to a 90 gallon reef)
RIP Yoshi, you are dearly missed <3
5.5g: Red Cherry Shrimp and Rams
10g: PZ the Pee Wee (DP), Ghost shrimp, Otos x3
36g: Luau the F8, Zebra nerites x8, sometimes a herd of ghost shrimp for food
60g: Perches the starry blenny, 1 watchman goby Snaps the l.c. hermit, 2 emerald crabs, 1 red crab, 2 turbos, 7 asteas, 2 nerites, 2 clown gobies and 2 firefish gobies (upgrading to a 90 gallon reef)
RIP Yoshi, you are dearly missed <3
- bertie 83
- Moderator
- Posts: 5298
- Joined: Tue Apr 12, 2011 4:28 pm
- Gender: Male
- My Puffers: lineatus R.I.P, South American puffer. Valentini puffer, porcupine puffer.
Non puffer
Danios, Tetras, Redtail Rasporas,
Harlequins, CAE's, Yoyo
Loaches, Clown loaches ,Eels, various shrimp, tangs,wrasses, damsels, chromis - Location (country): Brighton, England
- Location: brighton , england
Re: 911! 911! 911! 911! 911!
Good job well done
It's amazing how easy maintenance is. If done regularly and thoroughly
- goldielocke76
- Fahaka Puffer
- Posts: 878
- Joined: Sun Aug 21, 2011 7:19 pm
- Location (country): California, USA
Re: 911! 911! 911! 911! 911!
Thank you!bertie 83 wrote:Good job well done
5.5g: Pond snails
5.5g: Red Cherry Shrimp and Rams
10g: PZ the Pee Wee (DP), Ghost shrimp, Otos x3
36g: Luau the F8, Zebra nerites x8, sometimes a herd of ghost shrimp for food
60g: Perches the starry blenny, 1 watchman goby Snaps the l.c. hermit, 2 emerald crabs, 1 red crab, 2 turbos, 7 asteas, 2 nerites, 2 clown gobies and 2 firefish gobies (upgrading to a 90 gallon reef)
RIP Yoshi, you are dearly missed <3
5.5g: Red Cherry Shrimp and Rams
10g: PZ the Pee Wee (DP), Ghost shrimp, Otos x3
36g: Luau the F8, Zebra nerites x8, sometimes a herd of ghost shrimp for food
60g: Perches the starry blenny, 1 watchman goby Snaps the l.c. hermit, 2 emerald crabs, 1 red crab, 2 turbos, 7 asteas, 2 nerites, 2 clown gobies and 2 firefish gobies (upgrading to a 90 gallon reef)
RIP Yoshi, you are dearly missed <3
- sevenyearnight
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 1894
- Joined: Wed Aug 31, 2011 2:41 am
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: T. nigroviridis
Balki Bartokomous - Location (country): USA
- Location: South Carolina
Re: 911! 911! 911! 911! 911!
NEVER put fragile on a box. That's a joke with postal workers; they will be as rough as possible with those boxes.

- Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32987
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Puffers I have kept:
T lineatus
T miurus
A modestus
T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
C lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Greenville, SC
- Contact:
Re: 911! 911! 911! 911! 911!
Hubby always tells me to pack everything & then throw it againt the wall for good measure, because that's the best it's gonna be treated.
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
-
jus85411
- Mbu Puffer
- Posts: 1116
- Joined: Tue Jan 19, 2010 5:28 pm
- Gender: Male
- My Puffers: none currently :(
- Location (country): USA
- Location: Philadelphia Area
Re: 911! 911! 911! 911! 911!
i work at a computer company and we always say that it seems like the fragile stickers are just a bulls eye for abuse lol. everything worked out, but you just know for the next time. a "this side up" sticker might have been helpful too. though who knows if they actually pay attention to that either. F8's do seem hardy, this is probably the craziest case i have ever heard of. but i had a F8 get sucked up in my HOB marineland filter. i did tank work, cleaned filter and put it back in but the intake inside of the tank had a section fall off, exposing the open tube instead of the "filter" attachment to catch anything big. well i heard my tank making a funny noise from the filter. sounded like it was running dry, motor was running fine and thenPufftastic wrote:jus85411, thank you for that comment about mishandling in delivery! The box was labeled "FRAGILE" on every side, but goldielocke says the post office lady literally tossed it onto the counter when she went to pick it up. In hindsight, I know that I made some poor packing choices, but the postal workers basically playing hacky sack with the box surely didn't help things.
exactly! i always shake boxes to make sure nothing moves around inside before i ship out of work. i may use an obnoxious amount of bubble wrap and box fillers, but nothing gets broke!Pufferpunk wrote:Hubby always tells me to pack everything & then throw it againt the wall for good measure, because that's the best it's gonna be treated.
- Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32987
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Puffers I have kept:
T lineatus
T miurus
A modestus
T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
C lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Greenville, SC
- Contact:
Re: 911! 911! 911! 911! 911!
Well, let's not continue beating anyone up for past mistakes... the important thing is the puffer is doing great!
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
- goldielocke76
- Fahaka Puffer
- Posts: 878
- Joined: Sun Aug 21, 2011 7:19 pm
- Location (country): California, USA
Re: 911! 911! 911! 911! 911!
jus85411 wrote:i work at a computer company and we always say that it seems like the fragile stickers are just a bulls eye for abuse lol. everything worked out, but you just know for the next time. a "this side up" sticker might have been helpful too. though who knows if they actually pay attention to that either. F8's do seem hardy, this is probably the craziest case i have ever heard of. but i had a F8 get sucked up in my HOB marineland filter. i did tank work, cleaned filter and put it back in but the intake inside of the tank had a section fall off, exposing the open tube instead of the "filter" attachment to catch anything big. well i heard my tank making a funny noise from the filter. sounded like it was running dry, motor was running fine and thenPufftastic wrote:jus85411, thank you for that comment about mishandling in delivery! The box was labeled "FRAGILE" on every side, but goldielocke says the post office lady literally tossed it onto the counter when she went to pick it up. In hindsight, I know that I made some poor packing choices, but the postal workers basically playing hacky sack with the box surely didn't help things.i only see 1 F8 when i had 2... i unplugged the filter and took the filter intake tube off and its tail was sticking out right at the end where he would have hit the impellor on an AC filter(luckily marineland has a secondary chamber before the impellor giving him a spare inch or two). he was literally stuck, i slightly pulled to see if he would sliver out but it was air tight. quick thinking i put his end in the tank and blew into the intake part that sits inside the tank where he got sucked up. he was like a fish spitball lol. stressed no doubt, he sat sulking for a day or two without eating but made a full recovery. he even had marks on both sides from being squeezed from the tube
was a trooper though
exactly! i always shake boxes to make sure nothing moves around inside before i ship out of work. i may use an obnoxious amount of bubble wrap and box fillers, but nothing gets broke!Pufferpunk wrote:Hubby always tells me to pack everything & then throw it againt the wall for good measure, because that's the best it's gonna be treated.
I feel like everyone knew this but me, LoL. Even my parents and grandparents was like "uh duh!" haha. Duly noted and filed away in the "important to know for future shipments" part of the brain. I don't think I will ever forget why NOT to put fragile stickers on it. Haha, Pufftastic had like 5 of them slapped on there. I bet they had a field day with poor Luau =(
Too true PP. He can only get better from here ^.^
5.5g: Pond snails
5.5g: Red Cherry Shrimp and Rams
10g: PZ the Pee Wee (DP), Ghost shrimp, Otos x3
36g: Luau the F8, Zebra nerites x8, sometimes a herd of ghost shrimp for food
60g: Perches the starry blenny, 1 watchman goby Snaps the l.c. hermit, 2 emerald crabs, 1 red crab, 2 turbos, 7 asteas, 2 nerites, 2 clown gobies and 2 firefish gobies (upgrading to a 90 gallon reef)
RIP Yoshi, you are dearly missed <3
5.5g: Red Cherry Shrimp and Rams
10g: PZ the Pee Wee (DP), Ghost shrimp, Otos x3
36g: Luau the F8, Zebra nerites x8, sometimes a herd of ghost shrimp for food
60g: Perches the starry blenny, 1 watchman goby Snaps the l.c. hermit, 2 emerald crabs, 1 red crab, 2 turbos, 7 asteas, 2 nerites, 2 clown gobies and 2 firefish gobies (upgrading to a 90 gallon reef)
RIP Yoshi, you are dearly missed <3
- Pufftastic
- Green Spotted Puffer
- Posts: 430
- Joined: Wed May 12, 2010 2:02 pm
- My Puffers: 1 x C travancoricus
Have also kept:
T biocellatus - Location (country): California USA
Re: 911! 911! 911! 911! 911!
Ouch.goldielocke76 wrote:I feel like everyone knew this but me, LoL. Even my parents and grandparents was like "uh duh!" haha. Duly noted and filed away in the "important to know for future shipments" part of the brain. I don't think I will ever forget why NOT to put fragile stickers on it. Haha, Pufftastic had like 5 of them slapped on there. I bet they had a field day with poor Luau =(
Yo ho, yo ho, a puffer's life for me.
- goldielocke76
- Fahaka Puffer
- Posts: 878
- Joined: Sun Aug 21, 2011 7:19 pm
- Location (country): California, USA
Re: 911! 911! 911! 911! 911!
Pufftastic wrote:Ouch.goldielocke76 wrote:I feel like everyone knew this but me, LoL. Even my parents and grandparents was like "uh duh!" haha. Duly noted and filed away in the "important to know for future shipments" part of the brain. I don't think I will ever forget why NOT to put fragile stickers on it. Haha, Pufftastic had like 5 of them slapped on there. I bet they had a field day with poor Luau =(
Hey, we didn't know LoL. I thought they would take care of it with fragile stickers on there haha. I would have done the same thing xD We know for next time!! LOL ^.^
5.5g: Pond snails
5.5g: Red Cherry Shrimp and Rams
10g: PZ the Pee Wee (DP), Ghost shrimp, Otos x3
36g: Luau the F8, Zebra nerites x8, sometimes a herd of ghost shrimp for food
60g: Perches the starry blenny, 1 watchman goby Snaps the l.c. hermit, 2 emerald crabs, 1 red crab, 2 turbos, 7 asteas, 2 nerites, 2 clown gobies and 2 firefish gobies (upgrading to a 90 gallon reef)
RIP Yoshi, you are dearly missed <3
5.5g: Red Cherry Shrimp and Rams
10g: PZ the Pee Wee (DP), Ghost shrimp, Otos x3
36g: Luau the F8, Zebra nerites x8, sometimes a herd of ghost shrimp for food
60g: Perches the starry blenny, 1 watchman goby Snaps the l.c. hermit, 2 emerald crabs, 1 red crab, 2 turbos, 7 asteas, 2 nerites, 2 clown gobies and 2 firefish gobies (upgrading to a 90 gallon reef)
RIP Yoshi, you are dearly missed <3
- JRC3
- Fahaka Puffer
- Posts: 904
- Joined: Wed Jul 07, 2010 4:10 pm
- Gender: Male
- My Puffers: F8(55g)
F8 (46g)
4-DP(29g) - Location (country): U.S.
- Location: S.W. OH
Re: 911! 911! 911! 911! 911!

Glad to hear everything is looking good.
But don't beat yourself up about what happened...Your intentions were the best and the whole experience will just make you appreciate your fish even more.
There are many knowledgeable fish keepers on this forum willing to help and give great advice...The advice is free; What you choose to do with it gives it value.
- Pufftastic
- Green Spotted Puffer
- Posts: 430
- Joined: Wed May 12, 2010 2:02 pm
- My Puffers: 1 x C travancoricus
Have also kept:
T biocellatus - Location (country): California USA
Re: 911! 911! 911! 911! 911!
Thanks, PP.Pufferpunk wrote:Well, let's not continue beating anyone up for past mistakes... the important thing is the puffer is doing great!
Yo ho, yo ho, a puffer's life for me.
- goldielocke76
- Fahaka Puffer
- Posts: 878
- Joined: Sun Aug 21, 2011 7:19 pm
- Location (country): California, USA
Re: 911! 911! 911! 911! 911!
JRC3 wrote:
Glad to hear everything is looking good.
But don't beat yourself up about what happened...Your intentions were the best and the whole experience will just make you appreciate your fish even more.
Thanks! Exactly!! LoL I love going in there and looking at him, and I haven't even had him for very long and he's already wiggled his little butt into my heart. He's now coming and seeing me in front of the tank, and seeing his little cute face makes it that much more better.
5.5g: Pond snails
5.5g: Red Cherry Shrimp and Rams
10g: PZ the Pee Wee (DP), Ghost shrimp, Otos x3
36g: Luau the F8, Zebra nerites x8, sometimes a herd of ghost shrimp for food
60g: Perches the starry blenny, 1 watchman goby Snaps the l.c. hermit, 2 emerald crabs, 1 red crab, 2 turbos, 7 asteas, 2 nerites, 2 clown gobies and 2 firefish gobies (upgrading to a 90 gallon reef)
RIP Yoshi, you are dearly missed <3
5.5g: Red Cherry Shrimp and Rams
10g: PZ the Pee Wee (DP), Ghost shrimp, Otos x3
36g: Luau the F8, Zebra nerites x8, sometimes a herd of ghost shrimp for food
60g: Perches the starry blenny, 1 watchman goby Snaps the l.c. hermit, 2 emerald crabs, 1 red crab, 2 turbos, 7 asteas, 2 nerites, 2 clown gobies and 2 firefish gobies (upgrading to a 90 gallon reef)
RIP Yoshi, you are dearly missed <3