Hi, i'm Mark from the UK and i have a Topaz puffer who up until now has been quite normal. Over the last few days he has been showing signs of stress, been off his food and been spending most of his time circling the water surface or staying in the corner. I have spoken to my lfs who say there is nothing to worry about nor any thing i can really do. I have tested the water and other than a minimal rise in nitrate all is well.
He also seems to pant alot and whilst circling the surface he swims with his mouth open. Any ideas?
Newbie with issues
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.
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Hilly
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Re: Newbie with issues
Is there plenty of aeration in the tank, that would be my first thought, might be worth upping it with an airstone or something.
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Welcome to the site
Hilly
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Pufferpunk
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Re: Newbie with issues
I'm moving this to the Hospital forum. Please answer the questions above, in red.
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!"
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tintin
- Puffer Fry
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- Location: South Coast UK
Re: Newbie with issues
Good morning to you all and thank you for your help so far.
All water parameters are ok except for a minimal raise in nitrite.
Tank is a 60l shared with three tiger barbs and a small silver shark
Puffy gets fed frozen mussel, cockel and crill. Once or twice a month i feed him live shrimp, about a dozen at a time. He gets fed daily although i am going to try every other day from now on. I do a weekly clean and 25% water change using Nutrifin cycle and water purifiers. Twice weekly i introduce a drop of plant food. Once a week or when i remember a drop of Nutrifin waste removal stuff
No changes had been made to the tank in the last month let alone week.
The tank has been set up now since May and Puffy only introduced to it after about eight weeks.
The temp is set at 26 degrees and seldom differs by more than a degree up.
All water parameters are ok except for a minimal raise in nitrite.
Tank is a 60l shared with three tiger barbs and a small silver shark
Puffy gets fed frozen mussel, cockel and crill. Once or twice a month i feed him live shrimp, about a dozen at a time. He gets fed daily although i am going to try every other day from now on. I do a weekly clean and 25% water change using Nutrifin cycle and water purifiers. Twice weekly i introduce a drop of plant food. Once a week or when i remember a drop of Nutrifin waste removal stuff
No changes had been made to the tank in the last month let alone week.
The tank has been set up now since May and Puffy only introduced to it after about eight weeks.
The temp is set at 26 degrees and seldom differs by more than a degree up.
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tintin
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 10
- Joined: Fri Nov 02, 2007 4:13 pm
- My Puffers: One 5 inch Topaz
- Location: South Coast UK
Re: Newbie with issues
Well i think i know why he's been off now. Having got home from work i notice his eye's have gone misty again with the right eye having what looks like furr coming off of it 
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Myaj
- Tech Team
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Re: Newbie with issues
First of all, what are your numbers, exactly? We can't help you if you tell us they are "fine". Because if you have ANY nitrites, they are NOT fine, and that means your tank is still cycling. Any cycling tank is hard on a puffer.
Lots of water changes, keep that water clean right now. Get us some hard numbers and we can help more.
What species is this? Topaz is a common name used for a few different species, it would help if we knew for sure which one you have.
Lots of water changes, keep that water clean right now. Get us some hard numbers and we can help more.
What species is this? Topaz is a common name used for a few different species, it would help if we knew for sure which one you have.
