The Puffer Forum

alright well my parameters are fine im sure, i havnt tested them but i cycled the tank for a month or so and slowley added some community fish and continually checked the nitrites and amonia and it is all finished cycleing, but i dont have any more test strips so i cant tell you exactly. I would say it is about half way between brackish and fresh, i know its not great for the puffer but im working on getting him another home, (i didnt want to leave him at the fish store were they were feeding him flakes in a ten gallon tank with one teaspoon of reagular table salt and four figure eights and a pleco.)

this might be the problem idk, its a 60 gallon with, (dont hate me to much) 4 black skirt tetras, two angel fish, two mollies, one platy, and two yoyo loaches(botia loachata) and finaly the figure eight puffer.

ive used cycle and amquel plus. i usually change about 15 gallons every other week and feed flakes and frozen blood worms,

ok now to the problem, I came home today and couldnt find my little puffer (well not so little 2.25 inches) he had hidden himself in some of the plants and just was very lathargic. i attempted to feed him again thinking he might be hungry, well he wouldnt eat a bite. so i thaught maybe water conditions so i did another water change.

well after the water change he seemed even more lathargic, and even got stuck to the filter, since then i put him in the net breeder thing i use for my guppy fry. and am just watching him very carefully.

any ideas from more experienced puffer keepers?

another thing i just noticed is he has a lump on the right side at the base of his tail. I would say it almost looks like a tumor or something, hopefully someone can help i really love this little dude.

Test strips are very innacurate. Get a liquid test kit. F8s need low end brackish water so it could be brackish enough already.
Also those other fish will do poorly with BW and F8s can live in FW just not long healthy lives.
Why are you using cycle if your tank is cycled? That is just dead bacteria and doing more harm then good. I'd just stop adding it in if I was you. Also I think weekly water changes would be much better,

The lump could be from the filter. Do you have a quarantine tank? If not Pimafix Melafix the tank.
Your puffer may be acting lethargic for a number of reasons. The other fish could be bullying him. I'd by a 10 gallon tank, and take the filter media from your tank and put it in the 10 gallons filter and put the F8 in.

Is his belly sunken in? It could be IP doing it.

well i had used the cycle originally because i thaught it was cycled but it wasnt so i added id, anyway.

well i appreciate all the ideas but i woke up to him no longer alive. so i wish i could have tried the melafix but looks like i was just a little to late. but thank you guys any way.

and im now gonna take my little ten gallon i was breeding guppies in and make it a puffer tank cus they are just the best fish i have ever had.

Yes I agree they definetly are. Sorry about your puffer but now you can learn from your mistakes and do it right. Good luck!

Sorry about your loss.

Several things wrong here:
1) Adding Cycle is just like adding more fish waste--adding to your bioload. It's junk, don't use it.

2) Adding Amquel, removes ammonia needed for nitrifying bacteria to develop & live.

3) Putting a puffer in a comminuty tank, especially with angels. Puffers nip fins, especially long ones of poor swimmers.

4) Using strip tests. Very inaccurate. Get a liquid Master Test Kit.

5) Don't buy a fish you aren't prepared for, even to "rescue" it. If the fish dies at the shop, that shows it's a poor seller & maybe they'll stop carrying it. Buy from a reputable shop that takes care of their puffers. That puffer may have been doomed from the start.

Actually, Amquel does not remove ammonia, it just makes it less toxic. The bacteria can still use it. Products such as Zeolite DO remove the ammonia, which starves the bacteria.

I would suspect your parameters are no where near "good". On a 60 gallon tank with all those fish, you need to be doing much larger water changes. Also, if you added the salt all at once, it would hurt your biofilter, possibly crashing the tank. And I doubt you are anywhere "halfway between fresh and salt", or most of those tetras, loaches and possibly even the angels would be dead.

Get yourself some test kits before you even think about getting more fish.

And a 10 gallon tank is really too small for a figure 8, they do best in 15 gallons or larger.