The Puffer Forum

my figure 8s color has been fading in some spots and is becoming white. there is a red-eye puffer in the tank as well. i am pretty sure taht this not a good thing and probably not a good thing. i am wondering what the cause could be and if there is anything i could do.

Please answer these:
Forum rules
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.

To start off, you have 2 fish that should not be kept together in a tank. F8s need low brackish water and red-eyes require full FW. Also Red- eyes are aggressive and will probablly attack your F8.

His spots are probably white with fear!

White with fear, very scientific.

Andy if you are keeping them both in fresh, it is worth moving out the red eye puffer and then adding some marine salt to the F8 tank to make it brackish. F8's although freshwater fish in the wild seem to have better immune systems under a low end brackish environment. If he has a skin infection of some sort this could aid in the healing of it. Melafix can also be used in addition to aid healing of the skin. If you could post a pic that would be most helpful.