The Puffer Forum

First, the info requested: Nitrate=0 Nitrite=0 PH=8 KH=240 GH=120 Ammonia=.25 Salinity=6 Specific Gravity=1.004 (on Instant Ocean hydrometer). There are no tank mates, only 3 ghost shrimp that I tried to feed but were not eaten. This is a 10 gal tank. Tank has been up for about 2 months and I used Seachem Stability when setting up as directed.

We set this tank up to house baby mollies but they ended up dieing. So we decided to get GSP's. Bought 4 from Walmart about 3 weeks ago and put them in the 10 gal. After doing more research and finding that the tank was just too small for that many we moved 3 of them that did not appear ill to a 29 gal and they are doing fine. This little guy has looked sick for about 2 weeks. Has not eaten in about a week. He has no interest in any type of food. So he is pretty much skin and bones.

He started to get dark on his belly and I figured they were just stressed due to the small tank. Then as we were preparing our 29 gal to receive them he kept getting worse. Dark all over not swimming much just laying on the gravel. So we decided not to move him and try to treat whatever he has. I tried adding a small amount of salt (Instant Ocean) to see if it was just stress. That did nothing. So I used Jungle parasite clear twice with a 25-30% water change in between. Still did nothing. So after more research I bought Maracyn-TC and have been treating the tank for the last 2 days will have third dose tonight. He seems to try and perk up when I go in the room and swims a bit along the front of tank. His color is still really bad but it seems to be slowly getting some green back. He has the little bright green mark on top of his head. One side of his gills looks like it is pretty much gone and the other side looks about a third of the way gone. His tail and fins aren't in good shape either partially broken off. I think he was sick when we got him but I don't want to not try. His precious little eyes make me want to try everything possible. Oh plus he has some small white dots just forward of his gills.

This poor little guy is just withering away and I feel helpless trying to find a cure.

It sounds to me like he's just really stressed. 4 GSPs would need a 120gallon tank to stay healthy. A single GSP would be fine in a 29gallon tank by itself, but any more than that would be really crowded. He might also have Internal Parasites. Does his belly look sunken in??

Yes his belly is extremely sunk in. You can see the outline of his skull and back bone. He looks like he is starved. And appears to be panting or gasping at times and very weak. The puffers are only about 2.5 inches long at this point.

Treat him for IPs
I've had success using the Jungle brand IP pellets, but your puffer may not eat them, I know some people have treated using a medication you presoak his food in, but I don't know the name of it.
Stability won't cycle your tank, it's all dead bacteria, it's complete crap. The only product that will instantly cycle your tank is bio-spira (which is kept refrigerated).
Your best bet right now is to get him in as large a tank as you can, treat him for IPs, change the water daily, and add some instant ocean. If he hasn't been eating try getting him some frozen squid and soaking it in garlic, I've never known a puffer to pass it up. If you've got ghost shrimp in there with him, see if you can catch one or two and (I know this sounds brutal) but kill them (quickest way would be to smash their heads or cut them off, again, it sounds brutal, but it should get him to eat). then put them back in, if he's really weak, then he'll have a hard time catching them otherwise.
Keep up with water changes, do at least 50% daily until he perks up, which, hopefully he will soon. Keep us updated,

OK thank you. I will give that a shot. When soaking in garlic should I use garlic powder and water or like minced garlic?

You can either buy a product called "Garlic Guard" at a local petstore. Or get a clove of garlic and chop it up into pieces, then add the garlic and the food to a small dish with just enough tank water to cover everything, let it sit for 10-20min, then take out the food and throw it in the fish tank (don't put the actual garlic chunks in the tank)

And the type of medication you soak the food in is called PraziPro: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... atid=12098
I think more people have luck with it since most puffers won't eat pellets.

Thanks! I will let you know if I can get him to eat.

I think my baby is just about gone. He is just on the bottom of tank and barely moving his fins or anything. I just turned out the light hoping that he is just sleeping but I don't think so. He has just been floating around the bottom of the tank for the last hour or so. I guess I will see in the morning. I have never really gotten this upset over a lose. I guess it is because I tried so hard to save him. I thought he might be starting to feel a little better because he was greeting me at the front of the tank some today. That's all for now.

Probably a combination of weakness from the IPs and the ammonia present in the uncycled tank. Keep up large volume water changes.

zombiefetus wrote: And the type of medication you soak the food in is called PraziPro: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... atid=12098
I think more people have luck with it since most puffers won't eat pellets.

If you can't fins this in the lfs I used this stuff called general cure I found it at petsmart and its like $14.99. You can try that until you can get the prazipro, I could never find this in the lfs but I had my boss order some so I could have it on hand, but the general cure works and helped me cure my puffer enough to eat but I don't know if its as good as the prazipro.

I will go to the store today and try to find some. He is still hanging in there but barely. I am also going to do a 50% water change and see if that helps. The meds that I am using say it isn't needed unless the levels go up but I figure it can't hurt. We are on 3rd day of treatment and he is just getting worse. I used a turkey baster and put brine shrimp right in front of him and even a little got on his nose and he still didn't even acknowledge it last night. I will keep trying. Thanks for all your help!!!!

I have a puffer that is currently blind due to an eye infection. The way I get her to eat is I puree her food in a mini food chopper and put it in a syringe. The I put the syringe (without the needle) in her mouth while gently holding her under the water and push the food through. She has got the hang of it now and tries to suck the syringe. I went to walgreens pharmacy department and they gave me the syringe for free.
**Forgot to mention: I move her to a small bowl with tank water first, put a rubber glove on so that I don't mess up her slime coat, then after the feeding I throw away the water that's in the bowl with the uneaten food. You can try this method and see if it will help. If you need pictures for a visual I can take some tonight when I do her feeding. Lot's of luck to you and I hope your little puffer feels better soon.

I really appreciate all the help but unfortunately nothing helped. He is gone now. Maybe if this happens again I can try to treat it sooner than this and have better luck. I hope that it doesn't though. My other 3 GSP are doing really well. Fat and happy. They just haven't quite figured out what the ghost shrimp are in there for yet. They play with them and look at them but don't eat them.

Thanks again for all the help!

If this puffer was living with the other 3 & had IPs ( all came from Walmart), I'd still treat the 3 for that. I hope they'll soon have a large home to swim in!

They were at first. But not over the last 2 weeks. Is it really necessary to purchase a larger tank right away when they are only 1.5-2 inches. We are looking for one that isn't so expensive. The 3 are the only ones in a 30 gal. I understand that water changes are very important. I was told that they would be OK until they started getting larger. I will treat them for IPs just in case.