The Puffer Forum

Hey, guys! It's Jessica, again. Unfortunately. So I got some bumble bee gobies and two figure eight puffers. One had ick when I brought him home, so he's been quarantined to a 5 gallon while being treated with tank buddies ick tablets. My water paramaters are good (as far as I can tell), 1.006sg, 8 ph, 0 nitrites, nitrate 10-20ppm.... 25% daily water changes as directed on original ick medicine. (Just started the tank buddies today). Also using melafix along with. Using half dose on the tank buddies as per directions for "scaleless fish". I couldn't tell if he ate today or not, I think he did a little bit (while he didn't touch the bloodworms when I put them in there...I've seen a couple of snails gone missing ). Fishless cycled tank. These fish have been in the tank for several days, but the tanks been set up for a while (cleaned, and recycled between fish).

So, anyway, sorry for the rush, but I'm really worried about this little guy. He was sitting at the bottom, but seemed to be more mobile this afternoon - however, now, he's just hanging at the waters surface all the time...like he can't breathe or something (I don't know!). Anyway, does anybody know what's causing this, and if I can help him?
Please respond asap. I'll be waiting.
Jessica

(PS my 29 gallon w/ my other new figure 8 and bbgs are fabulous! )...I just wish I could say the same for this guy.
Also his color is VERY dark, and the other seems almost pale. Any suggestions? Not new to puffers, but new to these little guys, and would love some guidance.
Have a great day.

As a side note, all around his eye is black. Like where it's normally kind of goldish - around the eyeball. Just black. His belly's white, but I don't know if that still applies for Figure 8s or not. Sorry, guys, I'm beginning to think I'm more stressed out than my fish. LOL. I just can't do anything until I know he's going to be okay.

As yet another note, he keeps getting more pale...and he's STILL hanging out at the top. Sniff sniff...

Big water change, 80% or so, get the ich medicine OUT of the water. It's not necissary at all, the SG in that tank is more than sufficient to kill ich if you just elevate the temperature a bit to 86. Stop using that stuff, and the melafix too, since he seems to be having trouble breathing. Is there any ammonia showing? That's a leading cause of staying near the top for air.

Thanks, Nick! ...as usual, you're a life saver. Honestly. I'm on it right now!

Give me an update after the water change

Hey Nick!
He seems to be doing better... not perfect, but better. To be honest, I don't have any ammonia test strips right now - and to put it nicely I do not have the means currently to get any. I think I work on Tuesday, so we'll pray until then that the level of ammonia is fine - but it should be; I've never had a problem with it before. Just tested the water:
NO3: 0ppm NO2:0ppm KH:300ish PH: 8-8.2 Ammonia: ?

However, I just had a realization. The water that he is in right now, came out of my community brackish tank (excepting, of course, the water change portion), and my fish in that tank seem to be perfectly fine. I'm just wondering if there is something else wrong with him besides ick. Ive only had him for two days...and he was lethargic like that in the lfs, too. They said he "just has ick", but I'm wondering now if it's not something else, too. I guess I'll just do what I can for the poor little guy - although, I will say, he seems to have perked up SOME since the water change..although in the past 5 minutes or so, he seems to be back to his old habits - and not holding his own so well with the whole swimming thing. ... Anyway, any more suggestions or guesses and I would be more than happy to follow them. I really do appreciate your time, Nick. I want this little guy to live - so bad. But I can only do SO much (and don't want to do TOO much and make him worse)...so yeah.

Off topic, slightly, in my community tank, I found HALF of one of my bbg's. Any suggestions? I've always understood them to get along fine with F8s. Could he have gotten caught on the filter? Could he have gotten caught in the vaccuum (my husband ruled this idea out, but I'm always paranoid)...could he have gotten eaten? The rest are fine and dandy...and in one piece. So sad. Anyway, that's my other psuedo question. Thanks again. When they heal up all the way, I'll make a video so you can see everyone together.

Nick, he's balancing on a leaf of one of my plants right now. Always has his mouth open. Just had a massive coughing spurt. What's that about?!

Um..am I a pain in your backside yet? No really...this is for the puffer not for me...just remember that. Anywho...he seems to have a cloudy film partially covering his eyes. Yep, that's the latest. He's still kinda just chillin' except when he got scared for a second and he darted up and across the tank. So, yeah. That's all for now. In my community tank my lil' Figure 8 keeps chasing my bumble bees...I told him, I will have to discipline him, if he hurts them. Hahaha. Too cute.

wow well i have no idea what this is but i would suggest messaging pufferqueen or pufferpunk maybe they can help, try searching for cloudy eye and see if thats what he has. not really sure were to lead you on this one but just make sure water conditions are correct and you might try rasing the temp just a little bit.

billysgirl4e wrote:Off topic, slightly, in my community tank, I found HALF of one of my bbg's. Any suggestions? I've always understood them to get along fine with F8s. Could he have gotten caught on the filter? Could he have gotten caught in the vaccuum (my husband ruled this idea out, but I'm always paranoid)...could he have gotten eaten? The rest are fine and dandy...and in one piece. So sad.

Perhaps the bbg died and the others nibbled on it? This is probably more likely, but it's always possible your puffer snapped and decided his friend looked yummy (like my previously peaceful black dogface did this week after 3 months of mutually beneficial cohabitation with a couple of cleaner shrimp).

~ Anne

If he's not near the surface for air anymore some progress has been made... If he starts again, i'd do another water change, just in case there's soemthing going on with the ammonia. I'd recommend getting liquid reagent test kits, not strips, as strips become innaccurate after only a few months of storage, and cost up to 10x as much per test.

Clean water! That's the best thing you can do for any fish that is sick. Clean, dechlorinated water several times a day if you have to.

I agree with all of the above. Did you have that puffer in with the others? BTW, PQ is only an expert on SW puffers & would not want to be bothered about BW/FW ones.

So, here's the most recent. He's still about the same. I've been doing 50% daily water changes; levels are still the same as posted above. I really do think he's got so much more wrong w/ him than just ick. I really want this guy to make it. So, here's some pics, hope they will help diagnose... my husband and I have had a rough few months money wise, as they've been doing school budget cuts, and I've been severely limited to work (I'm a HS-ESE sub)....but I will give all that I have to help this fish survive. I really am quite a novice at puffer keeping, I've only been doing it about six months, but I've spent hours of research and continually do (I wish there was more viable research out there...too many untrustworthy info sites) - anyway, so diagnosis and perscription would be wonderful if you could. The ick appears to be going away with Nick's suggestions, however I'm worried about the possible of cloudy eye, fin and tail rot, and possible IPs. Maybe something with the gills too. Anyway, let me know. Main things noticed, are discoloration, severely damaged fins, lack of appetite (today only), and cloudy film over eyes. Also, keeps mouth wide open at all times. Labored breathing. Has moments of normal activity, but often lethargic (I think, because he cannot see). There are six pictures attached. Thanks, guys. My puffers appreciate it! As far as the community tank goes, my other F8 and BBGs are doing GREAT! Hope this helps: