The Puffer Forum

Yeah, so I had to move my tank the other day (a whole 10 feet) because mom was rearranging the living room. The process took about 2 hours because my parents were convinced i could do it without having to take take out the fish and completely emptying the tank. Well, they were wrong. I took all my fish out and put them in a 5gal. bucket full of their water. I emptied the tank, moved it, got it filled back up, and put my 3 DP's, 4 kuhlies, and 2 oto's back in it. Then it turns out, the light burned out! so for 3-4 days my puffs didn't have light (wasn't worried about the kuhlies or oto's). I didn't feed them in that period.

When I finally got a new bulb, I fed the puff's. They looked fine.

Now, i look at them last night, and they are skinny as hell! I'm scared to death that they have parasites. I have no idea how they got them, or if they really even do have parasites. Mom thinks it is because they didn't get fed for four days. I think otherwise.

Anyway, long story short, what do I do? We do have garlic in the house on a regular basis, but I'm not sure what to do.


GAHHHH! Sorry, this is just the first time I have had to deal with one of my own fish being sick before! D:

It could just be because they didn;t eat. Are there bellies sunken in? You might want to feed them bloodworms soaked in garlic just to be safe, and to help stimulate there appetite a bit.

I've been feeding them every day with garlic-soaked bloodworms, they don't look horribly sunken in, but it isn't getting any better.

Ps, i must have cursed myself, because just last night, my betta turned up with dropsy. I immediately did a water change and treated with tetracycline, but he didn't make it. He passed away this morning. D: I did notice before I flushed him with all-due-ceremony that he had a wound on his belly I didn't notice before. It was oozing, which was gross. Was the wound maybe what stressed him and gave him dropsy? or did dropsy cause the wound?

Dropsy is not really a disease, but a symptom of many different infections or disorders which cause a fish to swell up. Not a solid answer, but there almost never is with dropsy. As far as garlic as an antiparasitic, I've only ever heard rumors of it working, I think it boosts the immune system and bit and probably makes worm-type parasites uncomfortable, but is unlikely to do anything to actually eradicate the entire infection.

Thats kinda what I figured. I'm just not sure what specifically to use to to get rid of parasites. I've heard of pumpkin seeds? Or is that for something else?