The Puffer Forum

ph 7.5
Ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 10
FW no salt added

1 - 4" -5" fahaka
1 - 3" peacock eel
2- 1 1/2" silver dollars
2- 2" tinfoil barbs
1-2" red tail shark

55g aquarium been cycled for 3 months

Ok so I added silver dollars and tinfoil barbs last thursday and ever since then my fahaka has been off color (white patches) and out of character. His poo was a ball then a string then another ball and so on and it was white colored instead of black. He hasn't really looked at the new fish which is what I was hoping for. He followed them around for a day and now he just sticks to himself. He hasn't been swimming around as much as normal. The day I really noticed something was up was at feeding time. I drop a tube in and let the frozen bloodworms thaw and sink to the bottom in the tube. He is usually huffing and blowing on the tube and trying to get underneath it. Well he just sat in the corner and I used the tube to push him over to the food. Once he saw it he ate it all but it was weird that he let me just move him around with a plastic tube. The next day and every day after he has been back at the feeding tube doing his normal thing.

I was wondering if the poo was a sign of IPs? I thought I read that somewhere on here but I can't find it now. I was gonna dose with primafix. Should I treat this as a fungus or IPs? Or am I just being paranoid and he is just uncomfortable with the new tank mates?

It sounds like Ip's to me, also he is probally stressed. The 55 gallon will be too small for the fahaka. I think it requires a 110-120 gallon. I would go ahead and treat for IP's. If possible get a seperate tank for the puffer, your other fish may become puffer food once it's feeling better. I feed my puffers mussels, clams, seaweed and shrimp. There are more options in the puffer library on feeding your puffer. These are the things mine like to eat. I get their fresh food from the seafood department at the local grocery store.

Mine also got upset when I added a bunch of silver, fast-moving fish with him. Too much action for him, I think.

edmlfc1 wrote:It sounds like Ip's to me, also he is probally stressed. The 55 gallon will be too small for the fahaka. I think it requires a 110-120 gallon.

I will proabably go get some pimafix tomorrow and start treating him. He looks alot better today; he has alot of his red back. I'm in the process of building a 500ish gallon tank to go in my wall for him. I added the fish to see if he could have tank mates. I got fish that were roughly his size and would be quick enough to get away from him if they needed to. My red tail is the bully right now he won't leave the barbs alone. Good thing he only chases them.

Pufferpunk wrote:Mine also got upset when I added a bunch of silver, fast-moving fish with him. Too much action for him, I think.

Did you end up taking your silver fish out? I can't remember what you said his tank mates were a while back. I think my puff goes for the colorfull fish. Every black or silver fish he has left alone but I put a Blue eyed gold pleco in and he chomped him without warning. So I decided no color at that point

pimafix wouldn't hurt, i thought my mbu had internal parasites because it never swam and it's poo was wierd, but i dosed with melafix and pimafix, now he is active, better colors, begging for food, poo is normal, etc..... so try it out

Yes, I removed the barbs, they really seemed to upset him. Most of his tank mates are fairly mellow:
12" Goldspot pleco
6" sailfin pleco
10" Yellow-finned chalcius
2 7" Clown loaches
9" Lancer catfish
5" Rainbow shark
6" Redtail shark
5" Bosmani rainbow
7" Frontosa
8" & 9" Elephant noses (18 years old)
12” Black Ghost Knife
Occasionally there is a fin nipped but all in all, he's a wimp & the Goldspot & Frontosa is always kicking him out of his cave. Liike your pleco, mine killed my Stepdaughter's large parrot cichlid within 6 hours of adding it to his tank. I was gone for that time, so I don't know how soon after I put it in, he killed it. I only watched for about an hour.

It took mine about 5 min. Granted the pleco was about a half inch long; very much a baby. I got another one but he is in the community tank now. I had never seen a gold pleco and its only a 6incher so i thought that would be a cool fish to have. Maybe i'll tak the barbs back and try the balla sharks or something else that is a bit bigger.

not in that size tank...

get a tank upgrade before looking at tank mates..

t1gerbee wrote:not in that size tank...

get a tank upgrade before looking at tank mates..

apachepufferman wrote: I'm in the process of building a 500ish gallon tank to go in my wall for him. I added the fish to see if he could have tank mates. I got fish that were roughly his size and would be quick enough to get away from him if they needed to. My red tail is the bully right now he won't leave the barbs alone. Good thing he only chases them.

my bad.. only scan read it..

sorry.

I guilty of scanning a lot of threads too.

i think all of us are guilty of doing that

I do to sometimes. I just thought it would be quicker to cut and paste instead of type.

ok here is the latest on my lil guy.

I have done the full treatment of pimafix and i have done a large water change.

my new water parameters are 0's for everything. I have never had water quality that was this good. hardness and ph never change for me.

here are some pics of him.





As you can tell he still has blotches all over and he never comes to a normal color. Is he sick or is this just the way he will look? Also he hasn't been moving around very much and he has been very un interested in his food. He will still eat but I have to move him over to his food or he wouldn't eat at all.