The Puffer Forum

I've got a freshwater puffer with some clear, fuzzy stuff (fungus?) dangling from its anus. A few pond snails manage to live in the tank, and at first I thought the puffer was tangled in one of their egg-wads.
I've got three tanks-- a 5G with the puffer, a 20G with a bunch of tetras, otos and a bristlenose pleco, and a 1G snail farm.

I alternate feeding the puffer bloodworms and snails from either the 20G or the snail farm (whichever has a snail closest to the surface.)

Now, I did a very stupid thing:

One of my tetras suddenly swelled up with dropsy and ended up dying despite a brief recovery during treatment with KanaPlex. (The fish store clerk said it was probably because I cleaned my gravel too well.) During this illness, I should have only fed the puffer bloodworms or snails from the farm, but I didn't even think about it, and probably gave it some from the infected tank. I've no idea if this and the fungus are related, but there it is.

He also seems to be hiding under the shaded leaves more often, but I could be imagining that.

I also recently (3 weeks ago) got a pair of otos and tried to keep them with the puffer, but after watching it terrorize the poor things, I put the otos in the 20G, where they are happy as can be.

Here's my stats:

1)
pH: 7.6 - same as local tap water.
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: don't have a test
Ammonia: .25

2) 5 gallon, one freshwater puffer, a couple of well-hidden, but probably not eaten malaysian trumpets, maybe some pond snails. Planted with wisteria and hygrophilia

3) I do a 10% water change weekly, and suck out excess algae with a turkey baster. When I first set it up, I had a huge diatom problem, but that's gone away. Still, there's lots of algae, of many types. (hence the failed otos)
I feed once a day.
I use Aquarium Solutions Ultimate water conditioner, and occasionally Stress Zyme

4) No changes, other than feeding it possibly contaminated snails. I haven't been sitting at my desk as much, and therefore not socializing with him, if that matters.

5) I got the tank in May, planted it, got it cycled in a couple weeks, then put the puffer in.


Thanks for any advice you can offer. I'm still relatively new to the hobby.

Are you sure it's not just pufferpoo? Net him & try to remove it, if it's loose/dangling.

Could be stringy white internal parasite type poo. That looks a bit fungusy. Ammonia .25, that doesn't sound right - perhaps an extra water change is in order. Over-cleaning your gravel shouldn't effect your tank cycle at all, and in smaller tanks, I recommend larger volume water changes generally... did you by any chance to a water change, clean the entire filter, and vacuum the gravel really well all at once? A huge water change even daily without mussing with the filter has never given me ammonia, and neither has a massive gravel vacuuming, but I try to never do all 3 on the same day.

Nick:
I haven't been vacuuming the gravel of the puffer tank at all, since it's heavily planted. It was the big tetra tank that got graveled too much.
I did a 20% change last night, and will make sure to change more in the future.
If the poo is stringy, it's really fine strings. It's an almost transparent fuzz with little bits in it which I presume are crushed snail shells. I'll only feed him bloodworms with an occasional snail from the farm this week and see how he does.
Thanks!

I'd treat for internal parasites, sounds like a bad case. Jungle Labs parasite cure fizz tabs(not the powder, I've never tried that and am not sure if it works and/or is puffer safe) have done the job for me in the past, I do a longer regime, with one treatment, 48 hours later a 50-75% water change, then another treatment, and a second round of the same a week after. Also, "surface vacuuming" the top 1/2" of gravel above the roots in a planted tank can remove a LOT of rotting wastes, and turns over the gravel so it always looks fresh and free of algae and bits of plant material - I'd recommend it. Rooting plants get their nutrients from the very fine layer of heavily decomposed nutrients that settles to the very bottom of the gravel, so you won't be harming the plants in any way.