The Puffer Forum

He has been fine for 3 months now and sadly I don't think he is going to make it. He is very fat, seems listless and doesn't eat. Belabored breathing and when my puffer does swim its in listless circles and actually swims into the sides of the tank. I think my puffer ate a MTS that must have hitched in and my puffer can't pass it. I will try some Epsom salt tomorrow if he makes it. Pretty sad because my puffer had grown to 3 1/2 inches and was doing well. The colors on my puffer are really vivid, no signs of ich and I can't think of anything else that could be the cause. Its strange because my puffer just lays around in weird areas, where it used to just sit in its favorite spot and come out to eat and patrol once in a while.

1. ph= 7.4
Amm =0
Nitrite= 0
Nitrate = 5
Salinity = 0

2. tank is a 15 gal with a few ghost shrimp and a few uneaten snails which is a bad sign.
3. Feed daily and will skip a day at least once a week. I mostly feed krill with some cockles on a half shell now and then. Juts bits not the whole thing. I also get small lives snails from my gfs tank to feed my puffer.
4. None I guess I don't do water changes every 3 days like I ddi for a while but I still do at leats one large change a week if not two or more.
5. Both filters were cycled on a previous tank, but this setup has been running for 3+ months with good results until now.

Is it that abei u bought from reef tropical fish store?

Yes but I didn't get an Abei I got a Fangs. They seem to get a mix of puffers. Each times its different when they order red eye puffers its fun seeing what they get each time. Sadly this little guy might not make it. He is big now, at least one inch bigger then when I got him. Sad to lose a fish, I haven't lost one in over half a year and the last one I lost was sick and I shouldn't of bought in the first place.

you know what i think i have a fang too but anyways...is odd mine is also very sick..breathing extremely hard but no sign have constipation because he pooped today, no sign have ichs, no sign have any other sickness but one thing for sure he's kinda fat too. I think maybe is a fat liver diease or maybe is something else. There's another guy here on the forum that have a abei is also acting weird..this is very strange

Yeah the ones they had in there where Abei right after I talked to you. Mine is green with red on the tail and near the tail and a white underbelly. Sadly mine is not puffed but close. Listless to the point of not moving and looking like its struggling to breathe. Only swims when I illicit a reaction which I did to see if he was dead. Then he swam around in a circle but kind of ran into the glass. I havent seen my puffer poop at all even in 3 months of ownership I haven't seen any obvious pooping.

get some epsom salt at CVS or any drugstore.My hospital tank is finally fix today. I have moved polly there for treatment. Added a airstone for my oxygen to help him breathe and aquarium salt.
I was wondering is it something to do with that LFS?

Could be, there fresh water system is far from perfect.

good luck to your puffer my friend may god help our little friend *puffers*

TY

I hope both of your puffers make it. KJB I would feed yours less. At 3 inches they do not need to be fed daily. Check out the feeding articles here in the library. I'm pretty sure at 3 inches they need to skip feedings every 1-3 days a week. I would do the epsom salt treatment for him. If you have not seen him poop ever in 3 months that is not a good sign.

Good luck to both of u guys, i hope your puffers make it!

Well my puffer is no more...

Yeah I would agree on the feeding but I did skip days often going two days with no feeding I was more aggresive at the start. When I looked at him it was an MTS shell that did him in. I don't think I saw the poop because of where he liked to stay in the tank and I had about 15 times tank turnover so it was most likely sucked away before I could see it. Now its time to re-avaluate what I want to do...

Awww! Sorry for your loss!

I'm so sorry for your loss.

TY I think I will take sometime off then build a nice puffer tank and get a Fahaka.