The Puffer Forum

Hi
I think one of my gsps may have internal parasites.
Here's the info:
pH is 8.0
Ammonia-0
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-5
Salinity-1.01
20 gallons, 2 small (<2") green spotted puffers, will be upgrading to 55+ gal asap
I also have java moss and java fern in there
I feed pond snails that i raise 2x a week, frozen bloodworms 1-2x a week, frozen brine shrimp ~3x a week, occasionally daphnia or plankton, totalling 6 feedings a week
I change 25% of the water weekly. Nitrates never get above 10.
I added Seachem's Flourish fertilizer for the plants. I use Hagen's water conditioner, can't remember the exact name right now. It removes chlorine, chloramine, and heavy metals, and has an "anti-stress" formula. I use marine salt. I also am using Jungle's Parasite Clear. I added the second dose yesterday, so if it hasn't worked by tomorrow, then I don't know what to do. So far there has been no change.
Aquarum has been set up since the beginning of June this year
I cycled it with mollies, cause I couldn't find any ammonia

Symptoms:
One of the puffers has recently (in the last 2 weeks or so) begun to look a bit unhappy. His stomach gets thin quicker after feedings than my other puffer, it gets caved in slightly, and he has a bit of grey along the edge of his stomach.
I had them with 3 mollies for the first few months. The mollies were very aggressive towards each other, and one of them damaged the other one's swim bladder. A few days later I found this puffer eating the molly that got injured. He mostly ate the fins and face. After that I rehomed the remaining mollies.

Thanks for the help

If Jungle brand is all you can find (there are better ones) then break a small chunk off the tablet and dissolve it in a cup. Then soak your food in that so they actually ingest the the meds. hope that works for ya

Great idea! Thanks
What are the better meds you referred to? I have a petsmart and petco very close to me, so they probably have most common meds.

Jungle clear should work fine. From your discription it does sound like IP's to me. You have to finish the treatment once you start it so the IP does not become immune to the meds. Here is a post regarding treating for IP's that might help you: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=13646&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

There is an article in our library about various ways to deworm puffers. Most puffers already have internal parasites, its just natural in wild caught fish. It does sound like your one might be starting to have trouble with them though, getting skinny faster than normal after a full meal is a typical sign. White or stringy feces are another as well.

If you are going to treat the fish, treat both of them.. if one has them, the other does as well more than likely. I personally prefer to treat the food with medication instead of the water (I use the metronazole/levamisole method myself, others have had good luck with GelTek medication put on the food). I've never used Jungle Clear, and from the amount of people that come on here and say they are still having trouble after dosing the tank with it, I don't have much faith in it working.

pinkfloydpuffer wrote:Great idea! Thanks
What are the better meds you referred to? I have a petsmart and petco very close to me, so they probably have most common meds.

I would continue with treating w/ jungle clear.

Here is more reference material for you in the puffer library. Good IP article there as well. I would not change meds at this point.

library/category/hospital/

Ah, Nick has said jungle clear does work........

Thanks everyone.
If I finish the treatment with Jungle, and it's still not better, then would I try something else? Or keep going with Jungle?

I guess that would be up to you.

I know what has worked for me, so that's what I stick to. Keeping my fingers crossed this treatment works for you.

Jungle brand is all I have access to and that method I gave has always worked for me, but not for some people...
the thing is, you have to treat the food and not the tank (as package instructions say) or it is useless.

Ok, I will soak some bloodworms for them tonight. Thank you so much for the help everyone.

pinkfloydpuffer wrote:Thanks everyone.
If I finish the treatment with Jungle, and it's still not better, then would I try something else? Or keep going with Jungle?

I would Do the treatment how Nick states in the other IP thread. If it does not work I would guess use one of the other recommended meds. I'm sorry for the confusion. I have learned from exp that all meds will not cure an ill fish the same for everyone, like fin rot for instance. I have not had experience with IP's. I only know what I have read here on the forum. Please let us know what you do and what the outcome is. I'd like to know if jungle clear works for your gsp. I wish he/she well.

The jungle parasite clear tank buddies DO work, but you can't just use them as recommended - the meds need more time to absorb, and larger volume water changes are needed to prevent buildup of some of the components. I do at least 3 treatments, at 48 hour intervals, with 75% water changes before every treatment but the first. I have also had to extend this for up to a total of 6 treatments for a particularly bad case, this is safe, IF you do 75% or larger water changes between treatments, to prevent buildup of meds to dangerous levels. When treating the water only, gill uptake can be slower than is ideal. If the puffer is eating, soaking the food as well is a great supplement to treatment, but I never treat only food, as protozoan wasting is a VERY common form of IPs, and can very, very easily reinfect from the tank if metrodazole or flubendazole is not also added to the water to kill it. If your puffer doesn't respond to prazi or levamisole alone, you likely have protozoan wasting IPs, rather than classical "worms." The difficulty in diagnosis between forms of IPs is why many meds combine prazi and metro. Classical worms can leave eggs or segments in the water which MAY reinfect, but reinfection from protozoan wasting disease is virtually assured without treating the whole tank.

Thanks!
I soaked their bloodworms in the meds for about an hour and then fed it to them. I'll also do a water change pretty soon and redose.

I'm still soaking their food every day and doing water changes before each dose, I'm not seeing any improvements yet though