The Puffer Forum

I got a 20 gallon tank, cycled it in about a week and a half before I got two figure 8 puffers.
when it was cycled the ammonia was 0 and nitrites 0, and nitrates was a low number.

immediatly when i brought the puffers home and put them in the tank with a sucker fish, the puffers
gobbled up their blood worms for dinner.
the next day they ate them just as much.
the day after they refused the blood worms and ignored them as i offerd them in front of them as they swam by.
the next day they refused them again so i went to the pet store to find more food. i bougth baby ghost shrimp
for them but all the ghost shrimp did was eat the blood worms. one puffer attacked one once but then just left
them alone after.
the next day the sucker fish died. and i offered blood worms again and they refused. so off to the pet store again
and i got snails. held them infront of the puffers individually and they refused, then i just left 4 in the tank and there
still here.
Today they are looking very sick and dying, one of them was losing its color this morning and its eyes very cloudy and swimming
near the bottum of the tank or just sitting there. the other is not eating and where the color of the fish meets the white stomach is
turning a small shade of blue and its stomach is flat. So that morning i went to loook for black worms but my pet store doesnt have them
so i bought marine salt. the salt worked well and they regained there darker color and green design. but then the one with cloudier eyes
lost more of its color and this evening curled up its tail and went belly up, but was still breathing and was swimming. it would get rightside up
and then swim halfway up then just go sit at the bottum of the tank. the things i noticed on this one was that near the gills was pinkesh and didnt
seem right. and near its rear end was a yellow spot.

I dont know what i did wrong and i dont like seeing them suffer, its terrible. Is there a way to humanely put them down before they keep starving to
death of what should i do. help is extremely appreciated.

Please answer all the Qs above in red, so we can help you better.

1) Dont know the PH, Ammonia is at 0 or low. Nitrite is 0. Nitrate is low.

2)Tank is 20 gallons and has two puffers and a Pleco that I removed two and a have days ago that died

3) I feed them in the morning, and have used a gravel sucker to suck up all the fish poo and leftover food at the bottum of the tank once every two days.
I havent dont any water changes and I have added 3 tablespoons of marine salt a day ago.

4) Just adding the 3 tablespoons of salt and removing a dead fish.

5) I cycled the aquarium for 2 weeks. I checked ammonia lvl, then added ammonia to make it to a certain lvl. then I kept doing that then i checked the nitrite, and then checked the nitrate lvl. And in a few weeks the ammonia was 0 and the nitrite was 0.

How much ammonia did you actually add when cycling? It's important to know, because if you didn't add enough, it may not have created enough bacteria to support the life you added. You say your ammonia tests now at possibly "low". ANY amt of ammonia is toxic. What test kit are you using?

Do a water change now, of 25% & again tomorrow at 50%.

OK
did that and they are looking better today.
one of them is more active and ate a litlte bit
the other one with the foggy eyes and bad color who sat at the bottum of the tank is swimming alot more
but his eyes havent improved.
his stomach looks like he mightve eaten a little but i havent seen him eat

His eyes are foggy because the ammonia burns them, and thus creates that cloudy look. Keep doing water changes, and make sure you vacuum all of the gravel and remove any food if they don't eat it. Dead and decaying matter creates ammonia, which will just further your problems.

If you can, go to the pet store and look for a product called Prime dechlorinator. Prime helps to detoxify ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate, which will (hopefully) allow your puffers to survive through the re-cycle of your tank. What dechlorinator are you using?

Also, look through the Library for the Emergency Cycling article and give it a read. Generally, to grow the bacteria required to support a puffer's bioload, it takes approximately 3-6 weeks (using the proper amount of ammonia). Thus, my guess is that you didn't use enough ammonia, judging by how short your cycle period was.