The Puffer Forum

Posted: **Mon Jan 05, 2009 6:17 pm**

I have a 10 gallon fresh water tank with two green spotted puffers both about an inch long. "I know they need salt as they grow going to pet co soon for that but they are still small." There are also two small rosy red feeders.
I set up the tank almost a week ahead of time and let it cycle with the filter the only chemicals we’ve used is aqua safe.

We've had the fish for a little over a week now, Narcissus is doing great but our other who we’ve yet to name was skinny when we brought her home I'm pretty sure she's got a parasite but she was so friendly and active at the store and already in the tank with her tank mate so we brought them both home. When she eats her belly rounds out some but before the day is over she's skinny again and hovering at the top of the tank looking for more food. I'd gladly give it to her but I don't want to over feed her tank mate and I'd much rather kill the nasty that is making her sick, she's such a doll always following my finger across the tank and showing off, if not for being skinny you'd never know she was sick.
Any suggestions on how to get her healthy are greatly appreciated.

Posted: **Mon Jan 05, 2009 6:47 pm**

sounds like ip's which are easily treatable in some cases and not so much in others. i suggest finding a good ip med and treating them then reading the gsp article.

Posted: **Mon Jan 05, 2009 6:50 pm**

Yep, definitely, have a look here if you want to learn about IP treatment. library/hospital/internal-parasites-pre ... treatment/ And yeah you should read the GSP article too. I'm afraid they will need a larger tank than that. 30 gallons minimum for each puffer, so you will need a 60 gallon tank for your two. Aqua safe is good, are you using it for weekly water changes and top ups too?

Posted: **Mon Jan 05, 2009 9:08 pm**

Thanks to both of you for the advice and the link, it helps to know more about what meds I’m looking for before I go to the pet store... sometimes I suspect their fish "expert" couldn't care for a gold fish. lol
The 10 gallon tank is only temporary while they are still small, my roommate and I are saving for a larger tank but when we saw these babies in the store we decided to set up the small one we already had to get started with. It will likely become a small community tank or a quarantine tank once we've upgraded. I use the aqua safe any time I add more water to the tank, be it for full or partial changes. I learned with my first aquarium that untreated water of any kind is bad.

Posted: **Mon Jan 05, 2009 9:51 pm**

i understand he hold these little guys can have but in the future with puffers epecaly i beg you put down a hold on them and do your homework. for now i wish you the best in keeping your little guys, and keep up on the waterchanges till you up grade them.

Posted: **Tue Jan 06, 2009 11:56 am**

you said you let the tank cycle for a week with a filter? was it a mature filter from another tank or a brand new dry filter? If the second then the tank will be not be cycled.

Read the article above (in the red box out at the top of the thread section) about fishless cycling..

did you do any of that?

If not, the tank is cycling with the fish in it, and that is very dangerous for puffers, they are likely to die from their own waste poisoning them if you do not do nice big daily water changes until the cycling process is complete.

You also need to stop feeding them live fish, they are bad for them, full of the wrong fats, actually harbour the internal parasites that you are trying to get rid of, as well as often carrying other bacteria and infections into your tank...

you need to get nice bits of prawn, mussle, cockle (all available from you local shop at not very much for big freezer bags full) and get them onto that.. they LOVE prawn..

this food has the correct protein and vitamins in it, and is also crunchy, which helps keep their teeth down, if you don' do that you'll end up having to manually sedate them and cut their teeth.. which is not at all fun!

They are gorgeous little fish with gorgeous little personalites, but they need you to look after them correctly so they can live for the 20 years that is their life span.

Posted: **Tue Jan 06, 2009 12:29 pm**

One medication that is not mentioned in that article (I need to go back and add it) is GelTek. I would highly suggest using that product to deworm, as the puffers don't seem to object to the flavor. Most of the other products you have a heck of a time getting them to eat, as they taste bad. Geltek works, and works well.

What do you mean "full" water changes? We generally suggest to do 50% a week.. emptying the tank is both stressfull to the fish and can really hurt your bacteria (and be sure you aren't lifting the puffers out into the air, as they can die if they puff with air instead of water).

Posted: **Tue Jan 06, 2009 1:13 pm**

Myaj wrote:One medication that is not mentioned in that article (I need to go back and add it) is GelTek. I would highly suggest using that product to deworm, as the puffers don't seem to object to the flavor. Most of the other products you have a heck of a time getting them to eat, as they taste bad. Geltek works, and works well.

GelTek? Is that the stuff that's actually ampicillin?

Posted: **Tue Jan 06, 2009 1:52 pm**

Oh, nevermind... I found it, and bought some

Parasite Clear just didn't do it for Pistachio, hopefully this stuff will

The Puffer Forum

Skinny Puffer

Skinny Puffer

Re: Skinny Puffer

Re: Skinny Puffer

Re: Skinny Puffer

Re: Skinny Puffer

Re: Skinny Puffer

Re: Skinny Puffer

Re: Skinny Puffer

Re: Skinny Puffer