The Puffer Forum

I've had a Fahaka (Merl) in a 46 gal tank for 5 months.
Salinity-1.005
Ammonia-Zero
I'll test the rest later accurately.

He's been fine, eating frozen clam and krill. He occasionally turned darker or lighter, but seemed fine. Darker is bad, correct?

Since I've had him he has had this yellow round dot on his tail fin, I've read of this before, what is it?

A week ago the water was cloudy and white. Bacterial bloom?

Then Merl got redness around his mouth and fins and cloudy eyes. I have been treating with Maracyn for a few weeks by now. Last night he started swimming upside down all disorientated. Then he started panting. I used Marifix..?, I forgot what's it's called it's in the "sticky" of this forum. I surely thought he would die last night but he is alive and kicking today. What should I do? Large water change? Continue to treat him?

Large water change NEVER hurts, and is always recommended first and foremost, provided you match temperature and dechlorinate.

IMHO melafix is akin to a bandaid for fish, and maracyn is a stronger med. If you have been using all of that and not changing the water, that might be an issue too.

Do a massive 50-75% water change and see what happens.

Fhaka puffers are FRESHWATER they don't need salt. Your cloudy water is probably due to poor water quality. His infections are also probably from poor water. Try to fix the thing that is causeing the bacterial infections. If you only treat the infection and not the cause, it will just come back. Fahaka puffers need over filtration because they are messy eaters and big poopers. He will also need a larger tank (at least 125g). I have mine in a 150g 5' x 2' x 2' and he seems to like that.

toofazt wrote:Fhaka puffers are FRESHWATER they don't need salt. Your cloudy water is probably due to poor water quality. His infections are also probably from poor water. Try to fix the thing that is causeing the bacterial infections. If you only treat the infection and not the cause, it will just come back. Fahaka puffers need over filtration because they are messy eaters and big poopers. He will also need a larger tank (at least 125g). I have mine in a 150g 5' x 2' x 2' and he seems to like that.

maybe so but you are being fairly blunt and not offering anything really helpful at this point. While yes a fahaka is a FW puffer, there is little evidence that supports the fact that beign in 1.005 salinity right now has anything to do with the water quality being poor, which is our main concern.
please rephrase your post to be a bit gentler and breaking things apart makes them easier to read.

Sarah what is the size of the fahaka as well as what are those other parameters. My LFS gets cloudy water from prefectly clean tanks sometimes as it is a bloom from the excess nutrients in the makeup water.
Als try an antibiotic that is more liely to help at this point. Jungle products makes one called fungus eliminator. it has 2 meds in it, a antibiotic and a sterilizer to kill bateria. try using that if you can get it and as SG said doing more water changes never hurt the fish.
As you do them, please do not add salt and let it go back down to FW. should help the fish a little and also should help you not spend money on salt you do not really need at the moment.

any other questions please let us know. we are glad to help as we can.

please rephrase your post to be a bit gentler and breaking things apart makes them easier to read.

I don't think I'm talking to a 6yr old

I like it when people are blunt and get straight to the point. I don't think I was rude at all. Honestly a puffer like the Fahaka isn't a puffer someone should own if they haven't already researched enough to know that they are a freshwater fish. IMO lots of people who own Fahakas & Mbus (just to name two) don't house them properly and don't realize that they need such a large tank. And lot of times they need the tank all to themselves and most people don't want to dedicated a large tank to 1 fish. Sure you can keep them in a smaller tank, poor water quality, and not feed them properly. Just like you can keep a dog in a small cage and it will live...

toofazt wrote: I don't think I'm talking to a 6yr old

I like it when people are blunt and get straight to the point. I don't think I was rude at all. Honestly a puffer like the Fahaka isn't a puffer someone should own if they haven't already researched enough to know that they are a freshwater fish. IMO lots of people who own Fahakas & Mbus (just to name two) don't house them properly and don't realize that they need such a large tank. And lot of times they need the tank all to themselves and most people don't want to dedicated a large tank to 1 fish. Sure you can keep them in a smaller tank, poor water quality, and not feed them properly. Just like you can keep a dog in a small cage and it will live...

All you said in there is mostly true, however being new here as sarah is we try to give quite alot of slack. By asking the relevent questions now we can help her decide what to do and then work through tanks sizes filtration etc. one step at a time.

I dont think sarah is a 6 year old, but you are acting a quite bit like one. If you prefer blunt then I can be as blunt as anyone else, so I am sorry if the above post wasnt clear, but you are not helping here.


Sarah is trying to do right by her animal. so we are trying to help her. She is asking questions and your actions are not helping her at all, simply flaming her.

If you actually had something relevent that helped her at this point then I wouldnt mind. But otherwise please leave this alone. We like to give all our new ppl quite alot of play before we get upset, but flaming against a persons percieved inadaqueticies or past mistakes that they are trying to fix is not acceptable.

Whether you think your being rude or not, your typing is all we read, and it does come across as rude.
Please treat others as you would like to be treated as we are fostering a community.

Hey now guys, steady on!

Simmer down, I can handle the abuse. I'm 20, not 6.
Just so you all know the puffer is my boyfriends. I have a saltwater tank, so I took it upon myself to try to figure out what's going on.
Merl is 2.5-3" long.
He feeds too much, 2 full cubes of frozen krill a day. I feed a 1/4 of frozen mysis to my reef every other day. I realise the importance of controlling feedings.
Anyway, he told me Merl is doing good. He has a 90 and 75 gal for when Merl gets larger.
I tested his water and Nitrite was 0, Nitrate was 5ppm, PH-I forgot but it was normal, and Ammonia was zero. I'm thinking this cloudy water is from all the nutrients from the krill. Phosphates are probably sky high. Melafix (the bandaid) seems to be working, therefore, he's going to continue using it, and if needed then he'll try Maracyn Two.

good to hear. a reef tank eh, well we shall infect you with the puffer fever yet. youll have athrons or diodons one day !!!

Some of us happen to be believers in the Melafix band-aid. SteelGeek isn't one of us--but we'll work on him! I see no problem with continuing to use it.

I am concerned that the puffer is still that small (you said 2 1/2-3", right?) after 5 months. Is it thin?