The Puffer Forum

So i hooked up a uv filter last night that had been laying around for a while never used to my tank with nugget and cupcake and i just got up to take my fiancees mom to work and they are both swimming with there mouths to the top of the water both there eyes look very odd and breathing horribly. I got them out and separated them in to two diff tanks and they seem to be swimming better by eyes still look weird i guess the only way to explain the look it there bug eyed looking with all there colors gone in them too. help me i dont understand why a uv filter would mess stuff up. you think i didnt clean it out good enough it has been sitting around for years.

I don't see how a uv filter could effect them like that either. Have you tested the water? Can you post pictures?

im changing out all the water im not taking any chances. the uv filter was new but has been sitting collecting dust for like 5 years you think something could had still been in it like a bunch of dust or something like mold if it got wet or anything i dont know. every thing was good last night just did water change and checked all my levels.

Not really sure, but if it's the only thing you changed, then my money is on the UV filter. Maybe there was a lot of micro organisms in your tank, and by adding the UV filter you accidentally killed them all, which caused a spike in levels or something?

It's only speculation, of course, as I have no idea what happened. Hopefully things will be okay!

my fiancee testing all the water again now im going to do a 50 percent water change at let it sit for a while. thank god i have lots of tanks to put everyone in! so far my ph got really low that is the only thing that she has noticed bad so far.

they almost looked like they were blind this morning no response to movement they are both great now so im doin a lil better not a nice way to wake up at 7am with my messed up back doing emergency water changes. thank god for coffee.

Agnate wrote:Not really sure, but if it's the only thing you changed, then my money is on the UV filter. Maybe there was a lot of micro organisms in your tank, and by adding the UV filter you accidentally killed them all, which caused a spike in levels or something?

It's only speculation, of course, as I have no idea what happened. Hopefully things will be okay!

I think you may be on target with your assessment. UV kills by light waves (forgive me for simplicity, I've been awake way too long) and is a sterilizer. UV fixtures are used in hospital pre-op areas, operating rooms, and the recovery areas because they are so effective. The down side to them is they indiscriminately kill any micro organism that get's in its path. It may have knocked out something that was keeping something else in check....or like Agnate said, just killed huge amounts of micro organisms and caused some sort of spike.

If your puffers appeared to be blind, I'm guessing it might have been an ammonia or nitrite spike that started burning them (their eyes are usually the first things affected). That's assuming that the UV filter actually killed enough micro organisms to cause that kind of spike.

How much live rock do you have in there and how big is the tank?

I would never use a UV filter on a tank. Unless you are specifically trying to kill off every microscopic thing in your tank, don't use it.

Pufferpunk wrote:I would never use a UV filter on a tank. Unless you are specifically trying to kill off every microscopic thing in your tank, don't use it.

I'm so glad you said that, beacause it was suggested that I use a UV on Annabelle's tank. I haven't purchased one yet and now I don't plan too.

My roommate uses a UV filter on his coral tank (a 75 gallon), but the difference is that he STARTED the tank with the UV filter, so he didn't experience the massive die-off that comes from adding it to an established tank.

Personally, I'm all about having everything as natural as possible, so I wouldn't add a UV filter unless it was absolutely critical.

I've been told to NEVER use a UV filter on a reef tank especially.

I've heard a lot of back and forth on UV's, they definitely have positive and negative effects. The most positive thing I have heard is that they seem to improve the oxidation/reduction potential of the water in a beneficial way, which improves fish immune function. At least, they did in the tests I saw(they were on pond fish) I'm currently running one on Shakespeare's tank, and honestly, can't say anything seems different than before the UV, at least at an observable level.

Honestly I don't know a ton about them, but I've heard it suggested to try them in situations where there's a problem that nothing seems to solve (bacteria/parasite wise).

Yes, I've heard that too, I think it's the immuno-supportive role of proper RedOx that explains why it seems to help with those cases where it helps when it seems like a UV light in the water should have nothing to do with the issue at hand.