Puffer devistation! I feel terrible =(
Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 5:08 am
Hello,
My husband and I were raised as aquarium enthusiast. Since getting together, we have only really focused on African Clawed Frogs. My husband fell in love with a little spotted green puffer at Walmart (I know, mistake #1) and so we decided to purchase a new tank set up.It is a 3 gallon tank. We ended up taking home 2 small puffers and a little pleco that night. The tank setup came with one synthetic plant (with a base that looks like a rock) and we also purchased a bright yellow "puffer lady" for the tank. When I set up the tank, I used some water from my frog tanks, the water that the puffers came with and I used Start Right with Allantoin for the rest of the water. I let the puffers float for about 30 minutes to let the water temps even out.I did notice that one of the puffers had dark grayish spots on his back and I couldn't tell if it was scarring or signs of disease. We fed the fish some freeze dried krill before our bedtime and they went crazy for it. The next morning, the tank had a very strong rancid onion smell to it. My husband tried feeding them again around noon and they had zero interest in the food. We went to a local pet store to pick up some minnows for our frogs to eat and we got a couple extra along with a snail for the puffers. The minnows and snail went into what I call the holding cell. The frogs enjoyed the snack but when we put one in with the puffers, nothing. The had no interest in the krill at night time either. The onion small got bad enough to convince me to do a partial (approx. %30) water change. The next morning, both puffers were dead. Besides those couple of spots, and the lack of appetite (that I just assumed was from stuffing themselves the night before) they seemed just fine. I put them back into the Walmart fish bag with some tank water. With in hours, the pleco died as well (absolutely no symptoms from it) and the tank got a ring of froth around the top of it. The smell kept intensifying. My husband was just sure the minnows did it and they must have made the other ones sick so he dumped them all into the 3 gallon tank, much to my horror. About 2 died each day. Yesterday, with 3 minnows left, I put them back into the holding tank. One seemed a little disoriented and I was sure that it was the next to go. I did a full tank cleaning. Everything except the gravel and filter got sprayed down with vinegar water and rinsed in scalding water. The gravel and filter only got a rinse down. I reassembled everything, treated the water with the Start Right and aquarium salt, and put the 3 minnows back in. All 3 are active and constantly begging to be fed and seem to be just fine now. The nasty onion smell will not go away though. This was my first experience with puffers and I feel horrible that it ended so badly. I don't think the minnows are to blame. None of the frogs became ill, the snail (now named Mr. Crunchy who lives with the male frogs) is doing fine, and the 3 remaining minnows are great. I have no test kits for the aquariums (mistake #2) so I don't know if it was a water balance problem or if the one puffer had a disease. I want to make sure this doesn't happen again. This is my first big failure with fish. Where did I go wrong with these poor little guys?
Sticking to frogs (and I guess minnows) for now,
Nonnie
My husband and I were raised as aquarium enthusiast. Since getting together, we have only really focused on African Clawed Frogs. My husband fell in love with a little spotted green puffer at Walmart (I know, mistake #1) and so we decided to purchase a new tank set up.It is a 3 gallon tank. We ended up taking home 2 small puffers and a little pleco that night. The tank setup came with one synthetic plant (with a base that looks like a rock) and we also purchased a bright yellow "puffer lady" for the tank. When I set up the tank, I used some water from my frog tanks, the water that the puffers came with and I used Start Right with Allantoin for the rest of the water. I let the puffers float for about 30 minutes to let the water temps even out.I did notice that one of the puffers had dark grayish spots on his back and I couldn't tell if it was scarring or signs of disease. We fed the fish some freeze dried krill before our bedtime and they went crazy for it. The next morning, the tank had a very strong rancid onion smell to it. My husband tried feeding them again around noon and they had zero interest in the food. We went to a local pet store to pick up some minnows for our frogs to eat and we got a couple extra along with a snail for the puffers. The minnows and snail went into what I call the holding cell. The frogs enjoyed the snack but when we put one in with the puffers, nothing. The had no interest in the krill at night time either. The onion small got bad enough to convince me to do a partial (approx. %30) water change. The next morning, both puffers were dead. Besides those couple of spots, and the lack of appetite (that I just assumed was from stuffing themselves the night before) they seemed just fine. I put them back into the Walmart fish bag with some tank water. With in hours, the pleco died as well (absolutely no symptoms from it) and the tank got a ring of froth around the top of it. The smell kept intensifying. My husband was just sure the minnows did it and they must have made the other ones sick so he dumped them all into the 3 gallon tank, much to my horror. About 2 died each day. Yesterday, with 3 minnows left, I put them back into the holding tank. One seemed a little disoriented and I was sure that it was the next to go. I did a full tank cleaning. Everything except the gravel and filter got sprayed down with vinegar water and rinsed in scalding water. The gravel and filter only got a rinse down. I reassembled everything, treated the water with the Start Right and aquarium salt, and put the 3 minnows back in. All 3 are active and constantly begging to be fed and seem to be just fine now. The nasty onion smell will not go away though. This was my first experience with puffers and I feel horrible that it ended so badly. I don't think the minnows are to blame. None of the frogs became ill, the snail (now named Mr. Crunchy who lives with the male frogs) is doing fine, and the 3 remaining minnows are great. I have no test kits for the aquariums (mistake #2) so I don't know if it was a water balance problem or if the one puffer had a disease. I want to make sure this doesn't happen again. This is my first big failure with fish. Where did I go wrong with these poor little guys?
Sticking to frogs (and I guess minnows) for now,
Nonnie
This is a mistake that most people make. Walmart and the local fish stores don't know diddly about these puffers. We hear this on a daily basis. Don't beat yourself up about it. Just dust it off to experience, get yourself a larger tank, search pufferpedia to see which puffer is best for you, get your tank cycled and start over. 
