The Puffer Forum

1. I checked two days ago, and haven't had a chance since then to check. They were ammonia 0, nitrites 0, and nitrates 10.
2. 2 DPs, 2 otocinclus catfish.
3. Feeding - currently, anti-parasite food (Jungle brand). Usually, bloodworms, dried shrimp, algae pellets, and the occasional veggie. Getting more snails when I can, but they ate the last batch.
4. None, except that I had a pet-sitter for a week, and that I've started the anti-parasite food.
5. Cycled fishlessly for a month now.

Okay, most of that info was probably irrelevant. My question is this: Is Parasite Gaurd (Jungle brand) effective? They don't have Parasite Clear or the other reccomended brands at the LFS. (They had just about every single GelTek product in the world except for the parasite treatment!!!) I've been using the powder for about two weeks now, and only just got ahold of the food that I'm supposed to feed with it. Since returning from spring break, I haven't seen any poos, white and stringy or not. James Bond's stomach often looks lumpy. They're both fairly lethargic and don't come out to play so much now, but they move normally. I've been waaaaay too busy to simply sit and watch for poos for an hour or two (it's tech week for "A Midsummer Night's Dream," and I'm spending roughly six hours a day in the theatre), but I'm pretty sure that the parasites are still present.

My other question is, have I been using the powder for too long? I didn't really have any way to keep my eye on them over break, since I was in Arizona (long way away from Kentucky), and I didn't want the sitter to have to make judgements over whether to start medication again, so I just had her add it according to the dosage on the bottle. (By the way, she did just fine with them, and they were doing great when I got back, except for the parasites. My care routine was very carefully laid out for her, and I included my login info for this site. She's my godsister, so I was able to trust her with all this stuff.)

Thanks for reading my novel. Help!

"Use 1 teaspoon (5g) for each 5 U.S. gallons (20L) every other day up to 3 treatments." That's right off the bottle. So basically, that means 6 days of treatment tops. It has praziquantel and metronidazole, just like Parasite Clear, so you're fine.

You should look for the thread about Annabelle and her bout with IPs, it's in the forum and goes on for quite a bit with lots of good info. She had a lumpy belly and it's all about how they got rid of the problem.

I followed that thread.

Probably it's time for a water change!

Yeah I'd do a big water change and then just let them be for a while. If James' belly gets lumpy right when he eats, but then smooths out in a little bit, that's normal. Is it lumpy always? Did you feed them the medicated food you got?

I did a 50% w/c. His stomach was lumpy most of the time. It's smooth nearly always now. I did feed them the food; I'm fairly sure they ignored it. They seem to be parasite-free now. They were so happy to have bloodworms back yesterday! Thumbelina ate one almost as long as herself in one slurp, like spaghetti!

That is wonderful news! Now they can grow up to be fat and happy puffers.

They really have grown! In the month or so I've had them, they've gained 1/4" or so, and are probably fully grown now.