DP mouth red & swollen

[sara_momof3]

I feel bad for one of our 6 dps. It's mouth (lips) looks pretty bad. I'm not sure how it happened, maybe another dp bite? I doubt that there's anything I can do for it. I fed them bloodworms this morning & it didn't eat with the rest. It's thin. I thought the only thing I could do is maybe add a little salt to the tank to see if that would help it heal? I don't want it to suffer, but hate to give up too soon. Guess we'll wait n' see.

[Pufferpunk]

Try adding Melafix to their water.

[LilGreenPuffer]

Can you answer the questions in red?

[Sponge bob]

Is it like this?
ug.php/v/User_Galleries/Sponge+bob/sick ... 3.jpg.html
But that puffer was a GSP
Like PP said, treat with mela-fix

[sara_momof3]

Well, it says in red not to say, "fine" or "perfect." So..... "good?" Liquid master test kit takes too long -need to buy strips. My 2 yr. old just overfed them so I've done a few 20% water changes in the last couple days. The others (5) are great. Red area not as widespread as the gsp in the pic. Looks more localized - like an injury. I'll research Melafix, but I'm thinking it may have starved? by the time I can go buy it & treat it. I've read to have those on hand & unfortunately it may be a hard lesson learned, unfortunately at the expense of a sweet little dp. Live & learn.

[LilGreenPuffer]

Please don't say "good," either. It says "hard numbers." If you don't know the parameters, then you don't know that they are "good." If you don't have testing materials of some kind, get them now. Also, please don't let two-year-olds care for the fish. Was he/she feeding them flake food? I ask this because I wouldn't let my own (hypothetical) small child touch the worms that I feed my fish - too messy! If so, you need to feed better food. Flake food just isn't good for puffers. (Honestly, I don't think that it's good for any fish!) There's a feeding/diet article in the Library. If you haven't read it, please do.

[Pufferpunk]

Strips just aren't accurate enough when setting up a new tank or when you have young children who might overfeed your fish & you need to see if anything bad has happened to the water.

See if there is a reptile lock you can get on your hood (prevents reptiles from getting out of a tank), so your kid can't get into trouble with the tank.

[sara_momof3]

Wow. I am a grown woman, not a child nor am I completely dense. I only said good because I hadn't checked the water, but I am confident that the numbers were 0, or very close to it. The other puffs are doing great. Not have a 2 year old care for the fish? What a novel idea! It was an accident, well 2 accidents. It was tadpole bites (for our dwarf frogs - in another tank). I IMMEDIATELY vaccuumed all the food out. Either you don't have children or you are perfect to prevent ALL things from going wrong. My tanks are fully cycled & doing great. This was 1 dp who has a wierd condtion to which I was hoping for an idea of what it may be. It seems like some people are very serious on this site. I do appreciate the tips to use Melafix & the pics of the gsp with the red mouth. These responses are the kind I was hoping for - not attempted insults. And thank you, I will look for a reptile lock that is not white in color- though she is a fast learner.

[Christemo]

Wow. We're trying to give us advice and you say that we're being rude?
You need to keep a good eye out on your tank. An ammonia spike from "accidents" will often times kill puffers because of the fact that they don't have scales. Are you feeding them flake food? Then they have the wrong diet.

You will never know if your tank is doing great until you test your waters. Answer the questions in red, or we will not be able to help you.


EDIT: I read that they were tadpole bites. You really should take a look at our feeding section in the library. They need a diet with crustaceans. It's essential for them to live a good life.

[Sponge bob]

Settle down you to.

[LilGreenPuffer]

Wow. I am a grown woman, not a child nor am I completely dense. I only said good because I hadn't checked the water, but I am confident that the numbers were 0, or very close to it. The other puffs are doing great. Not have a 2 year old care for the fish? What a novel idea! It was an accident, well 2 accidents. It was tadpole bites (for our dwarf frogs - in another tank). I IMMEDIATELY vaccuumed all the food out. Either you don't have children or you are perfect to prevent ALL things from going wrong. My tanks are fully cycled & doing great. This was 1 dp who has a wierd condtion to which I was hoping for an idea of what it may be. It seems like some people are very serious on this site. I do appreciate the tips to use Melafix & the pics of the gsp with the red mouth. These responses are the kind I was hoping for - not attempted insults. And thank you, I will look for a reptile lock that is not white in color- though she is a fast learner.

You can't know that the parameters are good unless you have tested them. That's just the plain, solid truth. Poor water quality is usually invisible.

You didn't mention that it was an accident, so I assumed the natural and thought that you were letting your child care for the fish. No, I do not have children, as I mentioned. However, I have worked a great deal in the daycare business, so I understand accidents with small children.

Yes, many, really most, of the people on this site are very serious. I'm not half as serious as most of them.

I never intended to insult you. I'm sorry that I did.

Christemo - she said that the tadpole bites were for the frogs.

[sara_momof3]

Well thank you LilGreenPuffer. I do appreciate the little white flag. Kind words go a long way. So- I know the test strips are not as accurate, which is why I bought the master kit. However - what good is a more accurate test when I don't find the time to do it. My kids are 6,2 & 1, so I'm trying. I tend to load my plate too full (boxer puppy, 2 cats, 20gal dp & 25 gal. planted.) Once I get an idea in my mind I can't quit - I am determined to learn everything I can which is why I'm here. Facts only get you so far - I like hearing from experience. I'm not used to being questioned, so it's hard to explain that I've done my research & I'm not doing things like feeding them flake food. Do people really do that? : ) I'm sensitive & I'll try to keep it under control. lol. By the way- unfortunately the ill dp is mia. I looked through the whole tank. Would the other dps really eat it to the point of no remains? I hate having no closure! : ) Ahh, it's like therapy time here. Thanks again.

[LilGreenPuffer]

I really don't mean to be mean about this, but... Puffers aren't good fish for someone who doesn't have a lot of time on their hands. They're just so high-maintence, as you've seen. If you can make the time for the liquid test for the first few weeks, that would be great. Honestly, I can do the whole thing in under ten minutes. It says to wait five minutes for color to develop, but that's only true for ammonia. Nitrites are done in about ten seconds, and nitrates develop in about 30 (although the shaking is a pain in the butt - just imagine that you're shaking up a nice relaxing margarita). Dip strips are fine once you know for sure that things are going well, and you'll only need to use the liquid again if you see something wrong. Now, moving on...

Yes, people really do feed them flake food. I did that with my first GSP, a couple of years ago. I didn't know better. We really do speak from experience... not all of them good! Lots of us got into puffers the same way: We walked into the pet store for our first fish, saw a cute little (baby) puffer that looked perfect for our 10g, and wanted to buy it. Then the LFS person, who we assumed actually knew what they were talking about, told us about how easy they were to care for, and so we went home happy. Then something went wrong, we panicked, and we decided to do some research, found this site, and found out what a huge mistake we had made!

About the MIA puffer, don't worry! The others won't eat it. Mine do that at least once a week. I freak out, look under every rock, scare the poo out of the ghost shrimp and otos, and then do about five water tests to make sure that parameters are perfect. Then I give up and imagine all the horible things that could have happened. A couple of hours later, there they'll be, just moseying along, happy that I took the net out and quit interrupting naptime.