My new gsp is sick

Oh no! Sick fish?! Come here and see if someone can help!
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Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.

1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.

2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.

3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)

4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.

5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.

We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.

While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.

Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
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GspLover
Puffer Fry
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Mar 22, 2009 1:25 am

My new gsp is sick

Post by GspLover »

Ph 8.2
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 5
Salinity 0,buying salt soon to start bringing it up
38 Gal. Marineland empoer 280 filter with activated carbon,Rena smart heater,and an 18 in. bubble wand with two 1.5 in. gsp's(getting another tank soon)
Fed Krill past two nights,did a 10 percent water change one day ago.Don't remeber the name of the conditioner I used,but it has a slime coat in it.
Tank has been set up for about a month,and it was fishless cycled using bottled bacteria.

I bought the fish about 3 days ago,and both looked nice and healthy.I got them home and did the acclimation thing,and they were still fine.The first two days they ate like little piggies,but today Mr.Angry didn't want to eat.Mr.Angry would turn grey at the edges whenever we would go up to the glass for the first two days,but go back to white after we would leave.Today when I went to check on them,he did the same thing,but it never went away.As the day went on it got worse and now his green is dark grey too.His eyes are sunken in,or maybe his body is swollen,I can't tell.I did net him and touch him through the net and he's not squishy like it's air.I tested the water twice today and the params. were as stated above both times.He is swimming around the tank,but it's slow.He's also been spending alot of time in the corner at the top of the water by the filter,or in the bubble curtain.The other one(Peter)is just fine,he ate,and is as lively as ever.I did notice that Mr.Angry had an odd colored patch of skin near his tail after we brought him home.It looked like a scar.I thought I saw some carbon floating in the water,but I couln't tell if that's what it was,maybe he ate some and got sick?.I did net out what I saw though.Maybe c 02 poisoning?
Sorry for the long winded post,I'm just worried about what I should do,I was thinking about putting him down with the half frozen water in a bowl,but wanted to see if I could help him first.
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LilGreenPuffer
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Re: My new gsp is sick

Post by LilGreenPuffer »

Don't put him down yet! Nonono! There are amazing people here who know just about everything about puffers. I am not one of them. Stick around for another half-hour or so, and someone will be here to help!

Go ahead and do a nice big water change, at least 50%. Maybe there's some icky in the water that you could get rid of that way. But it's not affecting the other fish... odd. I remember a post about a similar condition. The eyes were sunken, too. It was a Figure Eight. Try searching old Hospital posts for that, with keywords like "sunken eyes."

Has the funny-looking patch of skin changed at all?
"I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man whom you may have seen, and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him or her. Will she gain anything by it? Will it restore her to a control over her own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to freedom for the hungry and spiritually starving millions? Then you will find your doubts and your self melt away."

Found among the papers of Mohatma Gandhi


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LilGreenPuffer
Former Staff Member
Posts: 5301
Joined: Sun Jan 25, 2009 11:26 pm
Gender: Female
My Puffers: Dwarf puffer - Thumbelina (only mine in my heart now; she lives in CT with my friend)

RIP Inigo Montoya, Fezzik, and Vizinni.
RIP James Bond.
Location (country): United States
Location: Kentucky

Re: My new gsp is sick

Post by LilGreenPuffer »

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=16858&st=0&sk=t&sd= ... unken+eyes

Here it is! Do search the whole Hospital, though. I saw some similar-looking topics.
"I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man whom you may have seen, and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him or her. Will she gain anything by it? Will it restore her to a control over her own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to freedom for the hungry and spiritually starving millions? Then you will find your doubts and your self melt away."

Found among the papers of Mohatma Gandhi


Image

Come and visit http://www.thetriopsforum.com!

I AM A DUDETTE!

NEED NITRIFYING BACTERIA FOR YOUR NEW TANK? PM ME!
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marksrush
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Re: My new gsp is sick

Post by marksrush »

Don't put him down yet! As one of the forum members often says, "Where there's life, there's hope."

I used some conditioning product with a slime coat additive once on one of my puffers, and he reacted *very* badly to it, similar to what you're describing. Just a thought. Now I only use Amquel+ for conditioning my water. I would do as LilGreenPuffer says, and change the water by 50% or so, and this time just use bare dechlorinator, no added junk, and see if that helps him.
GspLover
Puffer Fry
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Joined: Sun Mar 22, 2009 1:25 am

Re: My new gsp is sick

Post by GspLover »

Thanks for the help everyone,I went ahead and put him down though.When I got home and checked on him,he was laying head down in the plastic plant by the bubble curtain and barely breathing.I got my net out to see if he would swim around.He tried,but he was bumping into everything like he couldn't see and there was some blood in his right eye.The odd colored skin didn't really change at all,it just got darker when his green skin turned grey.Peter is still doing just fine,and I did do the 50% water change.I will go out and buy a dechlorinator with no additives though.Thanks again.
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marksrush
Fahaka Puffer
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Re: My new gsp is sick

Post by marksrush »

Darn. :(
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LilGreenPuffer
Former Staff Member
Posts: 5301
Joined: Sun Jan 25, 2009 11:26 pm
Gender: Female
My Puffers: Dwarf puffer - Thumbelina (only mine in my heart now; she lives in CT with my friend)

RIP Inigo Montoya, Fezzik, and Vizinni.
RIP James Bond.
Location (country): United States
Location: Kentucky

Re: My new gsp is sick

Post by LilGreenPuffer »

Well, that's too bad. :(
"I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man whom you may have seen, and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him or her. Will she gain anything by it? Will it restore her to a control over her own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to freedom for the hungry and spiritually starving millions? Then you will find your doubts and your self melt away."

Found among the papers of Mohatma Gandhi


Image

Come and visit http://www.thetriopsforum.com!

I AM A DUDETTE!

NEED NITRIFYING BACTERIA FOR YOUR NEW TANK? PM ME!
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