The Puffer Forum

Hey guys I just rolled through my local store and saw a 4'' GSP in a 10 gal. brackish tank! he was on his side and being chewed on by the five babys in there with him.. I threw a fit and the store owner gave him to me for five bucks.. Im trying to get some pix up to see if you guys can tell me whats all wrong with him.. most ovious is the white all over his head like he'd been rubbing it agenst something. and his belly is grey and brown.. im trying to acclomate( sorry about my spelling but I have to hurry) him to my brackish hospital tank.. 20 gal long 1.017 sg, by himself.. Ideas?? treatments?? any help or ideas would be great.. I know im not the best person to help him but dont think he would make it overnight in that stores tank

Just getting him away from getting constantly attacked might have helped. Just keep an eye on him first and see if anything bad develops, if he calms down. Melafix should help with any small wounds and rubs. Other than that, just keep an eye on the little guy. Just gonna assume that the hospital tank is already cycled...that will be a good help.

What SG was he at in the shop? I don't think raising the SG quickly is a goiod idea, even if that's what he should be in at that size. It'll probably be more stress than it's worth.

I believe the sg at the store is 1.005 - 1.008. A buddy of mine that use to save a ton of these guys from walmart and treat them and find them good homes suggested raising the sg right away to cure the ich.. but is brackish ich and sw ich the same?? I've heard you can drop the sg to cure sw ich but im not sure about this.. This poor guy is all white on the top of his head from rubbing on everything he can..

He is swimming around a lot more now!! when I got him from the store he was on his side at the top of the tank and wouldnt move much.. the employee thought he was dead, but I just got home from work and hes pacing the glass!! Oh and as far as the tank being cycled.. It was set up about two weeks ago and the amonia is dropped to 0 or close.. I was waiting for it to finish the cycle before putting any fish in it, but because I had to today I got water( five gallons) out of the sw tank from the store, used stones and a used filter, all of which I kept together and put in the tank right away.. the filter did not get cold or dry I kept it in the water from the same tank

I think he may be blind?? he keeps swimming into the walls of the tank and the light being on or off doesn't seem to effect him at all?? about the ich.. I plan to get some treatments tomarrow, can any of you suggest any that works really well or any that I dont need to remove the carbon to use. I really dont want to remove anything that has the good bacteria on it.

oh and I dont know if this is relivant or not but he seems to stay at the top of the tank most of the time.. he only goes down to the bottom to rub his head

Unless the water is pristene, rescuing an already half-dead puffer rarely turns out to be a happy story, I'm afraid. The fact that the tank was only partially cycled is not helping matters at all for the poor fella. There is an article on emergeny cycling in our library, under the Learn tab, above.

Does he have cloudy eyes? Golden pupils? Shakespeare has a blind eye, it's got an odd gold tint to the pupil.

I failed.. he didnt make it.. at least he didnt spend his last day being chewed on

Sorry for your loss. But your right, at least you tried and he wasn't miserable his last few days.

Very sorry to hear he didn't make it...bless you for trying to save him. Like the others have said, at least he didn't spend his last hours being slowly taken apart.

I'm sorry about your loss. Thanks for trying so hard to save the poor fella.

Saving sick puffers is very tough. I've tried it a few times, and it's always ended badly for me.