The Puffer Forum

When it rains, it pours!!

I just had the suvattii die on Saturday night, at first I thought it was velvet, but after reading about it and giving my puffers a better looking at, I don't believe it is velvet. It's not whitespot either. If it had been a parasite, I would think that my other 2 suvattii would be fairly bad off by now, but they aren't.
Anyway, that's another posting .... this is about my sweet little Congo girl that died this morning.

I don't think it's related to the suvattii incident, but I'm not certain. Last night I noticed that she had a funny pattern all over her. I didn't think that was normal, but I don't know much about the Congo puffer. She had been eating well finally (she went through a week's period where she didn't eat anything) and she seemed to be back to normal. She was burying herself and doing all the things she normally does.

The water parameters were normal (ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 20ppm and pH 7.0). Today was the normal day for her tank to have the water changed. I've even been careful not to use the same utencils in the other tanks as I have in the suvattii tank just in case.

Anyway, as I was changing the water in the tank beside hers, I noticed that she was getting very dark looking. I didn't think that was normal, but I don't know what is normal with them.
I bought a pair of Congo puffers around the end of February, got a male and female. They were together for a few weeks and then the male started intimidating the female when it was feeding time. He would eat all the food so that she could not get any. And then it affected him so badly that he was unable to keep his balance, he would float to the top and was unable to get back down. I thought he was going to die. I didn't feed them for a day, and then tried it again - but it didn't get any better, and once again he ate all the food and would not allow her to eat any, and he lost his balance again too. I decided that they should be split up because she was getting paranoid around him. All it would take is for him to come near her and she would swim away in fear. So I put him next door (my tank has a divider in it). They could still see each other though. That seemed to be the right thing because he went back to eating normally and she was able to eat as well. About 2 weeks went by and one morning I came downstairs and I usually give a visual check on all the tanks, and that's when I found him dead. He didn't look different, he was just dead. I have no idea why or how. After that she was okay for a few days, but then she stopped eating. I had been feeding her mostly bloodworm, but she would not take it anymore. Then I tried feeding her mussel, and to my surprise, she loved it! So I was giving her half a mussel once a day. Everything seemed okay, but then just about 5 days ago she stopped eating again. I thought she was ill, but then we observed her eating bloodworm, so I was happy to see that she was still eating. There's a small eel in the tank with her, and we were feeding him the bloodworm, but apparently she decided that she liked it again. I was really happy to see that she was eating again.
Everything seemed okay, until today. Like I said, she had a darkish pattern all over her body last night, and today she was noticeably darker. When she died she was nearly black, but no white spots, no gold dusting .... nothing that I could see. Don't know if this matters or not, but she had a really big poop hanging off her anal area.

I am crushed!!! I really loved that little girl, she was so cool! I just feel totally depressed because I don't know what is happening with my puffers. I've had good health all along with all my puffers, then it started with the suvattii. I can't even think of any reason why that happened. I didn't introduce anything new to the tank, same with the Congo tank, nothing new added to that either.

I just feel horrible. I feel like part of me has died.

Oh hon - very sorry to hear for yor losses

I hope things start to perk up for you and your other babies, hugs

I'm so sorry to hear that. It's so sad!
Would you consider getting another one after figuring out what might have happened?

Thank you lilacamy931
And yes katty, I'd love to have another Congo, she was a very sweet little puffer. I actually cried when I retrieved her body from the tank. I know it's just a fish, but I feel very depressed about losing her.
Each of my puffers is very special to me. They each have their own characteristics that make them special, and each one has a special place in my heart.

I will miss her!

I've cried over a few fish in my time. Which hasn't been too long, so I expect it'll happen again. It's natural. I'm sorry about your puffer.

Thank you LilGreenPuffer ... I just feel like I've let them down when my puffers died. I just feel like I've failed them and it's a very depressing feeling. I have not had a very good month in regards to my puffers, well the suvattii and the Congo. Let's hope June is better and brighter!

It is a very hard feeling, for sure. I accidentally killed a porcupine puffer while trying to clean his QT (he had severe marine ich) and I felt horrible. However, there's not much you can change, and dreading it only makes everything else worse, so you just have to have enjoyed the time you had and move on.

Hopefully you start to feel a lot better.

What's that I see? "**Getting a Palembang on Wednesday 3 June**" is under your avatar? Woohoo!

Indeed LilGreenPuffer -- I'm finally getting one!! Been wanting one for such a long time, although the timing is a bit bad considering all the problems that are still going on with some of my puffers, but hopefully I can work around them and the new Humpback won't be in danger.

I can't wait to see it (not sure if it's a he or she). It's coming from another store a long way's away from me, so I don't know anything about it other than it being a Palembang. So it's kind of exciting really, a total surprise because I don't even know how big it is! Day after tomorrow -- yes indeed!