The Puffer Forum

Hi everyone, first time posting on Thepufferforum : )

1) 8.4 ph , 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrites, less than 5 Nitrates
2) Tank size is 3Ft x 1.5Ft x 1.5Ft / 5 Yellow Cichlids (About to get rid of them) / 1 of those suckerfish/pleco that's less than 5cm big
3) Ramhorn snails / ghost shrimps fed currently around once a day
4) No changes -.-
5) Tank is cycled to maturity before puffer was added in

I just got the fahaka puffer last week from a LFS, he's about as long as a keyboard spacebar or from keyboard letter Z to N
He was shy initially, but after getting used to the tank, started getting aggressive and chomped a tiny pleco into half -.- Damn, i wish they would at least be friendly to the tank cleaners -_- When the fahaka puffer is not in hunting mode(blowing sand around to find food/flapping its fins real fast), he's burrowed in the sand. I suppose he's behaving as normal as possible as a fahaka should be. He has excellent appetite, maybe too good an appetite. Yesterday, i noticed this:



His poo is not completely black and notice there is a tiny string floating there. His belly is not a complete smooth curve, should this be the case ? Is this a case of IP that's gonna go real bad soon ? If so , should i start the treatment immediately ? And should i deworm him like every 3 months to be on the safe side but will this shorten its lifespan due to the due of medications ? :< Could someone show a picture of a "correct" poo. lol

Thanks a million. Love this informative forum : )

Here's another picture, it looks as if there's some undigested shell parts of the ghost shrimp it ate from yesterday. Could this just be a case of unfinished digestion? or should i treat for IP immediately? What food type will make its poo blackish ?

If that's poo, then I would treat now. "Correct" poo is medium to dark brown, no stringiness.

Hmm. ok will treat and see what happens!

Welcome to the forum.
My fahaka had IP's also. The easiest thing to treat with is gel tek ultra cure px. The fish will eat it and it works great. If I remember right the bottle says to treat for 5 days. After 5 days if the pooh is still not normal treat again. No need to treat every 3 months unless you suspect that the IP's have come back.