I had one of my suvattii die last Saturday night, 23 May. At first I thought it was velvet, and then maybe whitespot/ich, but then I didn't think it was either, and so I was left unsure why the poor thing died.
Then my Congo puffer died on that Monday, 25 May, but I didn't think they were related. The Congo seemed to get darkish spots, which at first I thought was just a natural pattern because I know that some of these puffers can change their appearance.
Since those deaths, the 2 remaining suvattii have not been "normal". They are reluctant to eat, although the smaller one did actually take some prawn the other day.
Then I found some weird looking white stuff in my Baileyi tank, which from another posting Myaj has said she thinks could be internal parasites. And now this morning, I am really upset because one of my suvattii has something strange coming from it's anus. To be honest, it looks like maybe he's passing his intestines. Could that happen? I really thought the little guy would have been dead yesterday morning when I woke up, but he's still going, and doing pretty good. I mean, he gets up and swims.
Now, the common element in all of this, is some fish my friend assured me were home raised and therefore should be okay for my puffers to eat. I am feeling like a real jackass because I'm starting to think that these "feeder fish" were inferior and now have done something to some of my puffers.
So -- worst case scenario -- if my puffers do have internal parasites what do I do? I also need to ask if it's contagious at all. And most importantly, what do I do about it? Will it kill my puffers? I am really worried about my Baileyi, although he seems fine, but if that white stuff is his poo, then that means something is not right with him and I need to know what I can do to make it right again.
If IP is the problem, what products do I use here in the UK, and how is it used? Other than whitespot/ich, my puffers have never been sick before and I don't know anything at all about how to deal with this sort of thing.
I'm feeilng very scared right now at the thought of losing my puffers.
I'm due to be getting a new puffer on Wednesday and I was going to put him in with my suvattii, but I'm guessing if they are having problems, then I don't want to put him in with them. So my next question is -- if internal parasites did kill my Congo, would it hurt the puffer I'm getting to put it in the tank that they Congo was in?
I hope someone can help because I'm feeling really sick inside thinking about all of this.
*** After I wrote this and posted it, I got to thinking and I need to tell you that the suvattii DID NOT eat any of those "feeder fish" because they all died before the suvattii got a chance to eat them. So what could be their problem? However, I know that my Congo and my Baileyi both ate those fish, the Baileyi ate 1 fish and the Congo ate 2. I just thought i should add that on here so you have all the facts and that way can make a better diagnosis ***
Thanks,
Suz
