The Puffer Forum

Hi,

Firstly thank you for your help last time.

Ammonia - 0 (API Test)
Nitrite - 0 (API Test)
Nitrate - approx. 50 ppm (TetraTest)
PH - 8
Temperature - 28 degrees (Internal Thermometer)

Water Changes are approx 15-25% every couple of weeks. As well as some tending to plants and cleaning of bloodworm skins.

125L Aquariam.

Obviously the Nitrate levels are a little/far too high and this needs to be addressed, I will be doing a higher percentage water change this evening.

I have noticed one or two small white spots/dots on both Brian and Merve in the last couple of days, one of the dots looks almost like a tiny piece of cotton wool. I assume the spots are white spot as I have experienced this on otehr fish although not puffers. I'm not sure whether the cotton wool is related or something different.

I purchased Interpet's White Spot Plus Treatment today and having read the instructions I am about to administer this, however one question I have; it states you should remove all carbon filter media, I'm confused as doesn't this contain my biological cycle organisms? Please help.

Yep, 50% w/c every week. Get the nitrates down below 20.

The wooly-looking thing is not "white spot," AKA ich or ick. It is almost certainly a fungus. You'll need a different medication, and pristine water. Pimafix is a good treatment for fungi, and you won't have to remove the carbon.

This question about the filter brings up the usefulness of a hospital tank. You can treat the fish with medications that require the removal of filter media, which does contain a lot of your good bacteria, or with meds that will kill off your bacteria. You can also seperate the individual fish that requires treatment, and avoid treating healthy fish and species that don't do well with the meds you're using. I don't mean to slam you for not having one, of course. Most people don't. I didn't until very recently, and, boy, was I glad I did.

If your fish actually had ich, here's how you'd solve the problem. If you don't have a spare tank, go ahead and remove the filter media, but keep it in a container of tank water. Add an ammonia source every day that is equivalent to your tank's bioload - you can do this by adding the same about of food that you feed your fish daily. This will keep the bacteria alive. In the meantime, keep a close eye on water parameters in your tank. You may need to do water changes daily. (This is all theoretical, assuming that your fish actually had ich.)

P.S. Bloodworm skins? Never heard of this...

Thanks do much for your quick response.

I only have Brian and Merve in the aquarium, therefore I am going to go out and buy some Pimafix (or equivelent if my LFS don't have this). I'm glad it's not ich/ick although the smaller white dots that don't look like cotton wool sure do look like white spot.

I will also most certainly be doing a 50% water change too ASAP, and will continue to monitor the levels until they are reduced.

In regards to the 'bloodworm skins' I am almost certain this is what they are, both my SAP's occasionally (well lots) suck in the whole bloodworm and a few seconds later spit out what I think is the skin. This then either goes into the filter or more often than not floats to the surface and get's caught up in the plant leaves.

This does bring me onto a slightly off topic question, neither Brian or Merve seem very interested in the freeze dried crill and the few snails I put in have managed to elude their attacks, therefore their teeth/beaks are getting a little long and sometimes they have a bit of bloodworm trailing from them whilst feeding, they always manage to either dislodge or eat it in the end but I am worried that their beaks will get too long. Any suggestions?!

Welcome to the forum!

If you haven't found it yet, check out the library (look under the "Learn" tab up in the header). There's articles about trimming teeth, which is something most SAP owners have to learn to do eventually, feeding options, etc.

SAP's are mainly snail eaters, but it could be yours are a bit "spoiled' if you are offerng them blood worms.. its a tasty, easy treat to them, no work of cracking a shell, etc. If they are looking healthy and happy, don't be afraid to skip feeding them for a few days so they are encouraged to hunt down the snails themselves, or as an alternative, you can partially crush the snails and hand feed them, in case these guys just simply aren't recognizing the ones crusing around their tank as "food". If the snails are too big, they might ignore them too, usually you want snails about the size of their eye. One other thing, what type of snails are in the tank? The best ones for them are pond or ramshorn, IME they will ignore malaysian trumpet snails which can be a good thing, as those hard shells can break their teeth.

Other crunchy foods can be harder to come by.. you can gut load live crickets (feed them some veggies before you feed them to the fish), or shrimp such as ghost shrimp or red cherries, but not much out there has the teeth wearing factor of snails, and they really should be a big part of an SAP's diet.

White spot, or Ich, looks more like grains of salt. If you just see teeny tiny white dots all over their bodies, that's more likely to be the puffers' "spines", even the small ones have spines and you just don't see them until they puff up. If they are raised up and on the fins as well, then its most likely ich. Treat as the article in the library states, with heat and water, since in general, puffers don't do well with many commercial medications.

White and fuzzy does certainly sound like fungus, get the water cleaner (consider 50% water changes each week from now on if you can). Pimafix is a good idea, don't buy any medications to treat fungus without checking with us first, again, puffers don't do well with meds. Most of the time clean water will fix things up nice and quick.

I know what you mean on the bloodworm "skin".. puffers are just messy eaters in general which is why its important to really do bigger water changes than you would on a non-puffer tank. Those decaying skins could also be part of why your nitrates are on the high side.

Ah-ha! I know what you mean about the skins. Mostly my puffers eat the entire worm, but sometimes they spit the outside back out.

There is no alternate to Pimafix. I agree completely with Myaj--don't ever add any meds to your tank w/o checking with us 1st! Many are the wrong meds for your problem (as Interpet's White Spot Plus Treatment), many are harmful to your fish and/or the biological system.

Sometimes, just having cleaner water will clear up the problem. High nitrate & less than pristine conditions can cause stress to a fish's immune system, causing diseases they wouldn't have if larger weekly water changes were done. I'd start with 25% every day for 4 days & try your best to get Pimafix. Then stick with 50% WC/week for the life of your fish & you'll probably never see them sick again.

When we say that there is no alternate to Pimafix, we mean that there's nothing like it. There are other treatments, of course, but there's only one version of Pimafix - you couldn't find an equivalent brand. (Maybe you got that, but just making sure. )

coulndt you just throw in some plats to get rid of the nitrate??

Only certain kinds of plants, and it doesn't always work, and that doesn't change the fact that water changes should happen a bit more often. Also, plants involve certain kinds of substrate, and usually fertilizer.