The Puffer Forum

After coming back from a weeks vacation and a friend taking care of my tank, my puffer is having breathing problems.

I first noticed that he wasn't getting up to greet me. Then the other day while feeding he just collapsed to the sand.

I tested for ammonia and it came back at 25.

Then 2 days later I did a 25% water change (50g) and added a bottle of amquel.
I then did a full range of testing
PH 8.0
ammonia 0
nitrite 10ppm
nitrate 10ppm

it has been almost a week as of today and my puffer still runs out of breath and needs to rest. when he lays on the sand he breathes really heavy for a few min then his breathing slows to normal. Also when he swims, his fins are not their usual stride, but very aggressive.

The tank is established 4 years and is 210g with 80 or so lbs of LR and 240lbs of LS.
bubble king super marine 200 skimmer and 114w UV
I also recently added a bag of carbon to the sump.

no fish have been added for almost a year. I have only added a sea hare and 2 snails in the last month.

tankmates:
humu trigger
flagfin angel
emperor angel
regal angel
singapore angel
golden puffer (meg)
blue spotted puffer
pearl scale butterfly
maroon clown
sohal tang
purple tang

I was thinking that the ammonia must have been a lot worse. Could the ammonia have burned his gills?
if so, when will it heal?
does anyone think he picked up a parasite?

what does everyone think?

Your friend might have overfed the fish, creating a mini-cycle. Yes, the ammonia could certainly have burned its gills. I don't think it's a parasite. I think your best bet right now is to do water changes, like you're doing already.

hi,
change water until nitrite is zero!
martin

Is the nitrite really 10??? Even aat 1 it's extremly toxic. Start mixing SW--a lot of it! You need to do 50% WC every day, until it tests at 0. It sounds like you have way too many large fish for that size tank.

You could try adding Bio-Spira, to enhance the biological bed.

I retested for nitrites this morning and it came back at 0ppm.

Does anyone think it could be lack of O2?

I added 2 MJ1200's for more water movement.
If his gills were burned, how long before he recovers?

What test kits are you using?