The Puffer Forum

Hey guys,

I need some assistance here, I've had "Google" my fahaka for over 3 months and I started noticing some stringy poo and decided to research it. I came across Anabelles IP's post, I read just about all of it and even tho their behavior is different, the poop looks identical. I just moved 2 weeks ago and Google was previously in a 29gal tank alone with great water parameters and now he is in a 55gal tank with a Jack Dempsey 2 gouramis and a Pleco. I tested the water last night and here is what it gave me.
P.h. 8
Ammonia 0 to .20 (doing a water change after work)
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 40

He has not once lost his appetite, I usually feed him frozen krill ( thaw in aquarium water 10-15 mins prior to feeding and never put the water back in the tank) ghost shrimp about once a week and some feeder fishes once or twice a month. I also get the lil black snails for free from petsmart and have tried feeding him regular snails but hes not big enough yet.
Its been about a month since I first saw his poop like that and I will see it one day and not see it for another 5 days.
Can someone help me with this, he had some attached last night and I was going to pull it out but once he was on the net he started swimming and it released it.

bellow are some pictures

Well, it definitely looks like internal parasites. Puffers are pretty sensitive to medication, so I will let someone else advise you on possible treatments for your fahaka.

I'd be careful about those feeder fishes, though.

Almost all feeder fish contain a significant source of internal parasites, and from my understanding, when you feed your fish these feeders, they unintentionally inherit these parasites. If you have to, feed your fish silversides. They're inexpensive alternatives, and they should be parasite free since they're sold in frozen packs.

Well, you need to start with a really big water change. Ammonia and high nitrates (over 20ppm) will lower his immune system significantly.

Next, you need to get some dewormer. It's easy to find in pet stores. Soak her food in it and treat her for the length of time given on the package. (Don't worry about treating the water; most of it won't get into her system that way.)

You know you'll need to upgrade relatively soon, right? Fahakas are fast growers - an inch a month! - and they stunt quickly. He'll need at least 120g soon.

Edit - by the way, as he gets bigger, the tankmates might get eaten.

Even though Annebelle had tape worm, what she had before was general IP's and that is what the poo looks like in the pic you posted. I highly doubt that it is tapeworm. If he's still eating food soaked in Prazipro should do the trick.

Lots of reading for you:
library/category/feeding/
library/hospital/internal-parasites-pre ... treatment/

With having so many puffers, and the chances of contaiminating another tank from one that's got an IP problem being very likely ... I am always concerned with internal parasites. Unfortunately, here in the UK, worming medications are not easy to find, and those that are available don't appear to work very well in my opinion. So I've just had a look on eBay and I've found Praziquantel tablets for fish (34mg/5 tablets) ..... if I wanted to make sure my puffer gets that medication into his/her system, could I break up those tablets, add some water and then soak the food in it? Do you think that would work? My MBU seems continually to be having those white stringy poops, even though I've treated him in the past. I just don't want the IP's to get ahold of him and it be too late to do anything about.

Thanks.

That works!

Okay ..... how much of one tablet would you break and mush up to soak the food in for this one puffer? Although I can't guarantee that the other puffers won't also eat some of the same food because my irrubesco, and now the salivator, try and take food from BeeBoo when they can -- so they will probably eat some too, although that should be a good thing.

I have no idea. I don't know anything about the concentration of that medication.

Edit - All fish in the tank need to be treated.

Yeah I can understand that, and I have been treating the entire tank, but BeeBoo is the only one I'm constantly seeing those white stringy poops coming from, that's why I wanted to get him to eat some of the food that had been soaked in it.

Yes he will be getting an upgrade soon, he is only about 4 inches right now but I'm just waiting for a good deal on CL.
I did do an water change and the ammonia level is down to 0, I'm going to look for the medication to soak his food in.
I prefer to feed him ghost shrimp over feeder fish but the stores around are always low on them but I guess it will be worth to wait.
It surprises me how he doesn't pick on the gouramis, maybe its because they don't try to eat his food, my JD in the other hand might have to be relocated.
Is it hard to breed snails and shrimp, I'm want to try to breed some red cherry shrimps any tips or links?

Thanks you guys!

If there are tank mates, everyone has to be treated.

Snails are easy to breed, but I have no idea about shrimp.

Any one ever used GEL-TEK for IP's?

Yes, that is all I use right now, Gel-Tek Ultra Cure PX. Too bad it's off the market now, I'm down to my last bottle.