The Puffer Forum

I think my figure 8 is dying! I've noticed him acting a little different the last couple of days. He hasn't been as friendly and active and he just seemed to be resting a lot more than usual. I've had him about a month and a half so I figured he was just finally starting to relax and get used to his surroundings. Well when I checked on him about an hour ago he was in the back corner with his mouth in the sand and his tail kind of floating up. When I put my finger up to the tank he started swimming a little but was all over the place and flipping over on his back and side.

Ammonia is at 0
Nitrites are at 0
He's 1 inch, in a 6 gallon (being moved to a 20 when it's ready)
We do 50% water changes weekly

My husband and I moved him into a hospital tank and did a 75% water change. I'm not even sure if he's alive right now. He isn't really moving but I don't want to poke at him and make things even worse.

I guess what my question is is if anyone else maybe knows what could have gone wrong or maybe has had the same problem? I use a sand substrate and was completely unaware that you should stir up the sand every week to release the gas. I immediately came on here and when I read that it needed to be stirred I moved him to the hospital tank and stirred it before my water change. I was shocked to see that there were a lot of bubbles in there. Is it possible that that is what caused this?

I feel horrible! I hate to think that he may have died due to my negligence. Between my husband and I we have done literally days of research in the last couple of months and I just really wasn't expecting this.

I use a sand substrate and was completely unaware that you should stir up the sand every week to release the gas. I immediately came on here and when I read that it needed to be stirred I moved him to the hospital tank and stirred it before my water change. I was shocked to see that there were a lot of bubbles in there. Is it possible that that is what caused this?

This could very well be the problem.

Before beating yourself up more, you should know that these fish sometimes come with parasites and for some of these parasites, such as somatic nematodes, there is no cure.

IMHO, the substrate should be vacuumed at every water change. And since the tank was only 6 gals, those changes should have been very frequent - maybe every 2 or 3 days. What kind of filtration did you have? Was he in brackish water?

He didn't make it.

He was in an Eclipse 6 but we were looking in to replacing the filter because it just didn't seem to be doing as great of a job as it should have. He was in fresh water when I purchased him from the LFS and was worked up to 1.004-5 SG brackish water over the last month and half. I didn't realize we needed to do water changes that frequently! We also have a 40 gallon breeder mangrove swamp and were just doing our water changes together every weekend, more if we felt necessary. He seemed to be doing great and seemed so happy!

My other concern was that maybe I was feeding him too often. He was eating just about everyday, I skipped a day here or there depending on what I fed him the night before. Krill seemed to really fill him up so I sometimes skipped the day after a Krill feeding or just gave him a very small amount to keep him happy. He always knew when it was feeding time so I felt terrible turning his lights off without giving him at least a tiny something to eat. Could he have been overfed?

I forgot to mention it earlier but he was a brown color when I found him in the corner of the tank. When I got him from the LFS I picked him because he was bright. I mean his colors were beautiful! When I found him earlier he was extremely dull looking and had a brown tint all over his body.

Thanks for the help guys. I just feel sick over this.

I'm sorry for your loss.

Don't feel bad...puffers are difficult to get right first time...I didn't even have a goldfish before I started and I did a lot of research so I got everything right. I got three F8's last summer, and one dies after (I think) I used an ick med with copper in...I think he had a parasite as well, but I blame myself for the copper med.
Everyone here's lost a fish, so don't worry...it's a lesson learned...cycle your 20 gallon and start again.
Sorry to hear about your loss...sounds like he made an impression on you.
Pami.

Pufferpunk wrote:

I use a sand substrate and was completely unaware that you should stir up the sand every week to release the gas. I immediately came on here and when I read that it needed to be stirred I moved him to the hospital tank and stirred it before my water change. I was shocked to see that there were a lot of bubbles in there. Is it possible that that is what caused this?

This could very well be the problem.

I agree with this.

Thanks guys, yes he definitely made an impression on me. I loved that little guy! <3

I have a couple of questions...

We also have sand in our 40gal mangrove swamp and like Buddy's tank, have not been stirring it up. Should we do it during a water change or is it okay for me to just do it right now? If the gases are present will they contaminate the water after stirring it and hurt the fish?

Also, I want to keep my 6gal going. I have two ghost shrimp in there that Buddy befriended rather than making a meal out of. Will they be able to keep the ammonia in the tank high enough to keep it cycled?

My wonderful husband is taking me tonight to pick up a new tank to start cycling! We found a great 37 gallon with a stand so after a nice long fishless cycle and much more research hopefully I'll be ready to try the world of puffers again.

Again, thanks for all your help guys!

A few shrimp will not produce enough ammonia to grow enough bacteria to support fish, IMO.

Have you considered using the 6 gal tank for shrimp alone ? It could support more shrimp. FWIW, I find the shrimp to be interesting.

ChesapeakeSwellfish wrote:Have you considered using the 6 gal tank for shrimp alone ? It could support more shrimp. FWIW, I find the shrimp to be interesting.

That's actually the plan. I have a little 2.5 gallon with 5 shrimp in there and a little chinese algae eater that my dad asked me to take a while ago. I'm just going to re-cycle the 6 gallon for them. That's been the plan for awhile, move Buddy to the 20gal and the algae eater and shrimp to the 6gal.
I find the shrimp interesting as well. I love watching the little scavengers eat.

My shrimp are so bold - they take the food right out of the puffers' mouths, well, right up until the night of the GSP's shrimp massacre.