The Puffer Forum

I woke up this morning and one of my fry did not eat his worms. I looked closer and his body was darkened and he had what looked like cotton coming from his eyes. I put him in a hospital tank with some Melafix but he looks awful and not moving (cuz he can't see i am sure!!!) and not eating. The fry tank is heated and filtered and he has been in there for five months. The tank has many 3 month olds and many six month olds and the others look fine. No changes in food or environment. I did a big water change in the fry tank from the big tank today (ammonia 0, nitrate 0, nitrate 0) and the water is changed in the fry tank at least 50 percent every two days. Uneaten worms are suctioned out daily. I have had no death or sickness so I am wondering what happened to this little guy. He was fine last night at supper. Any suggestions ?

puffarama wrote:(ammonia 0, nitrate 0, nitrate 0)

that is too perfect... what kind of test equipment are you using and how old is it?

I am using aquarium pharmaceuticals freshwater master test kit. Those have been my water parameters for months, well since last November when I bought the kit. Do you have any idea about the eyes?

here is a video of some of my puffs with white over their eyes..is this what yours look like?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9CDM4rerHo

sorry I don't have any experience in treatment only in the water chemistry

You'll get help soon

The reason posted what I did, was that there are always trace amounts of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate in the water. Nitrate is the easiest to read and if you are reading "0" something is wrong.

To the person who sent the youtube video - My fry's eye's are completely covered with protruding white stuff, way worse than in your video. Where you able to fix the eyes of the puffers in the video? Do you know what it is? Is Melafix acceptable to treat him in?

To the person about my water parameters - Could you tell me what the issue is with 0-0-0 ??? It was my understanding that in a heavily planted tank with limited fish, this is perfectly acceptable. If I am wrong, please let me know.

Do you shake the crap out of bottle number two on the nitrate test? The reactant chemical settles out, so you have to shake it hard for at least half a minute, or it will read low right up until the end of the bottle, then read sky-high all the time.
If all the other fish are fine, but this one is suffering cloudy eyes, it's probably an opportunistic infection. He scraped his eyes on accident, and then the pathogen took hold.

The puffs in my video were rescues and I think the consensus was that mine were exposed to poor water quality. I am not saying that is what has happened to yours Yours may have gotten injured or something like that...a tiny scratch turned into something bigger...who knows LOL

Anyway...yes melafix worked. After 3 days mine no longer had any problems....

Good Luck!!!!!

I just tested my water again right now and it is 0-0-0. I shook the bottle for at least 30 seconds. My water has been tested at my local fish store as well and it tests the same. The poor little guy is looking pretty bad now. And I should say again, his eyes have white stuff protruding like a mm or two (I am not sure what that is in imperial), you can't see any eyes, just white puffy stuff. I just hope the rest of my fry are okay. Water parameters aside, if anyone knows if Melafix is okay to try and help him or is there something else better I should use?

puffarama wrote:To the person who sent the youtube video

Point A) I use digital test equipment and you are using an approximate. Using an approximate (liquid test) your results should read .00~.2 for nitrate (at its lowest level)
Point B) liquid test kits have a shelf life ... if older than 6 months I would ditch them

you have to keep in mind that for ever .05 ppm of nitrite = 1ppm of nitrate and it doubles.. 2= 4 etc ...

that is why you balance is too good. I also have a planted tank, if you could sustain those levels you's be up for the Nobel Prize!

purplecandle can tell you more on how her GSPs are doing

my puffs eyes were protruding..and I will say that whatever it was seemed to happen fast....i did not put in melafix (first dose) until after they had been in the tank for a while, and in that short amount of time their eyes looked worse.

But, the fact that your puff is dark and sitting at the bottom concerns me. The puffs that I had did not really seem to have lower spirits...they kept up with the other puffs...vision or no vision..

Melefix is a good way to go, it worked for me, but him sitting at the bottom is troubling..

Thanks for the replies from everyone. I am going to keep an eye on him but he has been in the Melafix most of the day and not much movement. I put one small live black worm in for him and he didn't eat it even when it was right in front of him

just a quick Q.. what size tank WAS it in and what sized tank is the hospital tank?

I tested with serious shaking of the bottles, banging it on the counter and shake, shake, shake and my nitrates were between 0-5 ppm ... the puffer fry was in 2 litres of water and the hospital tank is 1 litre ...

he died last night other fry look fine this morning ... did another water change last night ... thanks for everyone's replies