The Puffer Forum

Yesterday I noticed Ponyo looks like shes wearing lispstick. The only mouth thing I know of is cotton mouth. Is it usually pink or is this something else?

Soske's back was grey yesterday and today he looks like he has black and white sand on his back, and hes darting around a bit. is that the itch?

Neither of them have been very social or as excited about dinner time.

I recently treated for red aglae with chemiclean, and was thinking about another dose since its not completely gone, but I'm afraid to now, since this is the first time they've been ill!

What are the best/safest way to treat them? I have some EM emythromycyin on hand but that's it..

These pics are 3_Ponyo 2_Soske yesterday 1_Soske today

have you done a water change? i would do one, and put carbon in your filter to remove the chem. puffs are a scaleless fish, so you have to be carefull what you put in them. Grey on the face, sides, and back usually mean stress.

Please answer all the Qs above in RED. In the meantime, do as instructed above & add Melafix.

Using any chemical in your tank can result in a sick and/or dying puffer. You have to be super careful about what you put in, just as Mezzovex said, they are scaleless fish, so are extremely sensitive to chemicals and additives that other fish might tolerate with no problem.
I would NOT add any more of the algae killer.

I have used Chemiclean in my reef tank. It is a totally harmless antibiotic that won't crash your tank, IF USED EXACTLY AS DIRECTED. Still--need more info.

I bow to your expertise PP, as I didn't know anything about the Chemiclean stuff, I just generally shy away from any additives.

1) Will remeasure Ammonia Nitrite and Nitrites tonight. This morning the salinity was way high, 1.030, so I changed some water out to lower it.
2) 40 gallon with 2 GSPs. I've had them for 2.5 years now.
3) They eat one meal, 6 days a week, consisting of frozen bloodworms, clams, krill, or fresh oysters. I change the water about every week and a half. I use instant ocean and Prime to condition the water.
4) About 2 weeks ago I dosed with chemiclean as directed. I also added some live sand from Petco. The water change was big, closer to 30-40%
5) 3 Months ago I moved and cycled the tank with biosphera.

1) please keep a real close eye on your levels especially now that you caught your sg at such a high level that could kill your bacteria if it was a sudden change which is sounds like a opps on a water change or some serious evaporation.
2)How big are your GSP's they require 30 gal min each, you have had them for quit some time so im assumeing their a decent size.
3) I recommend reading this library/puffers-in-focus/an-introductio ... d-puffers/
4)PP already talked about the chemiclean, and for the live sand its a waist of money nothing is "live" about it.
5)Why did you have to recycle your tank? Although bio-spyra is a craps shoot it does work sometimes. As long as its not a really long move just keeping your filter media wet will help maintain your cycle.

Please post your parameters as soon as you can so the experts here can give you the best help possible.

Oh wow, SG of 1.030 is VERY high! What are you using to measure it? If the device hasn't been calibrated, it may be even higher than that.