The Puffer Forum

My boyfriend and I had our tank for a few months and introduced a puffer. The puffer was eating fine, resting on the bottom of the tank, swimming around and then started biting our arowana's fins off. The Arowana ended up dying, and then all of our fish started slowly dying.
The puffer was my fish, and we broke up so I decided to take him. I wanted to cycle my 10 gallon first (the puffer is only about 1.5 inches long) but I didn't have the time. I had to pick him up yesterday because his skin started looking bad, his belly was a bit yellow, he had white patches on him and all the fish in the tank were dying.

I set up my 10 gallon tank. I put water in it and then put the liquid that comes with the tank to get rid of the chlorine etc.

I went to a fish store and I got a bag of water from one of their tanks, as well as fungus tablets that help with puffer skin issues.

I picked up my puffer from my boyfriend's and he was not doing so well.

I took him home, put his bag in the tank, let him get adjusted to the water temp and then let him into the water.

The water temp is at about 80 degrees.

I heard that Fahaka's like Brackish so the girl at the pet store told me to get sand, as it would increase the PH. I do not have a PH testing kit as I was in such a rush to get the tank set up and get my baby in there before he died in the other tank where all our other fish were dying.

The puffer is the only one in the 10 gal and he was swimming around yesterday. At first he was around the surface then he'd drop down really quick and back up. Then he buried himself in the sand for a good 8 hours, was up around 7 am swimming around, and back to the bottom.

I tried feeding him shrimp pellets yesterday- he wouldn't eat them. I put some brine shrimp in the tank...he still wouldn't move.

Today I put another pellet in, he still won't eat it.

I'm very attached to him so I hope nothing terrible happens. I would have liked to cycle the tank but I had to get him asap since all the fish were dying.

Help?

Hello and welcome to the puffer forum.
If would help if you answer all the question in Red at the top, water parameters are a must to know.

First off your tank is to small these guys need 120gallon when full grown and I know he is small now but you got to get him in a bigger tank asap. Second your tank is not cycled, as you already know and puffers are very sensitive to uncycled tanks. This link might help you a bit. library/water-filtration/emergencycycle/.
Fahaka are not brackish they are strictly fresh water.

Shrimp pellet are not what you want to feed your guy. FROZEN RAW shell on shrimp, muzzles in the half shelf ect. from your local grocery store, live earthworms can get them eating. Another link to check out on feeding. library/feeding/feeding-your-puffers/.

Fahaka don't usually don't tolerate any tanks mates.
First things first get a bigger cycled tank......

Welcome

First thing you need to do is keep an eye on the water parameters, you are going going to have ammonia and nitrite issues so daily frequent water changes are going to be in order. 10 gallons isnt a lot of water to play around with a larger home as soon as possible will be your next target. Even if you can get a cheap 30g to last a short time it will be better than nothing as that 10g isnt enough volume for a messy fish.

You are going to find pellets arent really to his liking you may find some limited success but meaty foods like Mussels, Prawns, Cockles etc etc will be more readily accepted.

Also brackish isnt required these are freshwater so ignore the LFS's advice on this as that would require marine salt which you dont need. Certain types of sand like aragonite can help to buffer the pH in the water but it isnt required for this puffer, you want a steady pH so stick with your tapwater. Standard aquarium sand is more than adequate.

While following the previous's poster's ideas - you are going to want to do lots and lots of water changes on that 10gallon tank. Using a siphon, suck out at least 50% of the water, then replace it with dechlorinated water (at least once a day) I wouldn't feed him a lot, he can go with just a little food for now, skip a day or two if you can. In the 10gallon you have (he's already too big for it, I did that too) the water parameters can go bad quite quickly, and since you are just now doing the emergency cycle, it's gonna be lots of water changes so he'll survive it.

Is there any way your ex will let you have the filter cartridge out of his tank? (he'd just have to replace it with a new one, his established tank should be fine.)
Are you sure it's a fahaka puffer? Just curious! Being sure what kind of puffer you have is the first step in knowing how to care for it. There's lots of different kinds, and mine was sold to me as a Dwarf Puffer (Dwarf Puffer's being the tiniest, Fahaka's almost the largest...)

If that tank isn't cycled you'll be doing water changes twice daily.

It sounds like ammonia poisoning.

Can you steal some FW filter media from the LFS and put that into a sock or in the filter to help kick start it?

Or post your location, maybe there's someone near you that can give you some filter media from a healthy tank...

Hi guys I'm in Vancouver BC

I got him blood worms and frozen shrimp and snails. He ate a bit.

I'm going to change the water in the tank later tonight.

I got my water tested today...I have no idea what I'm doing so I need help

I'm moving out soon so I will get him a bigger tank when I'm ready to move.

Here's what the testing revealed

ph- 7.5
kh 180
nitrite .75
no3 15
gh 180
copper .4

I have old pipes in my house is that why there is copper in the water? I can get a giant jug of water and change his water tomorrow or tonight.

PLEASE HELP!!!! he seems really sick :(

His skin seems like it is shedding or something...theres a layer of guck on top of him.

I got him anti biotics and fungal stuff and am putting that in the tank.

I hope he eats more

NO3 is is nitrate?? We don't have an ammonia reading..

80% water changes twice daily ... but my fish were different..

As for the copper .. this may sound silly, but if you can get your hands on algae ... get as much in there as possible. That is a long term solution ... In the mean time .. bottled water???

your antibiotics may be killing the biofilter in your tank. That will trow off the ammonia reading.

Don't put the medication in the tank. If there's a specific problem then ask and we can recommend a puffer safe medication. You don't want to medicate though unless it's necessary.

How soon are you moving and will you be able to get a large enough tank?

You're showing nitrite which is highly toxic so many large water changes are in order (nitrite and ammonia levels must be kept at 0). Unfortunately, in such a small tank you'll have to do a lot of large water changes, maybe several times a day. Did you test for ammonia?

Well, his skin looked funny like he had like slime coming off of him and he had white patches on him and his color was looking dull and he wasn't swimming too much.

I went to a fish store that has this stuff called Fungus clear. It made the tank water blue...but apparently it's safe to use. It was a tablet thing that fizzed. It was for fungus infections (cotton patches) and fin rot and stuff like that.

Then today I got an antibiotic that is safe for fresh water puffers (I saw a specialist).

I'm going to buy a massive jug of water and change the tank tonight.

I saw the puffer whipping around in the tank like a mad man (i put some snails in there and I think he eyed them)

I am not able to get a bigger tank until we buy a new apartment...so it could be a month or two. Until then I will change his water every other day. Does that sound reasonable? The guy at the fish store said I should bring in another water sample on Thursday and we can figure things out.

I didn't know about the amonia. I think the guy said it wasn't bad and the PH was fine. It was just the nitrate or whatever that was .75 and also the .4 of copper. So the guy at the pet store said i just need to do water changes frequently.

What is causing these levels to be so high? I took water from my boyfriend's tank, water from the fish store and mixed it with brand new water.

Why is the nitrite or nitrate so high?

I don't really get it. I tried reading the tank cycling article but I'm obviously too stupid to understand!

oh no im an idiot I don't have any of the water conditioner. I guess i can't change his tank water until tomorrow afternoon since I have to go get some

Ok water changes two a day, seriously if you want your guy to have any chance at all in that 10 gallon and with those parameters you really have to do this. Don't add any medication until checking here first with the name of that medication. If you "specialist is someone who works in a LFS then they very well may not be a specialist. In most cases you can use your tap water with some conditioner ( prime) so if you run out of bottled water tap is fine. Water changes, water changes, water changes. He might need an antibiotic such as Maracyn but water changes are your best bet right now. Good luck.

Try reading the 2 articles on microbes, it might hep you to understand better. Also the one on emergency cycling.

IluvShoes wrote: What is causing these levels to be so high? I took water from my boyfriend's tank, water from the fish store and mixed it with brand new water.
!

Bacteria to cycle tanks does not live in water. It is found in saturates, filters and decorations. Your nitrate is so very high because the tank is to small for your puffer and is not cycled .
What do you not understand about the emergency cycle article that I posted earlier for you to read? Puffers can go very long time without eating weeks so that isn't your main concern now.

All I saw was an article about cycling with plants- but if the tank is empty and with plants, where do I put the puffer?

Maybe I'm just an idiot.

What size tank would you guys recommend? I bought the ten gallon a few days ago. What size do I need for him now? He is just an inch and a half big.