The Puffer Forum

Ok first
20 gallon running 2 filters
Am 0.50
Nitrite 1.0
Nitrate 5 ppm
2 X 50 % water changes every day is what im doing atm 1 when i get up and 1 when i get home from work .

please read entire post before respond please please .
I realize first off this tank isn't cycled i had no idea when i bought the guy about anything like cycling a tank . I have a 55 gallon i am fishless cycling right now has been cycling for 2 weeks it gets 2 medium sized pinches of tropical fish food a day to keep the AM level up it should be cycled in another week or so i hope . i have yet to check the leve on it i just put the food in daily atm .

Now i had 2 puffers to start and one died when he got a whitish junk on his eye and then on his fin ( it killed him very fast ) he also never really ate since i brought him home from the store . but he was fine until 3 days ago when the white stuff appeared then he died that night . These 2 fish were sold to me as dwarf puffers but they are GSPs . My puffer that is still alive was thriving he ate every day and was a little piggy i was feeding them brine shrinp from frozen cubes thawed in tank water daily till i read they arnt good so i switched them to blood worms. My little guy would eat so much i had to often times scoop out food to keep him from popping ( or i was afraid he would ) . However yesterday he would not eat ( first time in the almost 2 weeks ive had him , and today he has white spots ( not like ick ) on his fins i will post a picture below . i realize that they may not eat daily but this guy never had a loss of appetite and now he does that is a sudden change and it scares me very much .

this is the pic http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/ae67 ... 0_2904.jpg

At this point i am also thinking whats best for my puffer so if you live in the Branson or Springfield area of Missouri and would be willing to take this little guy and are knowledgeable on puffers i am willing to let him go and even give you a 120 jello caps of blood worms .

I dosed the tank with melafix today after i did a 50 % water change . Please someone help me this guy was s active and seemingly cheerful ( always a white belly ) until yesterday . 4 days ago i moved him from the uncycled 10 gallon that he was in to this 20 gallon i put the filter from the 10 gallon on it ( it has some bacteria in it ) and also setup the new filter with a piece of seeded media from my lfs that i had in my 55 gallon tank .

If anyone can diagnose what the whitish stuff on his fins is or give me suggestions please let me know , i am leaving for work now but when i get home i will do another 50 % water change and i will try to feed him an earthworm i have hundreds of pesticide free organically raised earthworms from my LPS that i feed my hatchling box turtle and snapping turtle.

Oh also the white granules on top of him arnt ick its sand when i was changing water today i stirred some up and it landed on top of him before i took the picture .

EDIT here is a link to my other post were i IDed him as a gsp it has some other info i dont have time to retyp if anyone is interested in helping me

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=23411&p=251596#p251596

Is anything in the 55gal? if not move him into that tank uncycled or not it will be better for him. Dont add anything else to help the cycle on the 50. Just keep up on the 50% water changes twice daily on the 55 and put him in there. It will be your best chance to keep him alive.

Ok, just read your other post. what do you have in the 55? How long has it been set up and what are the water perameters? If its a cycled tank then use some of the filter media from that tank to put in your 20 to get a quick instant cycle. And your going to need to be looking for a 30+gal tank very soon. I hope this helps some he looks pretty rough in those pictures. Puffer are very very sensative to amm and nitrites. Also if your 55 is cycled it would be best to use a divider and put him in there untill that 20 reads 0 on amm and nitrites also you dont want to let your nitrates get higher then about 20ppm.

The picture you posted about the white stuff just looks like sand attached to him probably because he has a thick slime coat from all the stress. But a better picture would help determine if that is what it really is or not.

I agree move him to the 55, make it easier for you..

Any other behavior changes besides not wanting food? I notice he is pointed at an odd angle in the picture....

the dark stomach is usually indicative of stress. The white on the fins is usually a sign of fin rot = stress. These may or may not be attributed to the water quality (but usually are).

Keep up the water changes. The melafix / pimafix cocktail may work. It is strange how quickly a fish can degrade from this but recover so slowly. I have only had one fish survive this multiple times. My others have not (these were not puffers). Have not had a puffer with fin rot as of yet.

If it is indeed fin rot, keeping that water quality at its best is #1. The fish may not eat for a few days but it may just surprise you one day

I just hope someone can make a positive ID and treatment soon.

For whatever reason I cannot view the photo unfortunately, so I can't really say much. However, I would agree with the others in saying that I think you should move him to that 55-gallon tank. Since you're using Melafix and Pimafix, make sure you've got extra oxygen going into the tank because those solutions tend to make it more difficult for the puffer to get oxygen.
Also, am I correct in guessing that you're feeding this puffer some sort of gel-form of bloodworms and not frozen? Personally I think frozen are the next best thing to live bloodworms and my puffers love them. Obviously once your puffer is back to good health, I would invest in a good liquid vitamin and start soaking his food in that, especially the bloodworm.
And since your guy isn't too keen on food right now, I would indeed try offering him an earthworm. My puffers love earthworms, and no one refuses them. So that might work.
I'm certainly not blaming you personally .... but I think you have to understand that puffers are already stressed from being wild caught, probably have IP's and then most are kept in less than ideal conditions at the LFS, and all of that combined with going into an un-cycled tank is very hard on their little systems. In some ways they are tough, but they are quick to go downhill if things aren't right.
I wish you all luck in getting your little puffer back to good health.

First off, it is certainly not a dwarf puffer and either a Green Spotted Puffer or Giant Spotted Puffer (very similar looking fish, but darker colors and longer snout can be signs). I would assume Green Spotted, and not very happy/healthy from the photos though.

Agreed, do a nice big water change on that 55 and get him moved over. No, its not cycled either but its a larger water volume which will dilute toxins. If you or your parents or a friend have existing tanks running, steal some gravel, filter media, decorations, anything and move them to this fish's tank to get some "good" bacteria in there asap.

If the white stuff is fuzzy (the pic above won't open) and you can find some, Pimafix is good for fungal infections. Clean water and Pimafix should clear him right up. You can also start adding some marine salt (like Instant Ocean), but don't raise the salinity more than .002 per week.. if you don't have a hydrometer, just add a few tablespoons to either the 20 or 55, they will give him some salt but won't raise it too high at all where you'd have to worry about the level.

I hope he does better for you.. they are tough fish, but usually not handled too well at the store, especially when sold by places like Walmart and kept in freshwater

I hope you (the OP) can update us on the status of everything i would really like to know how it is going and if we can help by answering any other ?'s you might have. Hope it is going well.