The Puffer Forum

Hi,
I'm new to keeping puffers as well as keeping a saltwater tank. I have 2 Gsp's in 55 gallons. Ammonia, nitrites are all testing at 0, nitrates are also close to 0 at I believe .0002 ppm's, and the PH is sitting at 8.1. These guys are about an inch long. I have them in a saltwater gravity of 1.010 and at a temp of 80. One of them came down with ick so I bumped the saltwater up to 1.014 over a few days during daily water changes, and also used ick attack in the tank. The one that came down with ick was very dark and lost his color for a few days, his belly was black and he stopped eating. I starting giving him freshwater dips and within 2 days the ick is now gone, his belly is white again and he's bubbling around the tank. He's still a little dark around the eyes and is now frantic for food. I noticed last night that the back part of his belly (by his anus fin) is sunken in. His belly also goes down within a few hours of eating while the other one is fat and happy for a lot longer. I'm still treating the tank with ick attack as he just getting over the ick in the last few days. After looking over the forum it sounded like he had IP for sure. I got the jungle labs parasite clear to feed, but they refuse to eat it. I've also been soaking their food for a few hours in garlic since the ick outbreak and they eat that well but I've had no luck with them eating the medicated food soaked in garlic. I'm not comfortable treating the tank for IP's while still treating it for the ick. Any help would be much appreciated.

How do you soak the food in the IP treatment? Have you tried garlic + IP treatment?

yeah. I soaked the Ip medication with the garlic overnight. A few got bitten then spit out.

You could try different foods..What foods have you tried?

Or, skip a feeding day. Sometimes when they are hungry, they don't care what they eat.

Soak the garlic freeze-dried krill. Puffers love krill and the freeze-dried soaks everything up like a sponge. Btw, how long has the tank been set-up? Also sounds like a brackish water tank rather then full marine. Also, Ick Attack by Kordon is the med your using in your tank? Sorry for all the questions.

If your SG was at 1.010-14 & FW dips are helping, my guess it's not ich that your puffer has been suffering from.

Purplecandle: I feed them bloodworms and krill soaked in garlic. Other than that I feed them live food such as snails and ghost shrimp. Fade2black-1973: The tank has only been set up for about a month. I've had the puffers about 3 weeks and the tank was instantly cycled with 2 bottles of seachem stability as well as a dose every day for a week before the puffers came home. I am using ick attack by Kordon. Pufferpunk: I'm not sure it WAS ich, cause I'm kinda new to this but he was very lifeless and covered in white specks. All over his fins and body. I have been using the ich attack since I noticed the symptoms and he has come through pretty fast. Are you thinking it's something else? I also noticed the day they seemed to start falling off (while doing a gravel vacuuming) it looked like pieces of skin with white specks on it were being sucked up. Any ideas? Now he just swims back and forth in the air bubbles (sometimes franticly) biting at the surface a bit. He's also become a lot more aggressive since the white specks fell off and he got his color back. I don't know what's wrong with him or how to make it better. The other puffer seems fine.

How are the water parameters now?

Ammonia is 0, nitrittes are 0 and nitrates are barely showing up at .0001 ppms. The salt is at 1.010 and the PH is at 7.6. Is that PH too low? I've been feeding smaller meals 2 times a day instead of just one larger meal at night too. Not sure if that's helping or hurting the issue. They are also not very messy eaters, not much makes it to the bottom of the tank.

I wouldn't worry about pH, as long as it stays steady.

ninjapuffer wrote:Ammonia is 0, nitrittes are 0 and nitrates are barely showing up at .0001 ppms. The salt is at 1.010 and the PH is at 7.6. Is that PH too low? I've been feeding smaller meals 2 times a day instead of just one larger meal at night too. Not sure if that's helping or hurting the issue. They are also not very messy eaters, not much makes it to the bottom of the tank.

Your sea salt should help buffer the ph. And keep a really good eye on the ammonia levels because that tank is not fully cycled yet. I always used the bacterial supplements myself and some really helps out alot but a tank will go through that cycling period reguardless. One thing I always like using in a new tank set-up, are the Seachem's Ammonia Alert that sticks on the inside glass of the tank. Reads the ammonia levels without having to test it yourself,imo.

I got one of the ammonia alert that sticks on to the glass when I set up the tank. It does seem to go from safe to alert every few days but I dump more bacteria in and it goes down. I'm just worried about him in terms of internal parasites. He won't eat the medicated food. I've fasted him for 2 days and still won't eat it. Should I just treat the whole tank? What's the best medicine for treating the whole tank with gsp's? Thanks again for any help.

If you have to keep dumping "bacteria" in, either it's not the right strain of bacteria or it's not alive bacteria. Stop wasting your $$$ & do lots of water changes. I don't trust those alert strips either. Get yourself a good liquid test kit.

+1

ninjapuffer wrote:I got one of the ammonia alert that sticks on to the glass when I set up the tank. It does seem to go from safe to alert every few days but I dump more bacteria in and it goes down. I'm just worried about him in terms of internal parasites. He won't eat the medicated food. I've fasted him for 2 days and still won't eat it. Should I just treat the whole tank? What's the best medicine for treating the whole tank with gsp's? Thanks again for any help.

Yeah I would not try to feed your puffer that medicated food because he will not eat it like most fishes that I tried to feed a medicated food in the past. Best soaking an IP liquid med in some food that he might be eating. That's how most members in here do it. I use to have to add it to the water for my fishes with IP's that was not eating at all. Internal parasite guard by Jungle is the med I always used on my other fishes in the past. I think others in here use different brands though.