The Puffer Forum

Ok Im moving this to the hospital section, I know this sounds bad because its my first puffer and I already have problems but I dont want to lose him so here goes:

He is an Abei Puffer I have had him a week
He lives in a fully cycled freshwater tank with sand on the bottom and caves - no live plants
new additions - I put a new piece of washed (with water nothing else) rock in his tank yesterday
Water - PH6.5 - I am doing water tests on nitrate and amonia tonight I noticed this morning he was bad and I am now at work ( I know you said you need figures but last time I checked they were normal)
I did a water change this morning before I left for work
He has eaten 3 river shrimp this week and was totally fine until last night he was at the bottom of the tank and I thought he was resting because he'd been active all day but this morning he was in the same spot breathing heavily

Please help

Hi, sorry to hear that your new puffer isn't feeling well = [

You said you cycled the tank, I was wondering since your puffer is feeling sick. Could you describe the way that your tank was cycled?
Also what size tank is the puffer in?

Thanks best of luck

Ok his tank is about 45 gallons

His tank did belong to a lake malawi cichlid who was fit and healthy when I gave him to someone with a bigger tank. I left the filter in for the good bacteria did a water change and let it cycle for 3 weeks doing 10% water changes per week - when I introduced him to his tank I removed enough water to incorporate his bag water.

Thanks for the reply Im so worried about him!

Sounds like the tank might have become uncycled within that 3 weeks because the bacteria that is established when a tank is cycled feeds on the ammonia produced by the fish or by manually adding pure ammonia.

I am no expert but i think that that is a possibility due to the lack of food in the water for the bacteria to live. Someone with more experience will chime in though.

Sorry about your puffer hopefully he gets better

Ya I agree, I was just writing to ask if you kept any living animals or added fish food into the tank during the 3 week period because otherwise all the good bacteria unfortunetly died and your puffer is swimming in an uncycled tank. You said when you tested the water that the numbers came out good. What kind of test kit did you use? and can we get the official numbers please? Also do you have prime? cause that will help neutralize the toxins in the tank.

If the tank is uncycled you need to start doing large daily water changes (50-70%) to help your puffer not suffer in its own wastes and get a liquid test kit such as api who makes excellent ones. In addition to the daily water changes you should test frequently to check for ammonia in the water. If any appears do another water change immediately because puffers are very sensitive to it.

You can also do a quick fix of using bacteria in a bottle but there are only a few that actually work. Such as tetra safestart and a few others that I can't remember right now.

Again best of luck! Keep us updated on how your puffer is doing.

Puff8 wrote: I am doing water tests on nitrate and amonia tonight I noticed this morning he was bad and I am now at work ( I know you said you need figures but last time I checked they were normal)

nitrite level is a key piece of information on determining whether a tank is cycled or not
can you check nitrites also?

puffykid wrote:You can also do a quick fix of using bacteria in a bottle but there are only a few that actually work. Such as tetra safestart and a few others that I can't remember right now.

Dr. Tims.............
http://www.drtimsaquatics.com/H2O_PURE_ ... tml#FW_One

You said you removed enough water to account for his big bag, did you add the store water to the tank?
How was the rock washed, and where did it come from?

All great questions--hopefully we'll get answers soon. A tank left fallow for 3 weeks with no food source for bacteria to feed on is an uncycled tank.

Thanks for all your questions Ive been frantically trying to help him for the last few hours,

- he is now swimming about again at the front of the tank

In answer to your questions...

@puffykid & jjj5311 : I did initially put fish food in the tank but was then told too much would pollute the water so I backed off
Ok so his PH is still ok its at 7
@eieio : his nitrite wasnt clear it was slightly pink about 0.25/0.5mg/l - Ive bought some filter bags that are meant to "eliminate toxic substances in the tank such as ammonia nitrite and nitrate" apparently they are "perfect for immediate set up" I figured if the bacteria has died I should try them and I have put those in now
@sevenyearnight: Yes I did add his store water to the tank - its a good fish store and I thought it would help him acclimatise
The Rock was from Pets @ home

I have also bought filter start and fresh start


Thank you so much for all your replies I appreciate any further advice

This link from our library should be helpful to you. I don't know of any filter bags that are meant to "eliminate toxic substances in the tank such as ammonia nitrite and nitrate".

library/water-filtration/emergencycycle/

his nitrite wasnt clear it was slightly pink about 0.25/0.5mg/l - Ive bought some filter bags that are meant to "eliminate toxic substances in the tank such as ammonia nitrite and nitrate" apparently they are "perfect for immediate set up" I figured if the bacteria has died I should try them and I have put those in now

Return that crap & do water changes.

oh ok I thought they were good things?? Ive done a water change today I'll keep doing them.

Those filter bags are a gimmick. I would remove them straight away, keep regular waterchanges going and keep an eye on your water parameters. In future i would not take advice from pets at home. Where in the uk are you from?

Im in Milton Keynes although the Puff was from Enfield - I'll take the filter bag out Thanks