The Puffer Forum

Water parameters 0 ammonia 0 nitrite 10 nitrate ph 8.2

Hi there! Im afraid I have a very sick little puffer on my hands. I was on a waiting list at my LFS for two figure 8's and picked them up a week ago today. They are very small..an inch max. The smaller one (the sick one) is probably about 3/4". The smallest one didn't look right from the beginning..a bit skinny with some grey patches on belly. Im new at puffers and figured he was prob just very young and underfed. He was quite active and ate well for me the first few days (bloodworms) but started looking extra skinny and less lively by Sunday. The other puffer has been doing fine. Upon further research its obvious he has an internal parasite problem. very concave stomach, he mainly just sits at the bottom in one spot but sometimes twitches and makes weird jerky movements. I've had him in quarentine for the past several days and been treating with tetra parasite guard. Been treating the other puffer too just in case. I was soaking the bloodworms in the meds but he's stopped eating now. He's sooo tiny and emaciated . He looks like a tadpole. I just don't know what to do..I feel like he's suffering and is just too far gone but he keeps hanging on..

Awww
Sounds like you treated them correctly, he may just have been too far gone. There isn't much you can do when they stop eating, you can try to force feed them, but that's risky when they are so tiny.

Try treating with Prazi-Pro. It is the only medication that has worked for me. Just make sure you don't over-dose. Good luck.

Also, try adding a garlic additive to the system and to the food as a soak to entice the feeding.

Unless you can get the med inside of him, the IPs can't be treated. Sorry to say he sounds like a gonner.