Advice Needed On GSP

Oh no! Sick fish?! Come here and see if someone can help!
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Read this before posting!!

Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.

1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.

2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.

3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)

4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.

5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.

We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.

While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.

Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
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puffermash
Puffer Fry
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Mar 01, 2006 12:02 am
Location: Singapore

Advice Needed On GSP

Post by puffermash »

Hi All,

I have been keeping two GSPs for about 3 years now.

Recently, one of them started developing white open wounds/ulcers all over his body. The wounds started on his back. At first I thought they were symptoms of hole-in-the-head disease, but I didn't medicate because I was not sure as the wounds were not localised on the head.

My poor puffer has not eaten for 2 weeks (and he used to be the greediest) and he just lies on the substrate panting. He still looks at me but when he tries to move, he seems unable to stay afloat very long and quickly sinks down to the bottom again.

I have since removed the carbon filters and dosed Melafix with the hope that if the medication doesn't help him, at least it wouldn't do him any further harm/injury.

My water parameters are: Amm 0, NO2 0, NO3 10, SG 1.010, pH 8, Alk 5dkH. I use marine salt.

I would appreciate any advice to help nurse my puffer back to health. Has anyone experienced similar symptoms on their GSPs?

Thanks in advance. :)
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Pufferpunk
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Post by Pufferpunk »

What size tank are they in? How large are they? I would think at their age, they are full grown? Probably should be in SW by now.

Obviously, some king of bacterial infection. Any new tank mates? I'd add Pimafix too. If those don't help soon, I'd QT & use something stronger.
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...

"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
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puffermash
Puffer Fry
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Mar 01, 2006 12:02 am
Location: Singapore

Post by puffermash »

Hi Pufferpunk,

Thanks for your quick response.

I'm afraid that they are still in their original tank - a very small 20L - when I got them 3 years ago they were half inch babies. They are now about 2" excluding the tails. I will be moving them to a much bigger tank soon (about 150L).

In view of their size, should I still keep them in SG1.010 or full SW?

Would Melafix/Primafix harm the other healthy puffer? There are no new tank mates. I have partitioned the tank to separate the two of them because last week, I saw the healthy one trying to bite the sick one. In fact, I half suspected those ulcers could be bite wounds.

Are bite wounds white?

When you said something stronger, which medication do you suggest?

Thanks very much for your valued advice!
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Pufferpunk
Queen Admin
Posts: 32979
Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
Gender: Female
My Puffers: Puffers I have kept:
T lineatus
T miurus
A modestus
T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
C lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles
Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
Location: Greenville, SC
Contact:
Contact Pufferpunk

Post by Pufferpunk »

Your puffers are severly stunted now, as they should be 6"! Stunting fish means their organs continue to grow, but their outsides are too small.

Read: http://www.thepufferforum.com/articles/ ... togsp.html
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...

"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
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puffermash
Puffer Fry
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Mar 01, 2006 12:02 am
Location: Singapore

Post by puffermash »

So would they grow if moved to a suitably sized tank? Or are they doomed now since they are stunted?
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lisalisa

Post by lisalisa »

They will never grow to full size, but you may see some growth upon upgrading. They will not live as long, or be as healthy as they should be. A larger tank should have been aquired long ago, but will certainly help now.
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