The Puffer Forum

Hey,

I just picked up a fahaka puffer from the LFS on Thursday. He is about 2-3 inches. He was in a tank with about seven others like him. He was the most active and had no marks or scratches or visible diseases on him. I took him home and put it in a tank and I've feed him and he is still very active most of the time. However,I have some concernes. First I have noticed the next hay that he has very very small spots on his fins (I'm almost certain its ich). Second, yesterday I looked in the tank in the morning and there is now a small white mark on his back (looks like a scratch or ich but it grew to quick to be ich (sure it wasn't there when I bought it. Finally, today I looked in the tank in the morning and now most of his back and head seem to be covered in a greyish/transparent film. He's still moving around and eating but Im scared he's in very big trouble here. I just checked him again and now that the light has been on for a while and he ate some food he appears to be almost back to his original colour again and the spot on his back is gone (changed in the last hour or so) so confused . (do puffers go greyish and fade colour when they sleep.

for short:
-most common diseases
-colour variation in sleep
- ich remedy
- any other thoughts comments on the conditions that I have sescribed

Thanks

Please read the 1st sticky in this forum & answer all the questions, so we can help in diagnosis.

Okay, so I dont have the particulars of the water conditions right now, cause I'm at work so I'll get them up tomorrow afternoon once I'm off. Other than that, I've been doing weekly water changes in the tank 55 gallon he's in for now, at 1/3- to 1/2. Last change was last Sunday (again I'll have to do one in the morning cause new job has me at work at night). I had a rhom (black piranha) in the tank about a week and a half ago and my little bro accidently nocked the temperature up to high and killed him, so I did a 3/4 tank change and added some random assorted community fish (4 painted tetras, 4 bata sharks, and 5 commets). They have all been in the tank for about a week before I added the puffer. (they are all healthy and no diseases that I can see). As, far as cycling I'm not sure but I think the tank is cycled cause of the fish that have been in there for the past two weeks and the piranha before that. (not %100 sure about the cycling process.) Temp is about 76-78 degrees.

Forgot, about the colour variation does anyone know the answer (see above).

P.S. every time I try to log on the forum it says my password is invalid and I have to reset it, anyone else getting this problem. Thanks

Another torontonian? Welcome!

Puffers do exhibit "sleep colouration" when sleeping, just waking up, or stressed. But this "greyish film" you've described sounds a little alarming. While you're testing those parameters, any chance you can snap a pic?

Please see the thread "Treating Puffers with Ich", it's stickied to the top of this forum.

How long did you have the pirhana?

Thanks. Yeah, I'll get some pics of him posted tomorrow. The greyish firm scares me too cause I've seen it once before on a big dwarf tiger pleco I had a few years ago (who had ich and ended up dying within a few days of having the same symptoms; I didn't know what ich was at the time so I didnt treat it) Just don't know if it's something I can't see.

I had the piranha for two and a half years, he was about 6 inches when he died (turning dark and had dark cherry red eyes).

Okay, new info. The ph is 7.2, the nitrates 10, nitrite 0, amonia 0, temp now 80-82, there is also 1 teaspoon of salt for every 5 gallons gust added, and did a half water change yesterday. Here are the pics of him, its hard to see the very small specs on his fins but one pic shows two distinve white spots, the other two show the grey discolouration accross his back and head (wasn't originall there when bought from store or not that apparent anyway).

I dunno, he doesn't look nearl as bad as you described. Maybe he's a little thin. His coloration is mottled, due to being in a new environment or sleeping, like you guessed. He's got a few bite marks on him but those heal quickly enough. What are you feeding him?

Hey, yeah like I said (may have accidently been in another post) anyways, was saying; the film more or less disappeared the other night and now he more or less is just discoloured. The pics don't show the spots on the fins that I think are the begining of ich.

You said you think those might be bite marks (I wasn't sure) cause they wern't there originally, but they may have shown up do to his new discolouration. I've been feeding him brine shrimp so far.

Read the info on GSPs in the Library, for better ideas on food. You might as well be feeding him water, cause brine shrimp is 98% that--not nutricious at all.

k thanks, thats what the guy at the LFS said to feed them when they are small as their main staple food. Do you think this can be part of the cause for his discolouration/lack of good nutrients?

Not really. Many puffers will change coloration/hue at any time. Maybe he doesn't like that bright blue gravel... Definately needs a much better diet though.

Give him time to settle in - Fahaka's in particular 'sulk', this can last for days.Try to get him feeding on something more nutriciuos as PP has said.
Those marks do look like bite marks and depending on your lighting v the LFS lighting these can be seen obviously or not at all.Also as you say his colouration will also effect the clarity of them.

I have some new developments after taking some of the suggestions on the site. I've had the salt in the tank for three days now and have just done a second water change 1/3 (second in four days). Also, I fed dim some clam last night and some trout today (he eats everything, very happy about that) Finally I took out some of the decor in the tank, so it's less crowded (almost open for now and I'll try to reintroduce some things once he gets used to his new tank). Here are some pics from this morning. He is swimming around madly and his colours are very much more visible now, now he can start getting nice and fat.

Yep, he's looking okay, but really skinny. See if you can fatten him up! If he doesn't fatten up in a few weeks or stops eating, you'll want to treat for internal parasites.