The Puffer Forum

water params:
amonia o
no2 0
no3 30
sg 1.008
tankmates: none
tanksize: 30 g
50% weekly wc
he eats bloodworms and babyshrimp (i tried to feed him snails but he wouldnt eat them)

i addedmy gsp 2 weeks ago
its been set up and cycled for about a year with diferent fish
Ok i got my puffer and he was a bit skiny, i was afraaid that he wasnt eating in the store so i asked the shopkeeper to feed hem, she poord in some blood worms and he ate them all up and got fat. when he was in my tank his belly turnd gray aroung the edges wich i assumed was from the moving stress, it never went away last night i relized he had ip's i ran to walmart and got some jungle fiz tabs and soakedsome babyshrimp in them overnight i just put them in his tank and he refuses to eat them or his normal food without the medicin, hes alot worse now he swims slugishly around then darts whem he hits somthing but most of the time he's on the botom or in the plants. should i treat the water? the fizz tabs say there for freshwater is that the problem? what should i do??????

Add crushed garlic to the food whilst soaking, also try earthworms

What's the temperature?

Get the nitrate down <20.

Get the nitrate down <20.

ill try the garlic and worms but hes geting alot worse im afraid hes not going to make it also my tap is 20 no3 how do i get it below that?

CoCoPuffs wrote:What's the temperature?

its 80 degres farinhight because i just treated for ick

Bring the temp down a little gradually and add an extra airsone or more surface agitation

the best thing you can do right now to try and get him to eat was mentioned. try the garlic soaking in with the food, or an earthworm injected with the fizz tab solution. or maybe try a combo of both so that he doesnt associate the worm with tasting bad. if he seems to be blind or having trouble seeing i think thats a sign of nitrate poisoning. since you dont have an extremely big tank, i would call around to pet shops and see if they sell "ro/di water" to do some changes with that. thats really high coming out of the tap. also make sure you shake the bottles for nitrate, that is the biggest pain of a test to do out of the main liquids. i always tested it two or three times each time to make sure i shook them enough

its not just the medicated food he's not eating its all food!he stoped swiming all together now and is lying at the bottom . the no3 mesurment is probubly not the most acurate i use test strips, i know i need liquid tsting but right now i dont have the money shoud i try just soaking in garlic so i can get him to eat? again should i add the meds to the tank? the box sais its for fw is that a problem for bw?

yes i would add the meds to the tank, that way its not just the food that smells or tastes funny. and yes i would soak in garlic to entice him to eat. hopefully he will take it! im not sure on the SG thing and the fizz tabs, i would assume they would be ok since your at such a low SG still. fresh water liquid tests are used until you hit around 1.010 i think

Plenty of garlic soaking, fresh crushed garlic if you have it. Stick with their favourite food for now

ok, i will now get some bloodworms half soaked plain in garliic other half in meds anymore input on wether i should treat te tank?

he canot swim, nevermind eat he is curently floating at the top of the tank going thu perioids of rapid breath to perioids of slow breath, he doesnt even look when i put in his favorite food heavily soaked in garlic without the meds. It doesnt look like hell survive the night but im going to treat the tank now juust to give it a last try. any other advice?

Idk.....if a water change would help.....sounds dire.