The Puffer Forum

Okay, I am out of town. My puffers are in a tempt. tank. 20 Gal. salt level is at .014 regularly. I use filtered water by reverse osmosis. so the water is already stable.

Noticed my Figure 8 this morning...sort of floating belly up. I grabbed him using a net, he didn't resist. He let me grab him & transfered him to a water bucket with clean water, no salt. Figure 8 continued to stay at the bottom of the bucket, sometimes seemed to stop breathing.

Took out the rest of the puffers. 3...(crowded tank while on trip, i know....:s) & did a 90% water change & cleaned out filter, and set salt level back to .014.
Let the water run through the filter for some hours before putting puffers back in tank.

Figure 8, will bump into stuff. seems like he cant swim correctly. sort of floats more than swim. his back is really dark. i noticed that his top fin seems a bit white, and the rest dont....could it be some sort of fin rot or fungal????
The rest of the puffers seem fine.

SOMEONE HELP, PREGNANT WOMAN HERE WITH DYING FIGURE 8. I am panicking.

We need water params to help you effectively. Sounds like some sort of poisoning. Could be ammonia.1.014 for sg? 1.005 is recommended max

How long have they been crammed in there?

How long has the tank been set up for?
Was it cycled?
Reverse Osmosis water needs to be re-mineralised.

Drop SG slowly if your tank is cycled but if it isn't then drop it immediately because you have no nitrifying bacteria to kill off and carry out large water changes daily.

Could it just be an ingested air bubble?

Taking fish directly from 1.014 directly to 1.000 can easily be fatal.

Without some water reading on pH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate, it is impossible to even guess well.