Sick 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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Wendal
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Sick gsp

Post by Wendal »

Hi all
I'm worried about my 5 inch gsp
He use to be non stop swimming around the tank and eating everything he can
But in the last few days he has just been sat at the bottom of tank
Just swimming every now and then
He is eating but not much
His belly is still white and no dark patching anywhere
Done all the water checks and all fine
All the others gsp are as normal
Have checked them over for any sign of nipping and all are good
Help any ideas
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bertie 83
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Re: Sick gsp

Post by bertie 83 »

This needs to be moved to the hospital section and all q's in red answered.
It's amazing how easy maintenance is. If done regularly and thoroughly
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puffykid
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Re: Sick gsp

Post by puffykid »

Hello, sorry your gsp isn't feeling great. Hopefully we can help you solve the problem in pretty short amount of time. I noticed that you said that your parameters were fine and didn't give any numbers, Its not that I don't believe you and its not that I'm calling you a novice but exact numbers or even a picture would be very helpful towards helping your puffer. For posting a picture host it on imageshack.com or a similar site and then post the direct link in this topic. Idea tank parameters would be Ammonia - 0 Nitrite - 0 Nitrates - under 20

What is your water change schedule like? I notice that you said that the tank is still brackish, this means that you need a minimum of a 50% wc weekly, especially since you have multiple puffers inside 1 tank. Puffers put out a much higher bioload then comparable sized fish, this is partially their eating habits and also they just make a lot of waste. The way you described your gsp makes it sound like your nitrates may be high. As high nitrates often cause puffers to sit on the substrate and not be as hungry as normal.
1 M. Turgidus - 29 gallon
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Pufferpunk
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Re: Sick gsp

Post by Pufferpunk »

Please answer ALL the Qs above in RED.
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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