The Puffer Forum

I bought 2 F8 puffers 2 weeks ago and they have been awesome, until today. I noticed one of them almost seems paralyzed on one side. The fin is clamped shut and the gill doesn't move. It seems 'ok' otherwise, still eating and such, a little less active, and resting on the bottom. He seems to purposely bump into things with the affected side as if to try and get it working.

20 gallon Tank has been running for about 8 weeks, Nitrites 0, nitrates 10, ammonia (~2ppm, I can't seem to get this to come down for some reason...which I am sure is not helping the situation)

I decided to feed them as I was typing this and when I did the puffer went about feeding like nothing was wrong fin and gill working fine, and then went back to sulking at the bottom when the food was gone. The other puffer is quite aggressive towards this puffer.

Any ideas would be great.

Thanks

Crystal

Please answer ALL the Qs above, in red.

Darkjade wrote:The other puffer is quite aggressive towards this puffer.

I suspect bullying could possibly be a cause, does the puffer appear injured in any way besides its behavior? (nipped fins or bite marks)

Sorry for some reason I couldn't see all the stuff in red when I posted and I just posted what I could remember


1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). pH - 6.8, Ammonia 2+ (have been doing daily water changes and it shoots back up every time) Nitrite- 0, Nitrate 10
2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. tank is 20 gallons, no other inhabitants

3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products, feed usually 2 times a day, blood worms. All food is eaten within 1 min. I have been feeding a little more frequently to give the 'sick' fish more opportunities to eat. I have been doing daily water changes of 40-50% to try and deal with the ammonia. I have been adding salt with no success on getting a reading on the hydrometer, and a product to remove chlorine after the water changes

4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. I used to have snails in the tank, but I have since removed them to see if something with them was causing issues.

5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? It's been set up for about 8 weeks, it was cycled with snails for about 5 weeks.

As of right now the puffer is hanging out on the bottom of the tank. Just lays on the rocks on the bottom. His color is better since the water change today, but he's now not eating. I am very worried he's going to pass tonight

And no all the fins seem to be intact and there are no injuries on him.

just dropped some shrimp in and he went to town! My puffers look extremely pregnant lol. That at least makes me feel better though, about the one that is lethargic.

About 30 mins after feeding, the 'sick' puffer proceeded to throw up ... what is going on with my poor puffer

Ammonia of 2 is extremely deadly: library/water-filtration/emergencycycle/

What's the ammonia reading in your tap water?

The fact that he improves with a WC, means your water is not right in the tank. Please consider what I posted.

Thanks for your post Pufferpunk! I read through it all and will see what I can do!

Flutter - The ammonia in my tap water is about 1ppm.. I just did a water change and tested it again and it's between .50 and 1... which is the lowest I've seen it in a while!

So far the puffer is still alive and eating shrimp but is still rather lethargic so I think I will skip the WC tomorrow, in case I am stressing him out with that. Unless ammonia gets bad again.

Does water hardness affect puffers at all? My tap water is soft but in the tank the water is hard.

Thank you for the input

In your case, you may have to use ammonia-removers for your system. Double dose with Prime. and for heck's sake, make a complaint to your water company about their toxic drinking water!

I know it's gross right!!

I had a tank set up for 3 years then fish just died one after the other. Not sure what happened there, but either way the water didn't seem to negatively affect that tank ammonia wise.

Thanks again

Thats pretty scary if your fish tank water is cleaner than your tap.

In the past it has been! (right now I am having ammonia issues..) I have a picture somewhere that I took comparing the two, it was awful!

Little puffer is still hanging on. Still lethargic though.. I also noticed that my pH is tanking.. Which I am sure is why this little guy is doing so bad. My tank is becoming more acidic and I don't know what to do.. any ideas?

What substrate are you using? Generally, aragonite sand, crushed coral, crushed shells, etc are recommended for puffers that like hard water because they make the water more basic. For those fish, you need an ammonia remover for the water, or to find a water source such as RO or RO/DI water, from your lfs. I used to get my water from my lfs and walmart - RO drinking water, until I got prime.