The Puffer Forum

I had a small GSP, under 2inches, in a 30 gallon aquarium. He was in brackish water, at about 1.009. Water parameters were fine. 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, nitrates about 20 or under. I had him for a couple years with no problems. Over the past few weeks, the snails I fed him were small ramshorn snails from another 20 gallon aquarium with tropical fish. Prior to this, I had fed him snails from a small snail tank but I didn't have much luck getting those snails to reproduce enough. SO, I put a snail in the aquarium with fish, and of course the snail breeding took off in that aquarium. I noticed that the puffer began to have a concave belly and I suspected IPs. He died shortly after I tried to treat the tank with API general cure for parasites. My questions are:

Can snails transmit parasites to the puffer? Is there a difference if the snails are kept with fish versus a snail only breeding tank?

How long can parasites survive in an aquarium with no fish or snails?

I want to get another puffer- preferably a figure 8, but I don't want to put him in the aquarium if parasites can survive in the water column. any suggestions on how to move forward?
Thanks

Snails in and on their own cannot transmit vertebrate (including fish) parasites to fish or other vertebrates. They do not have the physiology to support vertebrate parasites.

BUT, snails in tanks with parasitized fish may passively transport the infectious stages of parasites in the water on and around them. This is why we do not suggest rearing feeder snails with fish unless you are certain that the fish involved are really in perfect health. If there has been a release of the infectious stage of fish parasites into the water, those infectious stage creatures can be transported passively in the water on and around the snail.

There is no reason why a tank with fish needs to be used for breeding and rearing snails. Given the same level of equipment and care, the snail-only tank should be equal or better for snail breeding and rearing than is a tank already occupies by fish. Fish tanks can easily be chronically infested with parasitic or infectious organisms. Chronic or "silent" Ich infections are quite common in hobby (and LHS) tanks. Gut and somatic parasites can be harder to detect and difficult to impossible to treat - somatic parasites are extremely difficult to control, as killing them may also kill the host fish (generally depending on the heaviness of the infection). Intestinal parasites are a bit easier to control than somatic ones.

HTH, ask again if this is not clear.

The tank with fish seems healthy and I've had no illnesses or fish deaths, but I realize that there could be parasites not visible to the eye. So perhaps something's going on in that tank that I can't see. I'm assuming the GSP's illness was connected to the snails fed from the aquarium because prior to doing that, I had no issues with him. I want to make sure I'm clear though. I still have the snail tank and can begin using it again but I have the issue of having snails in my aquarium with fish. Can I move those snails into the snail tank and quarantine them before feeding to another puffer or should I just treat the tank with fish to get rid of those snails?

Is my puffer tank (now empty) safe to have another puffer? It's been a couple days since the GSP died, and I've tried to keep the bacteria alive in my filter by adding some food to the tank. Not sure if that will work for a little while. I want to get a figure 8 but I want to make sure I take whatever preventative measures are needed so he isn't infested from the aquarium if that's possible. I do have API General Cure for parasites on hand and I could treat the water or a new puffer as a preventative if that's an option. Thanks.

Snails kept in a snail-only tank for 4 or more weeks should be free of any live vertebrate parasites. You cannot use the same tools (hoses, sponges, scrapers, nets, etc.) on the potentially infected tank and the snail breeding tank or the GSP tank. Tools can transmit infective stage parasites.

The GSP tank should be kept fish-free a minimum of 3 weeks, 4 would be better. You can feed the tank as if it had live fish in it. You can keep sp,e snails in it as well to help dispose of the food and produce ammonia and nitrite to keep the biofilter alive. Prepared fish foods can be used(dry, flake or pellet, etc., crushed tablets, etc.) can be used to generate the nutrients the filter needs to stay alive. Do water changes and routine tank upkeep as if the tank were inhabited. The feeding should give you detectable nitrate titers by liquid test kits.

Potentially pathogenic bacteria may not be cleared by this technique. If fish TB or HLLE (head and lateral line erosion) or certain other infectious diseases are present, they may survive longer, but those do not seem to be the issue.

HTH