1. 7.5, 0, 0, ~10, 50%-70% PWC per week
2. Heavily planted 10g, 1 red eye puffer, 2 emerald rasboras, 2 otos, 3-5 pygmy cories, lots of snails
3. Prime, excel, PPS-pro fert regiment. Micro food for rasboras and cories, occasional small algae wafer. Frozen bloodworms for puffer, some daphnia. I also keep IALs in the tank.
4. No changes
5. Tank is 2 years old roughly, was cycled via seeded biomax
Hi all! I got a red eye puffer about a month ago and she has been doing great up until a few days ago. She used to come up to the surface when I was near to be fed and would actively chase down her little bloodworm meals. Recently however she seems to be lying near the bottom a lot and hardly moving. Her eyes still follow me but she refuses the bloodworms I dangle near her. Her stomach has always seemed a bit sunken (never rounded) so I am concerned she has internal parasites. I am new to puffers so what is the best thing to do in this situation? Am I right to guess she has IPs? What meds are recommended and how do I get her to consume it if she is not eating? Thanks all and let me know if you need more info!
Red eye puffer IPs?
Forum rules
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.
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.
-
RTR
- Mentor
- Posts: 6155
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 4:39 pm
- Gender: Male
- Location (country): East Coast, USA
Re: Red eye puffer IPs?
Don't you think that the tank is rather too small and seriously overstocked? Are you planning on re-homing some/many of those fish?
Where's the fish? - Neptune
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Stratters
- Green Spotted Puffer
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Re: Red eye puffer IPs?
ug.php/v/PufferPedia/Freshwater/borneensis/
Pig is in a 44g tank, your 10g is half the recommended minimum size. I should think she's incredibly stressed.
Pig is in a 44g tank, your 10g is half the recommended minimum size. I should think she's incredibly stressed.
Never trust big puffers. The fingers you save may be your own. RTR
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purplecandle
- Mbu Puffer
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Re: Red eye puffer IPs?
Any chance you can get a picture of the puffer and the tank?
Definitely sounds like she is going down hill. They tank is over stocked which is probably a factor.
Untill you figure out what is wrong, increase water changes to daily. When you do a water change does she perk up?
Definitely sounds like she is going down hill. They tank is over stocked which is probably a factor.
Untill you figure out what is wrong, increase water changes to daily. When you do a water change does she perk up?
Re: Red eye puffer IPs?
Thank you for the replies. I doubled checked -- there should be three pygmy cories in there. My apologies as well as I should have specified that this current situation is not a permanent home for my red eye (which I believe is a female Carinotetraodon irrubesco). I am moving in October and once settled will be setting up a 20g L or my spare 12g L for her, but until then her home will be the 10g. I would have taken the other fish in there out but they are extremely hard to catch because the tank is so heavily planted. Bioload-wise I do not think the tank is overstocked at all, but would the other fish simply being in there stress out the puffer? I am new to puffers but am aware that they typically belong in species tanks, but I always assumed that was more for the protection of the other fish. Please correct me if I'm wrong -- just trying my best to learn here.
@purplecandle I'll do another water change when I get home from work today (in about 6 hours), the last one I did (2 days ago) she did not perk up. I'll also get a pic.
@purplecandle I'll do another water change when I get home from work today (in about 6 hours), the last one I did (2 days ago) she did not perk up. I'll also get a pic.
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purplecandle
- Mbu Puffer
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1 Fangs Puffer
1 Baby Green Spotted Puffer - Location (country): USA (NC)
Re: Red eye puffer IPs?
The issue with Puffers and bioloads is that even the slightest bit off is really bad because they sort of "absorb" the bad stuff through thier skin. The don't have the protection of scales.
With
Thank goodness it is heavily planted, that is probably helping you a great deal.
Puffers have a very high mortality rate as it is...so any problem can cause death.
Her symptoms do sound a bit like IPs. And it's bad she won't eat. Have you tried soaking in garlic juice?
With
Thank goodness it is heavily planted, that is probably helping you a great deal.
Puffers have a very high mortality rate as it is...so any problem can cause death.
Her symptoms do sound a bit like IPs. And it's bad she won't eat. Have you tried soaking in garlic juice?
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Pufferpunk
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Re: Red eye puffer IPs?
IUf you suspect iPs, a pic would be helpful.
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!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
Re: Red eye puffer IPs?
Sorry, will be getting a pic when I get home from work later.Pufferpunk wrote:IUf you suspect iPs, a pic would be helpful.
I am confident in my water quality because of how heavily the tank is planted, the frequency and quantity of my PWCs, and the readings of my regular water tests (API master test kit). I haven't tried the garlic juice method yet. Pardon my ignorance but is the garlic juice something I can make myself with normal garlic or is it something that I buy? Thanks a ton everyone.
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purplecandle
- Mbu Puffer
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Re: Red eye puffer IPs?
I think Kent's make a brand you can buy at the pet store
But I just buy a glass jar of minced garlic from the dollar store. Basically it is the water that the garlic been soaking in.
But I just buy a glass jar of minced garlic from the dollar store. Basically it is the water that the garlic been soaking in.
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Pufferpunk
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T lineatus
T miurus
A modestus
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C coranata
C papuan
C lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Greenville, SC
- Contact:
Re: Red eye puffer IPs?
I just crush a clove with a spoon & soak it along with the meds & food.
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!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
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RTR
- Mentor
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- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 4:39 pm
- Gender: Male
- Location (country): East Coast, USA
Re: Red eye puffer IPs?
Water quality is only one factor. Stress from pre-existing established tankmates is quite another. I would have very few if any hopes of adapting a wild-caught puffer to life in captivity in that tank even if it were in my own care. The stresses are just too great to a wild-caught fish in such a set-up. Puffers are not goldfish or guppies, from now to October is about 5 months too long, effectively forever.. It the fish cannot be re-home immediately, I would recommend returning it. If the fish does have IPs, the chances are reduced even more. That is another stress factor to be overcome.
Where's the fish? - Neptune