The Puffer Forum

Hi everybody this is a bit of a convoluded and long story. Getting puffers that are not marine is pretty difficult and the gsp's and f8s that you do get are usually not in the best shape. I adopted 4 gsps from a friend and they are in a 5ft very fat and happy with no nipped fin in sight,oh and 3 mollies, 2 of which are pregnant. I've had them together for 6 months.

Had a separate 4ft in which I planned to keep my f8s, within a week 3 of the 4 f8s had died. The remaining one wouldn't eat and was skittish, for some unkown and very stupid reason I added the f8 to the gsp tank. He became more relaxed and started eating like a proper puff and often even the first one to come and greet me. They have been together for just over 2 months but I can't get weight on him. I give all my fish medicated food specifically for parasites once a week.
I've started leaving food in for a day for them to continually munch on, my gsps have started becoming obese but still nothing on the f8. He eats until he gets a nice bulge in his tummy but within a few hours it's gone and he looks emaciated with a curved spine and dented tummy.

The water parameters are all within norms and the SG is 1.010

He's about 6cm, 3rd largest in the tank, not being bullied at all.

I will try to upload a picture of him as soon as I can.

Foods being fed:
Bloodworms
Krill Superba
Live snails
Store bought snails
Lobster eggs
Daphnia
Mussels
Prawns
Shrimp
Lancefish
And a ocean nutrition mix

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I would do another anti parasitic treament making sure the the f8 gets some. Have you noticed any white stringy feces from the f8?

Welch4 wrote:I would do another anti parasitic treament making sure the the f8 gets some. Have you noticed any white stringy feces from the f8?

Agreed.... I would re-treat for a IP. Maybe try to soak the food in Prazi?

Agreed with the above posts.

I've been using metro, what other meds are safe to use for internal parasites?

I use Prazi (praziquantel). I believe this is what a lot if not a majority of the other members use as well.

Then I will buy some today thanks

Do not follow the instructions on the bottle. Dosing the water and concentrated baths wil not do much if anything at all for ips. Soak some food that your f8 loves in it and try to make sure he gets some in. I would reccomend dosing for 3 days or so. ( someone may correct me on the dosage timeframe) Due to you not mentioning and lumpy stomache after his food buldge goes down you should not be concered with a large ip die off senario.

The ONLY food your fish should be eating for 3-5 days is medicated food. Treating 1x/week, would possibly make the parasite immune.