The Puffer Forum

My god I'm so upset right now.

Maurice my little Figure 8 had been doing so well, the tank water was testing well. Completely clear for ammonia and nitrite using a liquid test kit. However the ammonia test kit ran out 3 days ago because I've been using it everyday I burned through it.

Anyway fast foward to now and I've been away for 5 days leaving him in the care of my partner who had been given instructions on how much to feed etc.

Anyway I got back last night, the first thing I noticed was this Brown hair like algae on everything. I wasn't too worried as I read previously that it's common in newly cycled tanks. But I did notice that Maurice was not not quite right, he didn't look as plump and seemed a little lethargic, maybe a little duller in colour than I remember. My boyfriend swears he's been fine but he obviously needs glasses.

Well this morning he was in the top corner of the tank with his tail curled up and obviously not right at all. I did a 50% water change immediately but whilst cleaning I noticed the filter was kinda stuck halfway between output settings (fluval u4) and didn't seem to be flowing well. I sorted it out and there is another filter on the roof of the tank too.

Unfortunately because I didn't have the test kit on hand I couldn't test for ammonia before the change. I've tested everything now and I AM showing somewhere between 0. 15 to 0.25 so at a guess it was probably at least at 0.5 before I did a water change.

Maurice has perked up a lot this evening but his skin has a slight pink hue, do you think he will survive this or is he done for?

Oh yes I've thrown another bottle of quick start in to try and help the bacteria build up and obviously I gave the sand a good vac and picked up any plant debris when I did the water change.

That should do it.

God I hope so, he's definitely got a pink tinge. Do you think I can save him?

Do you think this is an ammonia issue or could it be anything else?

any ammonia is too much, .25 is a lot and 0.5 is huge
the pink tinge may be irritated or burnt skin
hopefully his gills are not damaged (add an air stone or two for additional circulation & oxygenation)
if it were mine, I'd do regular major water changes with continuous monitoring of all parameters
as you probably figured by now, order new test kits well in advance of running out
these things always seem to happen at the wrong time (not that there's a right time)

I hope not, I'm really scared how much it went to while I was away. I'll do another 25% tomorrow

My other half said he did a 25% water change while I was away. God knows what happened but I have plenty of tests now

He's actually resting at the bottom now. I'm not going to feed him for a day or two to allow the bacteria time to catch up.

any time you have to do emergency water changes, if you don't have time to test the water immediately, set aside a sample of the tank water and test it right away after the water change is done
that way, you'll know where you were before the change

Thanks for that, I will do in future.

Still looking lethargic but no worse. I'm not feeding today to keep ammonia down, tested this morning and it looks to be at 0 but I'm doing another 25% anyway.

I'm beginning to think my other half did something wrong as he's evasive when I'm questioning but I'm not going to push it, could just be a fluke of a newly cycled tank not worth starting world war 3 over lol.

Has anyone experienced this before, is there any hope for him. I'm scared he will die a slow death from having his insides burnt out

Just had another good look at him. The pinkness has gone but his skin appears bobbly for want of a better word, it's not as smooth as it should be. He is still lethargic and no longer comes to me when I go near the glass, in fact he seems scared and swims away if I put my hands near.

Do you have plenty of decor in there? Have you tested nitrite?

There's 2 rocks, a small bogwood and lots of plants. Nitrite is at 0