The Puffer Forum

Aloha everyone! Brand new to this forum and am looking forward to learning from everyone here. I've been attempting to raise a couple fahaka puffers from juvenile stage but have been unsuccessful. First fish was about 2 inches and i had it for a couple of months in a 20 gallon aquarium. Diet consisted of shrimp, small crayfish, bloodworms, and krill. 25% water changes were done weekly. One day i came home and the fish appeared very ill. Immediately did a 25% water change but by the next morning it had passed away.

Second fish I've had for 3 months. Started in the small tank for 2 months then transferred to my 125 gallon for the past month. The tank had been cycled for about a month prior to placing the fish in. I use a cascade 1500 filter in addition to a uv sterilizer. This fish's diet was the same as the last, water changes were the same as the last, and I also treated this one with melafix and pimafix prior to placing in the larger tank. He had 5 clown loach tank mates in the large tank as well. The night before his death I did a 50% water change as I had scraped some algae that made the water filthy. I also cleaned the cascade filter that same evening. The next day the fish appeared ill and passed away the following day.

Any tips and/or advice on what I should or should not be doing will greatly be appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Welcome to the forum! Could you post some info on your water parameters? Such as ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, ph, water hardness, salinity etc. That will help us get a better idea of your tank!

One thing I always do when getting a new puff is treat them for internal parasites, even if the FS says they're clear. I always assume the puffs have them and treat them right away. I'm not sure Pimafix or Melafix is enough - I use a heavy duty de-wormer that seems to do the trick. I had a bad experience with DPs once - the FS said they were all parasite free and healthy - three weeks later they all died from IPs. So it always helps to be extra cautious! Hope that helps!

LadyHawk wrote: ↑Wed May 31, 2017 11:47 am Welcome to the forum! Could you post some info on your water parameters? Such as ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, ph, water hardness, salinity etc. That will help us get a better idea of your tank!

One thing I always do when getting a new puff is treat them for internal parasites, even if the FS says they're clear. I always assume the puffs have them and treat them right away. I'm not sure Pimafix or Melafix is enough - I use a heavy duty de-wormer that seems to do the trick. I had a bad experience with DPs once - the FS said they were all parasite free and healthy - three weeks later they all died from IPs. So it always helps to be extra cautious! Hope that helps!

I actually have no idea what the parameters were just prior to or right after the last water change. I just assumed all was well as the fish was growing and seemed full of energy. At what intervals do you recommend testing the water? Any recommendations for a specific type of parasite treatment? Thanks for your help.

I'm sorry that this reply is coming through so late. Still trying to learn how to post I guess as I had written something earlier but it's nowhere to be found.

Anyways, I'm not sure what my water parameters were just prior to and right after the last water change. I assumed everything was fine because the fish was very active, growing, and feeding. How often and at what intervals do you auggest I do water testing?

Any suggestions as to what product to use for the parasite treatment? Thank you for getting back to me.

I usually do water testing when I get a new fish, before a water change, or when anything seems even remotely off - my first go-to is water testing! The majority of the time there is an issue in one of my tanks, it's a water issue. Also we have ammonia in our tap water that I didn't know was there until I had lost fish from it - water changes weren't helping because I was just adding new ammonia. SeaChem Prime works fantastically! For the dewormer, I use levamisole - it's a livestock dewormer that works really well. I had a breakout of camalanus worms in my tanks (those are really really nasty buggers) and the treatment was easy and incredibly effective. I treat all my new incoming fish in a hospital tank for a month before I add them to the main tank. Hope that helps!

LadyHawk wrote: ↑Fri Jun 02, 2017 9:18 am I usually do water testing when I get a new fish, before a water change, or when anything seems even remotely off - my first go-to is water testing! The majority of the time there is an issue in one of my tanks, it's a water issue. Also we have ammonia in our tap water that I didn't know was there until I had lost fish from it - water changes weren't helping because I was just adding new ammonia. SeaChem Prime works fantastically! For the dewormer, I use levamisole - it's a livestock dewormer that works really well. I had a breakout of camalanus worms in my tanks (those are really really nasty buggers) and the treatment was easy and incredibly effective. I treat all my new incoming fish in a hospital tank for a month before I add them to the main tank. Hope that helps!

Thanks so much for your advice. Still in search of another fish. Will definitely be more disciplined with my water testing and will look into the dewormer you mentioned. Appreciate the advice!