The Puffer Forum

Hi puffer forum! I'm new here, my name is Sean.

I bought a 1.5 inch Fahaka from my LFS last week. I know the puffer I got was wild caught so when I brought him back, I plopped him in my quarantine tank. The tank mates back at the stall seemed a little sick too so I was expecting him to be infected with some disease or parasites.
For the first few days, he was buzzing around happily, he even chase and devoured a shrimp in that tank. But the next day, he stopped swimming and started to show stress lines, he became really lethargic and his poop was slimy and white too. So I treated him for IPs and even added some prazi in case there might be some flukes or skin parasites. I used two meds(both from a brand called EIHO)- PraziGold and WormEX. I also added some blue ick medicine because I spotted some white spots.

He's currently in a really tiny tank, only about 6inches long with a bubbler in there.(Although I have a 50gal tank ready, I thought treating a smaller tank would be much easier then I'll move him over once he's better) I have been doing a water change every 2 days for the past week. So the water conditions are fine.
It's currently my 8th day with him and I'm wondering if I'm using too many different medicines? I'm just worried I'm doing more harm than good by stressing him out with all the meds. He also seems to be really slimy right now some white thing seems to be stuck/coming off his body and fins. And he still seems to be pretty lethargic. Please give me some advice! I really want to see him through this quarantine stage. The last puffer I kept was a green spotted that survived the quarantine and lived a good 2 years with me before committing suicide by jumping out of the tank. I hope this guy will live a longer and healthy life

Tossing in a bunch of meds is extremely dangerous to a puffer--especially ich meds, because they are scaleless. Please DO post ALL your water parameters please?

Pp is right- parameters are big, include GH and KH please.

Sounds to me like he has IPs and is shedding his slime coat. With all internal issues, it must be treated from within, and it sounds like you’re treating the water (which FW fish don’t ingest or drink their water like salt fish do) and that will only help external parasites. Can you post pictures as well please (need to use photobucket etc to host).

Also- please do a 50% water change now. Then another in a few hours and get those meds out of the water ASAP

Hi, thank you so much for replying so quickly!

I'm just wondering, should I do a full water change right now? There seems to be a lot of slime stuck on the airstone. There also seems to be a thick layer of foam. If I actually do a water change do, I add any meds at all?

Here are the water parameters:
GH: 30 ppm
KH: 0 ppm
PH: 6.0 (I'm not sure why the pH is so low, could it be all the meds?)
Nitrates and Nitrites: 0 ppm
I don't use photobucket so I uploaded the pictures to my flickr account here's the link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/161348744 ... ed-friend/

Sorry I didn't read your message properly, I just did a 50% water change. Should I add the ick medicine or any medicine at all for now?

I would only treat for IPs:
library/hospital/internal-parasites-pre ... treatment/

Add fresh carbon to the filter to remove the rest of the meds. Add 1 TBSP salt/10g to help with the skin issues. You can continue doing 50% WC daily, until the pH matches your tap.

Hi, yesterday when I checked on Louis, he was doing a lot better ever since doing the big water change. But I dosed his tank again (half the regular dosage this time) because he seems to down with ick. I also fed him some snails that I soaked in IP meds. But other than that, he still seems to be pretty lethargic. His poop is still white, although not stringy and slimy anymore. You think there're still IPS?
Thank you for all your help, I'll monitor him and see if his condition improves.

It's the ich meds that are hurting him. Heat/salt method should work.viewtopic.php?f=3&t=28113
Another big WC, adding carbon please!

UPDATE: It's been a few weeks into his quarantine and Louis' condition has definitely improved. ALL HIS ICK IS GONE. The salt method really worked thanks!! Adding the Melafix seemed to help too.

He's eating a lot more(has nice round belly), the stress lines are gone and his tail is big and flashy. His poop isn't white and as slimy as before, it's now dark but still seems a bit stringy(more of sticky). I read online that sticky and small amounts of poop could be constipation, so I plan to get him some Epsom salt tomorrow. He has mood swings and seem really lethargic sometimes. I think it's what's left of parasites that are still in him so I'm gonna continue medicating all of his food with parasite meds for the next week or so before I put him in the 50 gallon.

He also has this really odd habit though, and it worries me, it looks like he's coughing or gulping in water or something and his whole body will curl, almost like he's trying to force something out of his body. Any idea why he's doing that????

But other than that, he's doing much better. Thank you again for all your help!!

Glad he's doing better! What are the water parameters?

GH: 60
KH: 80
PH: 7.0
NO2: 0
NO3: 10

He's already grown an inch!