Help with diagnosing and treating my spotted Congo!

Oh no! Sick fish?! Come here and see if someone can help!
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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.
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Coleslaw13
Puffer Fry
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue May 31, 2022 10:55 am
Location (country): United States

Help with diagnosing and treating my spotted Congo!

Post by Coleslaw13 »

Hi, I received my first spotted Congo puffer 1 week ago from a reputable source and know that it has been treated for parasites. I have personally spoken with the seller over the phone who has experience with many different puffers and I trust the quality of his fish. I’m not sure of the exact protocol to deworm the wild caught puffers he receives, so I can’t give details on that. The fish arrived in decent conditions and has had a consistent appetite for live snails and frozen bloodworms from day 1, with small feedings 2-3 times each day. It is still eating normally. It had slightly clouded eyes when I got it and the cloudiness has not gone away over the course of 6 days now. He is in a 75 gallon planted aquarium with about 20 shrimp and 6 Corys. The puffer has left all other inhabitants alone.
My Ph is about 7-7.2, ammonia is 0, nitrites 0, nitrate is about 3ppm, temp is 78 Fahrenheit, and GH is 5. I have been checking parameters daily and these have been consistent. I did a 30% water change for the first time since I got the fish and this fish is the only new addition. Tank has been up for about 6 weeks. Fishless cycled with turbostart and ammonia in about 10 days. Corys were added after that and have been doing great. I have been dosing 5ml 2hraquarist complete liquid fert daily, and have added stressguard for the first three days after adding him.

Pic - https://share.icloud.com/photos/0cdW-nI ... v2ZnB3A3bA
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Pufferpunk
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Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
Gender: Female
My Puffers: Filbert, the 12" T lineatus
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Mongo, the 4" A modestus
2 T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
Also kept:
lorteti
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Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
Location: Chicago
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Re: Help with diagnosing and treating my spotted Congo!

Post by Pufferpunk »

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!"
Coleslaw13
Puffer Fry
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue May 31, 2022 10:55 am
Location (country): United States

Re: Help with diagnosing and treating my spotted Congo!

Post by Coleslaw13 »

Well his tail fin is almost always clamped like in the picture and he's not very active when he isn't eating. This is really the first SCP that Ive had, so I just wanted to make sure. I don't want my fish to suffer for my ignorance. In case he does have an internal parasites and to error on the safe side, I started treating his morning meal of freeze dried krill with metroplex (metronidazole) and seachem focus to bind it. No real issues with eating and is not wasting away, but still keeps his tail clamped and both eyes are partially cloudy. He does have the blackened striping across his back most of the time, which is an indicator of stress. Ive been doing partial water changes every three days as well, just in case there is something harmful that Im not detecting. He hasnt gotten any worse, but not much better either.
User avatar
Pufferpunk
Queen Admin
Posts: 32755
Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
Gender: Female
My Puffers: Filbert, the 12" T lineatus
Punkster, the 4" red T miurus
Mongo, the 4" A modestus
2 T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
Also kept:
lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles
Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
Location: Chicago
Contact:

Re: Help with diagnosing and treating my spotted Congo!

Post by Pufferpunk »

Is it possible hes being bullied by any other fish?
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!"
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