Hi, I’m in dire need of advice on my Fahaka Pufferfish. She’s been very lethargic, breathing rapidly and not eating for the past 3 days which seemed to be a sudden change over night. She is usually a very active puffer chasing me every time I walk into the room and has a great appetite. I used Prazipro when I first got her about 2 months ago to deworm. And haven’t noticed any signs of IP since I’ve brought her home. She’s spent her last few days lying around hiding between plants, only to come out occasionally for a few minutes. I did a 50% water change the last 2 days and added a dose of Prazipro to make sure it wasn’t IP. Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!
PH: 7.6
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: <5
She is currently in a 75 gallon with a plan to move her into my 180 once it’s finished cycling. She’s currently 3.5 inches and has 5 hillstream loaches in the tank with her.
She gets a 20%-50% water change weekly. Her diet consists of beef heart, shrimp and blood worms (she won’t eat anything but that). The tank has been cycling for about 8 months and the only medication used so far is the Prazipro (yesterday). I also added a second aeration stone since she is breathing heavily. No changes have been made to the tank besides the brand of blood worms used to feed and filling the co2 tank.
Lethargic Fahaka Puffer!
Forum rules
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.
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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Re: Lethargic Fahaka Puffer!
![[welcome]](./images/smilies/welcome.gif "welcome")
How large is she? She should be eating crunchier foods. FW fish do not drink water, so it is a waste to add Prazi to the water column. It must be in their food. Please don't medicate without symptoms.
"The tank has been cycling for about 8 months" I assume you meant it's BEEN cycled for 8 months?
To instantly cycle the 180, just move all media, decor, substrate as you can to the 180.
https://www.pufferfishenthusiastsworldw ... care-sheet
library/feeding/feeding-your-puffers/
library/feeding/problems-feeding-your-puffer/
library/water-filtration/emergencycycle/
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!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"