The Puffer Forum

I have three small F8s, at about a half inch each. I got the first one about two months ago. It's been doing fine, although I did buy another at the same time, and it died as soon as I was done acclimatizing it and put both the puffs into the tank.

A few weeks later, I got two more F8s, and all three have been doing well in a 45 gallon tank with four BB gobies.

The SG is 1.006 (premixed at water changes), ph is a steady 8, ammo/nitrites zero, and nitrates never over 5. I do 30% water changes weekly, but every once in a while I change closer to 50%. (When they get bigger, 50% will be the minimum standard.) The tank was cycled with mollies for at least six weeks before the first puffer was added, about two months ago.

I usually feed these puffs once daily - predominantly bloodworms with metronidazole mixed in, plus frozen krill, and sometimes grocery food items I got for my suvattii (snails when they get a bit bigger). I often medicate the water with MelaFix and PimaFix after water changes, since the two newer puffs looked a bit off for a while.

(I use half the recommended dosage for all medications for my puffers.)

In the last week, I noticed that one of the newer F8s is constantly emaciated. My guess is internal parasites, though they took at least a month to show up, and the other two puffers are doing fine. Anti-parasite medication has also been administered in their food for over a month, so I'm not sure what to make of this.

I haven't noticed any aggression, so I don't think this puffer is getting bullied. It's active, but very thin.

I did pull out all the fish and completely rearrange the rocks yesterday, but my little puff was thin before I did this. The new rock layout provides a great deal more plces to hide, but it follows the same rough layout as the old setup. The fish seem to like it.

Any ideas?

Hm. I would observe very closely during feedings. See how much the little one eats before stopping. See if it spits out its food before it is as full as it could be.

It could be parasites or it could be that his mates are snatching all the food. Either way if you have a QT tank it might be wise to isolate until he's nursed back to good health.

Also I would discontinue feeding meds to the others if they don't clearly need it.

Is metronidazole the antiparasitic you've been using? If so, it's primarily an antibiotic with only a bit of antiparasitic ability:

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/drug ... 02365.html

Levamisole is really the best internal antiparasitic out there, so look for discomed or other medicines with levamisole in it.

Eric

Whew! It's a good thing I'm not breast-feeding my F8s.

Thanks for the info so far.

The skinny puff is definitely getting its share of food when I feed them; it just tends to lose its fat belly really fast compared to the other two. I think it does spit out a bit more food than the others, though.

I'd rather medicate all three puffs at once, since the skinny one is definitely getting food. That way, once that particular F8 is out of quarantine, I won't have to toss another one into the QT tank. I could see a cycle starting that way...

I'll look around for a better anti-parasite med ASAP.

You don't have to QT to medicate for IPs. I do suggest feeding all tank inhabitants the medicated food, just in case others have gotten the "bug".

For future reference, 1/2 dosing of Mela/Pimafix is not necessary--both products are perfectly safe for your puffers & tank.

My thin little puffer got caught in the filter intake Thursday night sometime. I found it Friday morning/early afternoon. Its stomach was sucked out of shape, and it had open wounds. It was still alive, barely, but I was on my way out the door for the weekend. I doubt I could have saved it even if I had time, so I put it in a bag in the freezer. That was the best I could think of in a pinch.

The other two puffers seem to be doing just fine, and even after a weekend without food, still look fairly plump.

Except for an unidentified puffer (sold as a Target, but most likely a T. cutcutia - I have a thread on this puffer elsewhere on the forum), all my puffer deaths to date have been F8s. This was my third loss. I did give another F8 with a cyst to a new home, to avoid infecting my other F8s awhile back, too.

If I lose my last two F8s, I think I'll stick with FW puffers.

Historically, F-8s have been my favorite puffers. Also historically they were rarely parasitized. Today it seems common. I don't know if it is from different collection areas, differences in holding and shipping, or some other factor. It has definitely become a major problem.