The Puffer Forum

Hi everyone my gsp, sharkey is looking thin..I brought him home in sept.. He looked a bit thin then but quickly over the nest couple weeks put weight on. This past 4 days I noticed him looking thin again..a bit pinched in the sides. I'm really worried I dont want to lose him. from all the reading I'm doing on here I think he might have an internal parasite. What could you recommend buying to treat him? I've found somethings in Foster and Smith called Bi Furan+ ,Metronidazole,Para Gurad,Metro+,Probiotic marine Guard,Formalin,prazipro,fluke-tabs,parasite clear,ultra cure PX..Would any of these work for the parasite gsp get?
I keep sharkey in a 29 gallon tank..
Ammonia- 0
Nitrites - 0
nitrates- 10
PH-8.2
s.g-0.012

I feed him frozen bloodworms,mysis shrimp,freeze dried bloodworms and freeze dried krill.(snails daily) I faithfully do water changes on thursday.Thanks for any help you can give me.i really love this little fish. mornings on all my tanks.

I have had good success with Gel-Tek. Whatever you use, their food must be treated with it as it must be ingested. Treating the water does nothing.

I've had success with Parasite clear made by jungle. Just make sure to soak the food in the stuff and not put it in the tank water. The medication should be ingested. I didn't have success with metronidazole however.

PraziPro is great. Works quick and I've yet to lose a fish because of it.

I went to a couple LFS yesterday and all I could find was parasite clear by jungle. I came home and soaked his blood worms and krill in the medicine along with some minced garlic. He ate some of it. It said i could dose him twice in a 48 hour period. Kass could you tell me how many treatments were needed when you used it? Thank you...

I soaked food in 1/4 of the tablet for an hour or two. Took me 8 days to ride of the IPs.

Hope I'm not asking to many stupid questions...But here goes....I feed him a variety of food. from freeze dried blood worms,krill and also feed frozen blood worms and mysis shrimp. when you soak the food are you soaking only the freeze dried blood worms and krill or also the frozen? I just want to do this the right way..Today he ate some krill and freeze dried blood worms thatt were soaked...I also added minced garlic to it..is this ok to do? He finally nibbled on the krill...I'll start using the 1/4 tablet method for 8 days and soak food for an hour or two...again many thanks for all the help. I really love this little guy....
He also ate two snails....

Soak everything in the medication. Garlic is good.

Forgive me for butting in but I need to treat my new puffers for IP also, one is very sunken in the belly the other isn't but they came in together so I am going to treat both. I have Jungle Parasite clear but all the sunken one will eat is fresh shrimp can I put fresh shrimp diced garlic and 1/4 tablet all in together? And in how much water?

Yep, yo can soak anythign in it. I used around a cup of water to dissolve and then soak.

I'd feed 2x/day with the medicated foods.

I soaked his forzen blood worms in the meds this morning and he wouldnt touch them..Wonder why he doesnt like frozen one but loves the freeze dried? so I'm off to make the other... wish i had a chef to make me my fav foods daily...

I have another question on this subject if it ok, My gsp that has the IP/worms when she eats,she gets all lumpy in her stomach she smoothes out after awhile but the other one doesn't get big lumps like she does is that because of the IP. Also I have only had these sense Friday and they came in all chewed up fins etc. should I treat with Melafix while I'm treating for IP or just hope the body and fins heal, what about stress coat. Sorry so many questions we lost our f8 and I so want to save and keep these little guys. I’m treating with medicated food 2x daily.

Yes use melafix. I think the lumpy stomach is from their stomachs being very small. I noticed when I first got my new puffer that he had a lumpy stomach and didn't eat very much before he was full. Now, 3 weeks later, his stomach isn't lumpy and he can eat more. This is just a guess, but makes sense to me.

Thank You for your quick answer, You and Pufferpunk have been such a big help I realy appreciate it