The Puffer Forum

just rescued a fahaka from a not nice place it was in a 36x12x12 inch tank and its tail is rather bent it seems to have some sort of scratching on its eyes does anyone know what this is and how should i give it the best chance of survival please help

you will ned a large tank for one. Check out the profile in the pufferpedia. They tail is most likely bent due to cramped conditions and therefore muscle will be in poor condition. The scratching is interesting though, any chance of a picture?

i will try and get a picture for you my tank is 6x2x2 foot i hope he will be ok in this size tank

I would recommend adding Melafix and Pimafix to help heal and ward off infections.

here are a few pics not too good though

Poor thing, definitely needs some TLC. I presume the tank was cycled?

my tank was a comunity tank till yesterday i gave al my fish to my brother so it is cycled The water that he was in was yellow and smelled awful there was no lighting on the tank and basically it was in a state it has onl been fed feeder fish and ocasinally mussels so i am going to try to get it to eat the right foods

The scratching you are talking about, from the pictures, looks like the normal way a puffer's eye looks- those iridescent splotches right over the pupil on the surface of the eye (looks sort of like a soap bubble) is normal. I would only be worried if there is a white-cloudiness or gouges.

thanx for all your advice it is greatly appreciated i will keep you posted on the puffers progress

Well at least he doesnt look stunted, eye size looks to be fairly in proportion to the body. Kudos to you for taking him on in order to provide him with a better life.

I'd keep a close eye on the water paramaters. There is a good chance that the fish you had, weren't enough to produce enough biological bacteria to support this large of a puffer (unless your tank was stocked with many large fish, like cichlids).

Please resize those pictures. They don't fit on the screen. There is info on that in the picture forum.

i will keep a check on water parameters i also tested the other water he was in and these are the results PH - 5
AMMONIA - 1.2
NITRITE - 0.3
NITRATE - 20

he has now eaten some cockles which i hope is a good sign

As you have an ammonia reading I would resist feeding for some time until it's at 0. the waste created by digestion will make matters worse im afraid.

sorry i didnt make that clear those results were for the the tank he was in when i rescued him my water parameters are as follows

PH - 7.5
AMM - 0
NITRITE - 0
NITRATE - 0

just to clarify.
are those readings now or for the tank he was in?