The Puffer Forum

Hi all I have found this forum in a search to find out what happened to my puffer I'm not sure of her species but I have added a pic so someone might know. The story goes like this I started out in marines 3 years ago about 2 years ago I found my puffer at my LFS she was hiding behind a pipe every time I looked at her she would look away then when she thought I wasn't looking she would creep around the pipe to look at me, I fell in love with her straight away, she has been hand feed from day one never swam around the tank much and was always scared of her tank mates she was the biggest fish in the tank. I also had a canthigaster solandri for 2.5 years (George) who died just last week no sigh of him being unwell just found him dead. Two nights ago my kids came running to me telling me that puff girl was swimming around, this was not normal for her she never came out only to be feed, so we all cheered hoping she was now going to start being sociable, the next day I saw she was being harassed by my chaetodontoplus duboulayi, this stupid angle was picking at her spikes, she was so stressed and began to lose her slime coat a large brown patch appeared on her head and her face began to turn a purple colour, I removed the angle fish into the sump but my puff would not calm down I added melifix to try to help, turned of the metal halide but she just kept her head down and was blowing the sand in and out.I woke today to find her dead I cryed so much I know she is just a fish but I loved her dearly.... Sorry! here is my question do you think that the two puffer deaths are related or is it just coincidence, can bacteria be the cause of her purple colour or can fish suffocate, sorry if this has made no sense I'm so saddened by her death.

Its very difficult to tell from such a tiny photo but it looks like a porcupine puffer.

Can you please answer all of the questions at the top of the forum so we can try to help figure out what happened?

ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 10, salinity 1.025. temp 25 c
tank size 5x2x2 500 liters plus 3 foot sump
weekly water change 25%
3 years running
Added 2chromes last week, which I noticed had red spots on there side but have now gone.
she does look like a porcupine but her spines never layed flat thought she was some sort of burr fish

What all is in the tank? What fish, inverts, etc.? Did you quarantine anything before adding it to the tank? Do you have a better, or bigger, photo of the puffer?

No better pic sorry tank mates are
dusamary tang (spelling sorry)
brown barred goby
2x Midas blennies
lawnmower blennie
neon wrasse
falco's hawk fish
7chromes
plus the angle I have taken out, these fish have lived happily together for over a year to two years the angle has been in the tank for about 4 months.
QT 2 weeks minimum.

Could be a burrfish. Larger pic would help.

On burrfish, as per Kelly Jedlicki (Puffer Queen):
Chilomycterus schoepfi is also known as the spiny box puffer. These puffers can reach 10 inches & need tanks of at least 100 gallons. Unfortunately, these puffers do not acclimate well to living in a tank & often will refuse food ane eventually starve to death.
Last & 4th hardest to keep, on her list.

never had a problem keeping or feeding her until the angle started to bite her pretty sure she was a Cyclichthys orbicularis

Puffers usually do not do well with tankmates, sadly, even in well planned and large tanks.

As Kelly says, "these puffers do not acclimate well to living in a tank & often will refuse food & eventually starve to death". Sounds like this is what happened. Even if she was doing OK at 1st, eventually, they are doomed to failure, especially with the added stress.

I think adding melafix added to the problem, could have caused the puffer to have trouble breathing since this is a saltwater tank. Were the two Chromis quarantined before being added?

If the spikes didn't flatten out this was a burrfish, which, as PP brought up, are rather delicate and more prone to dying in captivity than Diodon holocanthus. Check out the pictures in my thread to see if he looks anything like my burrfish:
http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/vie ... 21&start=0

firstly thank you all for your replies I'm not sure if my first post was clear but I have had my puffer for 2 years and she never stoped eating starvation was defiantly not her problem. My question was why did she turn a purple colour almost like some one was suffocating her, her eyes went white. she was harassed once before about a year ago and she was stressed but I removed the fish and she came good what could have caused her to die the way she did.She was defiantly Cyclichthys orbicularis.

We still need to know if you quarantined any of the recent additions before we can come up with any ideas. I think everyone is bringing up the feeding issue because it is common for puffers to go on hunger strikes after stressful situations such as moving to a new tank or being harassed by tankmates, so a puffer like a burrfish that is not very well adapted to captivity may very well go on a fatal hunger strike. Also, stress of any type can lower a fish's immunity and make it more prone to disease, which incidentally you may have added with those two Chromis if they weren't QT'd.

If this angel just started picking on the puffer around the time you added the two chromis, the added aggression is probably because you overstocked your tank. Your tank may be large as far as volume, but as for territory, your fish tell you by aggression when you have added too many tankmates.

I would advise you QT all of your future additions if you don't already so this doesn't happen again.

Was the other puffer that died from the same tank?

I believe she said she followed a minimum two week quarantine on new additions and that the fish ate well right up until dying...

Discoloration sounds like a bacterial infection to me. Did you provide a varied diet with vitamin additions to keep the immune system strong?

Loosing the slime coat can also be related to parasites (e.g. Velvet) from the chromis. Some parasites can kill very fast, bacterial infection could be secondary. Did you observe heavy breathing?