The Puffer Forum

i have been treating my cowfish for 10 days with ich attack (non Copper herbal remedy), and she seemed to be recovering, however i left my mum to look after her for the weekend and she accidently turn her filteration system off. this has been left off for approx 12 hours and now my cowfish is struggling to breath, is white in colour and cant get herself off the bottom of the tank. im doing a water change at the moment and have put the filter back on. is there anything else i can do. please help me as quick as you can. thankyou.

This sounds very much what clooney my Mbu had. I think it is due to suffocation. Continue with a awater change and increase the suracfe movement. If you can aim you water flow up to the surface this will increase the O2 levels of the tank.

Please post any other info, tank size, other fish, water condition etc. The more info the better

tank size, other fish, water condition etc. The more info the better

thank you for getting back to me so soon. she seems to be getting better as we speak blowing water out the tank, swimming up and down and her colouring is coming back, however after these burst of activity she goes and slumps at the bottom of the tank again heavy breathing.
The tank is 22 gallons ( i know this is too small for her, and i am shortly going to invest in a larger tank when i move home). She lives with three small hermit crabs. water conditions are being tested now, but ammoniom is registering in the safe zone.

Thankyou so much

How big is she and how long have your had her? It sounds like she is starting to do better. Good luck

shes is about 7iches inc her tail and ive had her just over a year

that still sounds like O2 defficiency to me, she starts to swim runs out of usable o2 and has to rest up. Have a look at this post http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/vie ... 4103#94103

I would check the water parameters. The system may have crashed, due to lack of O2 to the filter. What kind of filtration are you using?

hi i have an external filteration system. my water parameters at the moment are
PH 8
Nitrite 0.6
ammonium 0
nitrate 12.5

If the filter was turned off for 12 hours, you've probably lost a lot of the bacteria that you need to have in the filter. I will recommend that you keep a close eye on the water parameters in the days to come. What do you use for testing the water? Strips or those fluid tests?

How much live rock is in there? Do you have a protein skimmer?