Puffer might be Sick

Oh no! Sick fish?! Come here and see if someone can help!
Forum rules
Read this before posting!!

Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.

1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.

2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.

3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)

4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.

5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.

We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.

While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.

Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
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j_dp456
Puffer Fry
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2007 9:28 pm

Puffer might be Sick

Post by j_dp456 »

Im not sure if my porcupine puffer is sick or not. I got him on a Friday and i acclimated him properly and as soon as I put him in he started going a mile a minute and swimming all over the tank. This continued all through the night and morning until about 3:00 in the afternoon. Then he went behind a rock and just sat and curled up his fins he was still alert because he would look at me if I looked at him. Then some six hours later when the lights went off he got up and started swimming again but not with as much energy as before. I have no clue what happened.
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Boxermom
Former Staff Member
Posts: 2182
Joined: Sun Mar 12, 2006 8:34 pm
Location: Wisconsin
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Re: Puffer might be Sick

Post by Boxermom »

Please answer the questions at the top of the forum in red (moved to the hospital forum).
Tina

Puffers: Auriglobus silus x1, Tetraodon travancoricus x1, Tetraodon turgidus x1, Tetraodon miurus x1, Tetraodon nigroviridis x2, Tetraodon baileyi x2, Tetraodon lineatus x1, Tetraodon palembangensis x1
crazedpuffer
Former Staff Member
Posts: 1755
Joined: Sat Aug 06, 2005 11:57 pm
My Puffers: 1x Porcupine Puffer
1xValentini
Location: Long Island, NY

Re: Puffer might be Sick

Post by crazedpuffer »

Sometimes at night my porc would do this. Not often and only for a few laps. For him to do it non stop though I think something is def stressing him out. What size tank is he in?
j_dp456
Puffer Fry
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2007 9:28 pm

Re: Puffer might be Sick

Post by j_dp456 »

72 gallon he's a little guy and fine right now whatever scared him is past him now thank god.
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OraLacerta
Former Staff Member
Posts: 573
Joined: Mon Apr 17, 2006 12:51 am
Gender: Female
My Puffers: Tetraodon biocellatus.
RIP: C. travancoricus, Chilomycterus schoepfi. Canthigaster jactator.
Location (country): USA
Location: USA

Re: Puffer might be Sick

Post by OraLacerta »

My Burrfish did this when I first took him out of his quarantine tank and placed him in his permanent home with bright lights, high current, and different fish. He was quite alarmed as I had kept his QT tank light off, and as soon as I turned the lights off he would calm down, but he still had issues dealing with the current for a few days.

Post your parameters just in case.
-Michelle

Prevent unnecessary deaths due to disease- quarantine ALL new additions at least 4 weeks in a separate tank before adding to your main display tank!

Puffers: Hindenburg the Figure Eight, 75gallon Brackish
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