GSP passed away today. This is the second fish that has died this way. The first being a Fig. 8.
I noticed him near our filter kind of floating with his head up. He didn't have much control over his body. I thought he was dead so when I got the net and put it next to him he got rather cranky and tried to swim away. Didn't have much luck though. He was having trouble swiming. I thought maybe he had some air so I tried to burp him to no avail. He was tipping from one side to another, trying to get away from the net, but wasn't able to control his movements.
I am having a heck of a time with Nitrites. Please don't tell me that I should change the water more often because if I do I'll never leave the tank. Yesterday I changed the water and used my sludge extractor, as well as gave them a new filter. I didn't have any biospir (sp?) on hand (just got my shipment in today from DrsF&S).
Like I said this is the second puffer fish that this has happened to and I really want to know why? .
So why did he die?
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.
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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Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32976
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Puffers I have kept:
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T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
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burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Greenville, SC
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Re: So why did he die?
I moved this to the hospital forum. Please answer ALL the questions in the 1st post, so we can analize your problem.
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
Re: So why did he die?
Oops sorry, I put it where I did because he's not in the hospital....Pufferpunk wrote:I moved this to the hospital forum. Please answer ALL the questions in the 1st post, so we can analize your problem.
What questions are you referring to?
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Boxermom
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 2182
- Joined: Sun Mar 12, 2006 8:34 pm
- Location: Wisconsin
- Contact:
Re: So why did he die?
I would recommend using a regular siphon to clean the gravel. The sludge extractor doesn't really do a very good job and doesn't really remove the toxins well. With a siphon, it cleans the gravel and removes the water at the same time. And they're very inexpensive.
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
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
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mikeosoft
- Figure 8 Puffer
- Posts: 247
- Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:35 pm
- Location: Farmington Hills, MI
Re: So why did he die?
If you're having a problem with nitrites then you tank is not cycled yet. Puffers are extremely sensitive to toxins in the water.
I would not recommend changing filter pads while a tank is cycling, you're just throwing away any good bacteria that has started to grow on it.
I would not recommend changing filter pads while a tank is cycling, you're just throwing away any good bacteria that has started to grow on it.
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HRPuffersnStuff
- Figure 8 Puffer
- Posts: 105
- Joined: Mon Jun 06, 2005 1:51 pm
- Location: State College, PA
- Contact:
Re: So why did he die?
Check your PH. Early on in my pufferkeeping, I lost one right after a water change because the PH shifted too much. He also was "spinning" with no control over his body.