The Puffer Forum

Uhmm..my girlfriend has a Figure 8 puffer...and hes been kinda odd...it started this morning..shes had him for almost a year...he was always by himself in a ten gallon tank..but last week she transfered him into a different tank...and hes been in there for a week..and this morning he was gliding around with his tail up and his head down..his fins are rotting and his lips...hes just floating around..and hes always goin to the tube cleaning thing...now hes back to where he was originally..theres a divider between him and the others.since hes had a history with mates..he bit off my precious bettas tale..and bit off half of a dwarf puffers body..who is now dead...but lemme know please...thank you.

Do you know water parameters of te new tank, was it cycled or was an existing filter used from an already established tank.

Sounds like water parameters were off and his immune system dropped making him susceptible to infection.

Moved to hospital section.

Please answer all of the questions at the top of the forum, for both its existing tank and the new tank.

Was it moved into a tank with other fish & you used a divider? How large is the tank? How big is his space?

Please answer the above questions in this forum, so we can better diagnose the cause of his priblem.

If he was housed with a betta and DP at one point that leads me to believe he is being kept in freshwater, am I correct? Figure Eights have been known to develop skin problems when not kept in brackish water of about 1.005 SG.

Was the tank he was moved into cycled, and were the new fish he was moved in with quarantined for at least 4 weeks before he was introduced? This sounds like a combination of problems that lead up to his current condition, but we need more information so please answer the 5 questions listed in red on the top of this page.

1. we have the PH powder...8.0 PH
2.10 gallons and then was moved into a standard 2 gallons..the water was mixed with salt. the betta lived through it.
3.dried blood worms..water change is every 2 weeks...aquarium salt.
4.no changes were made.we just moved him after he viciously killed a dwarf.
5.about 11 months.



we just got him his own 10 gallon tank..we are setting it up as i type...we added..ph powder...aquarium salt..water conditioner..and tap water declor....so that is it.

You should stop using the PH powder and aquarium salt, and get marine salt... much safer for the fish, and probably cheaper long run. The DP, if he was getting aquarium salt, doesn't need it, and will do poorly with too much of it. IF you need PH buffering, use something like a tufa rock thats continuous acting.

No puffer has any business in a 2 gallon tank. Figure 8s need a minimum of 15 gallons, and brackish water made with marine salt, not aquarium salt, which will likely kill the betta and the DP won't fare well either. Like Nick says, do not use anything to adjust the pH, its not necessary and only causes problems.

Putting him in an uncycled 10g tank of his own will not be doing him any favors. Uncycled tanks kill puffers. You don't need water conditioner and declorinator, a declorinator is all you need. Do a large water change to get all of the chemicals out of there, get Biospira if you can to instant cycle the tank (do NOT buy any other crap in a bottle like Cycle or Stress Zyme no matter what the store tells you). If you can't get Biospira, use some gravel, plants, etc., from the existing tank in it to transfer some of the good bacteria. With the shape he's currently in, his chances of survival are almost non-existent in an uncycled tank.

Unless you actually saw it, I wouldn't guarantee that it was the F8 who chewed up the betta's fins. Its quite possible it was the DP. DPs can be extremely aggressive and can shred and/or kill fish much larger than itself, especially something with long, flowing fins. Its also possible that the F8's ragged tail and face injuries were also caused by the DP. They should not be kept with bettas at all. I would recommend putting the betta in the 2 gallon tank and getting it away from the DP.

Boxermom wrote: Unless you actually saw it, I wouldn't guarantee that it was the F8 who chewed up the betta's fins. Its quite possible it was the DP. DPs can be extremely aggressive and can shred and/or kill fish much larger than itself, especially something with long, flowing fins. Its also possible that the F8's ragged tail and face injuries were also caused by the DP. They should not be kept with bettas at all. I would recommend putting the betta in the 2 gallon tank and getting it away from the DP.

I agree, and I think there's a chance that the F8 killed the DP in defense. In my experience F8's are fairly timid, whereas DP's are vicious.

I once was in petco when they were out of betta jars and dumped one in each tank of the tank walls... 6 or 8 DP's were sitting around "theirs," keeping it pinned in a corner and taking turns eating bites of his fins.