Ill dwarf puffers - Page 3

mask-of-sanity · #21 (**permalink**) 01-05-2008, 09:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Esfa

cant remember what test kit it is, but it's about 3 months old.

There isn't something in the water. If there was, both puffers would be ill. But only one puffer is acting strange. I think it's either a bacterial infection, or a parasite.

like anything some are hardier than others and the ill one may be weaker so more open to infections ect ....are you using a liquid test kit or tablet one as i found the tablet one is not as accurate and results are not always correct .......it may just be that the puffer didnt take to be bagged up and put in another tank this can and does happen

Esfa · #22 (**permalink**) 01-05-2008, 09:42 PM

yeah, its liquid.

I think i'll give it till the weekend, and see if there is any improvement. If not, i think i'll treat with a bacterial med.

bullet tooth t0ny · #23 (**permalink**) 02-05-2008, 07:04 AM

this all a bit of a waste of time,you are now going to do treatment on a new uncycled tank.i dont care what you say it cant be done in a week some fish are harder to new tanks than others.i bet if you done a water reading now it wont be the same.get yourself a new test kit and do a water reading today before treatment.

Mujician · #24 (**permalink**) 02-05-2008, 08:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Esfa

I havn't seen the other puffer bullying it, and there's plenty of plants to break up their line of sight... so i dont know

and yeah, i used mature filter media. Sorry, forgot to mention that lol.

So you put fresh water in a tank with mature filter media? The fresh water you put in would have killed the bacteria on the media. You should have waited for the tank to cycle. Using mature media will have sped the process up, but not eliminated the fact you still need to wait a little bit. Impatience was the biggest thing that killed fish when i was working in an aquatics centre. Even if you tested the water a little while after you set the tank up, it wouldn't have been long enough for anything to have really changed that much.

Mujician · #25 (**permalink**) 02-05-2008, 08:25 AM

And puffer not having scales, just skin they are more suseptible to any fluctuation in the water quality. It will undoubdedly be nitrite in the water, possibly ammonia (which can be present when there is zero nitrite, and is also more dangerous to fish), which 'burns' the fish' skin - any catfish present will have been affected too. (But not as much as the ppuffers. Hope this helps - at least for the future. Ben

fishboy · #26 (**permalink**) 02-05-2008, 09:48 AM

Sorry, i agree with esfa here, it can be done in under a week. mature filter, mature water, low stocking levels. If everything is switched over quickly there is no reason for ANY filter bacteria to die. More mature water can be sourced from the original tank in the case of water changes. I have done it before and it work. Fact. There is no difference putting a new fish into this water than there is putting it into the original tank, though if there is a problem there there will be a problem with the new one. Esfa's tests rule this out unless (i can't remember if there was) the nitrate its dangerously high (puffers DO NOT like very high nitrate).
Have you considered the possibility of the puffer having only recently arrived at the LFS and having a delayed reaction to high ammonia/nitrite in the shipping bags? Had you seen the fish swimming around happy and healthy at the LFS previously to buying it or is there a chance it had arrived the night before and been sold the next day? The other one beng ok does suggest you are doing everything ok. Other than that is could very well be parasites. I would just keep a very close eye on the water parameters/temperature and not add any medication until you are certain what the problem is. Like it says in the links i posted, they are a very sensitive puffer that often don't seem to acclimatise well, and in my experience they ship very poorly and often seem to lose weight even when they are apparently happy, settled and feeding. Maybe a parasite treatment is the way to go.

edit - mate, you should use 50% mature water too AT LEAST if u want this to work

SnuffBunny · #27 (**permalink**) 02-05-2008, 01:32 PM

Hellooooooooooooooo
If the water is properly cycled surely there should be a trace of nitrate?
As Ammonia turns to nitrate and nitrate to nitrite. If you are getting 0's for all of them it means the waters not cycled? I could be wrong but im sure im not as i had a load of problems cycling my tank.
Just going on what i learned from my giant puffer fish.
But.........If you have a parasite (which i think you will have as i think i know where you bought your puffs from)
Try a product called Flubanol? Flubonal? Try with the spelling, its like a powder you put in the water. Brilliant stuff.
But yea check ebay for it as thats the only place i managed to find it. Cheap aswell. And will not cause any problems with your water or harm healthy fish.
Hope that helps.

fishboy · #28 (**permalink**) 02-05-2008, 02:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spam2208

Hellooooooooooooooo
If the water is properly cycled surely there should be a trace of nitrate?
As Ammonia turns to nitrate and nitrate to nitrite. If you are getting 0's for all of them it means the waters not cycled? I could be wrong but im sure im not as i had a load of problems cycling my tank.
Just going on what i learned from my giant puffer fish.
But.........If you have a parasite (which i think you will have as i think i know where you bought your puffs from)
Try a product called Flubanol? Flubonal? Try with the spelling, its like a powder you put in the water. Brilliant stuff.
But yea check ebay for it as thats the only place i managed to find it. Cheap aswell. And will not cause any problems with your water or harm healthy fish.
Hope that helps.

it goes ammonia - nitrite - nitrate

there will always be a trace of ammonia and nitrite in a cycled tank and the actual amount of established bacteria will fluctuate with the ammount of waste produced. Most freshwater kits available will not be accurate enough to detect the low concentrations of ammonia and nitrite present in a cycled tank.

HABU · #29 (**permalink**) 02-05-2008, 02:38 PM

are they males? is there any salt in the tank? how hard is your water?

AshMashMash · #30 (**permalink**) 02-05-2008, 03:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fishboy

Most freshwater kits available will not be accurate enough to detect the low concentrations of ammonia and nitrite present in a cycled tank.

Indeed. I worked at london aquarium for a few weeks over easter, spent lots of time testing their water. They have the photometric test kits, which measure to stupidly low levels to detect even the hint of nitrite and ammonia... it was an aquarists heaven

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