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Golden Puffer... Ridiculous errors in mistreating, no reading About a month ago I realized that my skimmer was not working properly for about 2 weeks. In that time a parasite developed on my fish. I have a golden puffer, imperator angel, two triggers, <Which species?> a clown, and some orange tangs. <?> I noticed a parasite on the angel and higher nitrites. <... how high?> I did a water change and treated with copper. <What type, amount? Not in the main tank I hope> after about a week the parasites seemed gone but my golden puffer stopped eating all together. <Typical... had you read...> Now it has been a month and still wont eat. He also seems to be running into rocks alot <No such word> almost as if he were blind. I have tried putting food near his mouth and he wont bite. Is it possible he will survive this? or do could he have gotten a parasite that caused blindness and complete loss of appetite? is there anything I can do? should I let him ride it out until he dies? or should I at some point euthanize him? thank you. Tom McCarthy <Please... follow directions... if you want our help, search before writing... Your answers are all posted... Start reading here: http://wetwebmedia.com/WWMAdminSubWebIndex/question_page.htm Search on WWM re the species/family (Tetraodontidae), its Disease/Health, Copper Use... you've poisoned the fish, the system... Bob Fenner> copper, use in quarantine, on/w/
puffers... Reading 2/11/12 Please help Two Puffer fish are dying... No data, using
"fixes".... the high price of...
3/27/14 Puffer Fading (5/25/04) Thanks Steve! <My pleasure.>
Last night I went to the LFS and got some DI water so I will be using
that from now on. <Smart. Do consider buying your own system. You
will recoup your investment within a year or so.> My puffer seems to
be doing worse however. <:(> The Ich is multiplying, his eyes are
cloudy and full of Ich, he refuses to eat and hangs out at the top of
the tank mostly. I've asked around and someone recommended a
freshwater dip (2 others said not to, that it would add to the stress).
What are your thoughts on this? <Well, this sounds like a desperate
situation. I fear that the stress of a dip could kill your puffer, but
he may be too far gone for anything to help and does not seem likely to
survive if you don't do something more, and soon. It is probably
worth the risk at this point. Do be sure to match pH and temp to the
tank. Adding Methylene blue (Available at many LFS) may help him
tolerate the dip better by increasing the oxygen and darkening the
water. I should also mention that copper can be hard on puffers. Some
people oppose using it with them. Search on "copper, puffers"
for info. Your puffer may also perk up if you cut the copper
concentration way back and treat with hyposalinity instead. See the
articles I referenced previously. I'd also add and antibiotic too,
because the cloudy eyes may be due to a secondary bacterial infection.
Unfortunately, this may increase your ammonia problem by killing even
more biofilter than even the copper is already doing. And formalin will
do the same. Frequent water changes will be needed. Desperate times
call for desperate measures.> thanks again -a <Hope this helps.
If you lose him, don't be too hard on yourself, you're doing
everything in your power for him.>
Crypt...urgent _ seriously - 4/24/2006 Good Morning
<Still> I have been reading Ich and puffer FAQs for the last 7
hours. I think I have the groundwork covered. I had a
small outbreak about a year or so ago and came out with no losses.
That was party a result of very diligent dips etc but a lot of
luck too: You've heard this story a thousand times but yeah,
<Likely more> I used CopperSafe on the advice of LFS guy and
my 2 puffers and 1 trigger made it. And that was in my
display tank - even all of the hermits survived. The live
rock is back now. but that took forever. I'll chalk that up to
luck. These fish have been there before and after looking at some
risk management, they (some our fish are going on three
years old) have decided copper is an unacceptable risk. I would love a
response this morning. Here are the details - '¢ 180g + 50g
sump. '¢ A few damsels '¢ Small Heniochus pair
'¢ S&S Puffer 9" (This is his tank of
course) '¢ Tiny dogface puffer
'¢ Small flame angel '¢ 4"
humahuma '¢ 2 small yellow tangs
'¢ mediumish snowflake moray
'¢ lots of crabs and liverock My wife spotted an Ich outbreak this morning, so at least we have the head start.
I'm pretty shocked at how quickly it manifested though;
<Mmm, has been there all this time... just some trigger... not the
fish.> this wasn't here on Friday evening. This is the early
stage, everyone is behaving normally but I know I need to move
quick. Both puffers have light spotting on fins - same for both
Henis. Damsels are all clear. The angel and the trigger already
have body spots. I bought a good hospital setup after I found out
today. 55 gal generic with decent hardware. <... not so sure all
these fishes will go/get along here> I have a good understanding of
hyposalinity and temp etc. We are pretty good dippers too. I really
just want to know what product to pick up..? <?>
I'm thinking no copper, no malachite green, Methylene
blue is a maybe but Formalin at 37% is a good idea. Yes? No? <...
Please read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/formalinart.htm
and the linked files above...> I need to start this now, advice
would be appreciated beyond words. I'm scared for there
guys. <More knowledge will lessen to almost completely diminish your
fear> Cheers, Christopher <Bob Fenner> Puffer with wound that has bugs crawling on it - 2/21/2006 Hello, I have a dog face puff that got hurt by a powerhead last week, I have been treating him with MelaFix and PimaFix <Worthless> and seems to be healing. I have 2 questions first there are these tiny white bugs on my glass and sand and I have noticed them on the wound area on my puffer, are they hurting my fish or will they just eat off the dead skin that is falling off. <Likely not helpful> 2. I haven't seen my puff eat but a little bite of shrimp the other day, but he continues to poop it is white and falls apart as soon as it leaves his body. If I'm not seeing him eat how is he still having anything to poop out. I just don't know if he might have a digestive or secondary infection. This is my first puffer and not sure if this is normal. I do have a sand bed in the tank but it isn't sand that he is getting rid of. Thanks for you time. <Please take a read, re-read over the Puffer materials archived on WWM. Bob Fenner> Dipping a sick puffer Hi, thank you for telling me. My porcupine puffer has Ich and was wondering how long should you keep him in the bath for and also how often should I do it. I am also going to go buy some medicine for him. <Please read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/dips_baths.htm and: http://wetwebmedia.com/pufferdisfaqs.htm and the Related FAQs files (linked, in blue, at top). Bob Fenner> Copper + Puffer = Problem! Help!! We've had our porcupine puffer for a year and in last 2 months developed white spots which then started peeling off. Our aquarium service guy added copper and does partial water changes every 5 weeks. The dark colored skin is totally peeling off to reveal white skin underneath. We just removed a trigger fish who was pecking at the dead skin. Ever heard of this??? <It is most likely a "side effect" of the copper. I would avoid using copper for puffers; instead, formalin-based remedies are safer for maladies like Cryptocaryon. Copper, although quite effective and safe in many instances (when used correctly, of course), can have negative consequences for some species of fishes, such as puffers and Centropyge Angelfishes (as well as tangs, if exposed long term). Do exercise care with it's use. Copper really should not be added to the display under any circumstances, IMO, as it is difficult to control the dosage, not to mention the possible side effects on invertebrates and other animals. It needs to be administered in a dedicated treatment tank devoid of substrate, and its dosage carefully monitored with a test kit. You can help remove some of the copper in this tank by utilizing PolyFilter or Cuprisorb, which both excel at removing copper from saltwater. With use of one of these media, as well as regular water changes (and overall good husbandry techniques!), you should be able to nurse this fish back to health. Good luck! Regards, Scott F> Sick porcupine puffer (11/22/03) <Hi! Ananda here tonight> My fish Hope, having a few months ago survived a serious Ich break resulting in the death of all other fish (I finally gave in to trying copper after all else failed) now looks sick again...but in a different way. He is breathing hard, has lost much of his color...And almost looks as if he was pricked by pins in certain areas. Some of his fins are torn...Any ideas would be greatly appreciated! <Could you let me know what your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels are? And also the tank pH and temperature? That will help rule some things out. I'm also wondering how much water circulation you have. And if you could get a photo, that would help, too. I'm not quite sure what you mean when you say he looks like he was pin-pricked -- small holes in the outermost layer of the skin, or small spots of blood on the skin, or...? Get some water ready for a water change and email me back with some test results, ok?> Happy Thanksgiving ! Bonnie <Thanks -- Ananda> Copper and puffers (07/26/03) <Hi! Ananda here tonight...> 1. Had beautiful gold spotted puffer in tank with serious ich outbreak. LFS said treat with copper power in show tank. NOW know that was a bad idea. <I would never treat anything in a show tank...> Conscientious Marine Aquarist suggested puffer fish OK with copper Ananda said get out of copper and do daily water changes in QT tank Which is right????? <To some degree, both. I always try to steer people away from using copper with puffers and other scaleless fish because they are *so* touchy with copper. While it is *possible* to treat puffers with copper, it is also *difficult* to maintain the copper at a level which is sufficient to kill the parasites without endangering the puffer. (As an example, a couple of days ago, one reader lost a puffer moments after putting it into a coppered tank. The tank had been used to treat an angel, which survived the same level of copper that was lethal for the puffer.) Add to that the fact that copper will also kill all beneficial bacteria in a setup, and that means the hospital tank is likely to have some ammonia -- which is deadly to any fish. The combination could easily prove too much for a puffer to take. Freshwater dips are significantly less dangerous to the puffers (as long as you keep their heads submerged so they can't gulp air!). And the daily water changes are designed to do accomplish two things: keeping the ammonia levels down and removing any ich from the bottom of the tank.> 2.Also, tank had constant bubbles from Iwaki 55rlt pump with wrong sump ( too small) and couldn't keep up with water flow and was sucking air too. Is this a source of stress for fish? <It could be. --Ananda> Thanks, Russ Porcupine puffer not doing well (03/18/03) Hi, <Hi. Ananda
here this morning...> I would really appreciate some advice about my
porcupine puffer fish. Fist of all this is my set up 28 gallon tank
<Gah! Way too small for an adult porcupine puffer. Put a zero on the
end of that number and you're looking at a better tank size for
these fish.> 1 x Fluval 304 filter GF with 2 x power heads <I am
not a fan of either canister filters or undergravel filters on a marine
tank. There are better options. More here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marineSetUp.htm>
stock 1 clown 2 damsels <For a 28 gallon tank, those three fish are
enough. With two damsels, possibly more than enough.> 1 snowflake
eel 1 poorly porcupine puffer <see size comment above> AM = 0 NI
= 0 NA = 20 PH = 8.4 <These readings are pretty good.> tank is 4
months old <I'm concerned that you have added too many fish too
quickly.> The puffer has taken a bit of a turn over the past couple
of days, to start off he got a coating over his fins of brown stuff,
then next day the skin on the back of his neck has started to peel of
revealing white skin underneath, in general his colour is not as strong
either. <This does not sound good. I would put this fish into a
hospital tank immediately. I am not sure what this is, so will forward
this back into the queue for others' comment(s).> Now his eyes
are not as vibrant or puffer out but glazed, and has stopped eating, I
have spoken to someone on the phone at the shop and have said its a
bacterial infection, and that I should treat it with something called
myxcel *Spelling. <I'm not familiar with that one.><<Me
neither, maybe an antibiotic from the spelling... would not use this
here... likely as you hint the root problem is environmental. Possibly
just low dissolved oxygen.>> Do you know of this to happen to a
puffer? what causes it? how can it be prevented? is my fish going to live
and look as good as he once did? is he going to live? <I'll hold
off on answering these, as I don't know what the disease/problem
is, precisely.> I'm desperately seeking advice as I'm very
upset as I love the puffer <The porcupine puffer is my favorite
fish, but I don't have one...I'm waiting until I can get a nice
big tank (I'm holding out for a 240 gallon). It'll be a few
years yet. Until then, I will continue to enjoy them from a distance.
You might need to do the same.> Thanks Ryan <You're welcome.
--Ananda><<Bob F.>> Puffers and copper, take 2 (07/26/03) <Hi! Ananda here
tonight...> I knew that scales fish do not tolerate copper well from
experience treating my Sweetlips and powder blue tang. I was reading
your website and it said copper is a good treatment for puffers maybe
its a typo but this is under the disease section of puffers.
"Puffer species are very susceptible to Cryptocaryon and
Amyloodinium (as well as the eye, skin abrasion, and gas from lifting
maladies already mentioned), but fortunately respond well to copper
treatments." <Hmmm. My response to another person who mentioned
this recently: 'I always try to steer people away from using copper
with puffers and other scaleless fish because they are *so* touchy with
copper. While it is *possible* to treat puffers with copper, it is also
*difficult* to maintain the copper at a level which is sufficient to
kill the parasites without endangering the puffer. ... Add to that the
fact that copper will also kill all beneficial bacteria in a setup, and
that means the hospital tank is likely to have some ammonia -- which is
deadly to any fish. The combination could easily prove too much for a
puffer to take. Freshwater dips are significantly less dangerous to the
puffers (as long as you keep their heads submerged so they can't
gulp air!). And the daily water changes are designed to do accomplish
two things: keeping the ammonia levels down and removing any Ich from
the bottom of the tank.' I've just read too many stories of
scaleless fish doing badly with copper treatments to recommend that
people treat Ich with copper, when it is possible to treat it with
freshwater dips, hyposalinity, and water changes. --Ananda> Crowded hospital tank? (06/19/03) <Hi! Ananda here this
afternoon...> I have a cycled 20g tank that I am moving my
pufferfish into to treat for what I suspect to be some sort of
parasite. It is cycled, but I don't know if it can
handle the increased bioload of the 4-5" fish (previously just
temporarily housed feeder shrimp). <Probably not.
You're going to need to do *daily* water changes.> I have been
running back and forth for 5 gallon jugs of RO water, can I just mix up
about 50g of tapwater instead? I would treat the water with
Amquel (municipal water) and then mix and aerate for a day.
<Sounds good.> Until I get an "OK", I am just going to
keep running. I will be using chelated copper sulfate
(CopperSafe) to treat the parasite, its the only copper I could find.
Ryan A. <Ack! No copper in a tank with puffers or other scaleless
fishes! You don't give any details on what parasite you think it
is, or we might be able to give you some direction on what to use. If
it's an external parasite, start out with a freshwater dip....
--Ananda> Puffers and copper Hello, enjoy you website! Reading the article: /The Conscientious Marine Aquarist All My Puffers, Tobies, Box, Porcupine, Cowfishes It states that puffers respond well to copper, yet in the forums it is repeatedly mentioned to NEVER treat a puffer with copper. Which is accurate? Thx, Patty <Mmm, a bit tricky here... IMO/E Tetradontiforms, including puffers do "respond well to copper"... but a necessary cautionary note here. In general, copper compounds have a narrow range of efficacy. That is, there is not much "room" between effective dosage/treatment and overdosing catastrophe... this range is even smaller/shorter with them as a group... Requiring treatment in substrate-less settings, with "new" seawater, vigilance in testing for and re-applying therapeutic copper (chelated is better here)... and a close eye on accumulating metabolites (e.g. ammonia) and ready change water to dilute same. Other WWM Crew (Ananda, likely Jeni/Pufferpunk) are against the use of copper with these fishes, preferring other chemical use... Ideally, prevention, careful dipping/bath and quarantine procedures prevail in warding off infestations... Bob Fenner> Porcupine puffer with Ich and eye problems <Hello! Ananda here this afternoon.> Hello, My Porcupine Puffer "Yoda" has been very sick for the past couple of weeks He has all the symptoms of Ich...When I started to treat him in a new 10 gallon hospital tank "PH- 8.1 NH3- 0 SG- 1.023 " with quick cure his eyes started to fog up at first I thought It was just stress but they have continued to Fog... <Are you using the Quick Cure at full strength? That may be aggravating the problem -- puffs and other scaleless fish should be given their meds at half strength, for double the length of time. Also, do you know what your nitrites and nitrates are? Cloudy eyes are usually indicative of poor water quality.> now it looks as if he is totally blind with a thin layer of skin covering his eyes...He also wont eat 3 days now.. <Probably due to stress. These puffs will occasionally go for a week or longer without food. Try feeding him freeze-dried krill soaked in garlic oil (from the "soft gel" garlic supplements at the drug store -- the dried/dehydrated krill will soak up the garlic oil quite well).> I added carbon to the filter yesterday and did a small water change to remove medication from the water I was going to start treating him with Mela fix today <What kind of filtration have you been using in this tank? Melafix won't hurt, but I'm not certain it will help, either.> Have you seen these problems or can you recommend additional/different treatments? <Yes to both... do read up more on saltwater Ich on various pages of the WWM site (use our Google search tool and look for "Ich" and "porcupine").... let me know how it goes with the krill... --Ananda> Thanks for your help, Brian Ich? on Yellow Boxfish <Hello! Ananda here tonight> We have had our boxfish in our tank for about a month. He has been very healthy with no signs of disease until today when we noticed about 30 or more white dots all over his body. We suspect Ich, but the dots do not seem to be clustered around his fins....yet? He is still eating, breathing and swimming as usual. <Those are good signs.> We know not to treat him with copper since he is a scaleless fish, and we know he secretes a toxin, which could kill everything in our tank, when he becomes stressed. <Yup.> Our concern is will he release this toxin if we try to remove him from the tank to do freshwater dips? Should we do freshwater dips? <Yes, it's possible that your cowfish might release toxins if the freshwater dip stresses it sufficiently. You can minimize the stress of a freshwater dip by ensuring that the dip temperature and pH exactly match that of the display tank, and by aerating the dip tank. However, some people prefer to save freshwater dips as a last resort for these fish.> Is there any other way to treat this fish? We have already started to raise the temperature to 80 degrees and are starting to lower the salinity as well. <You've already started on the primary treatment: lower salinity and higher temperatures. These would be best carried out in a bare-bottomed hospital tank, along with daily water changes, siphoning from the bottom of the tank to get the greatest number of Ich cysts. I've read that people with cowfish are more likely to use UV sterilizers -- which are good only against the free-swimming stage of the parasite, mind you -- to help combat Ich. Another favorite of the crew on the Cowfish, Puffers, & More discussion group seems to be StopParasite. I have no experience with that particular product, so I suggest you check the Cowfish etc. discussion group for peoples' opinions: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CowfishPuffers_andMore/ > Is it possible that this is something other than Ich? His tankmates are a Foxface, a damsel, a Kole tang and a couple of snails. Thanks for any advice you can give. <More on Boxfishes here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/boxfshfaqs.htm ... --Ananda> Puffer Problem I've been treating my Porc. puffers for Ich using hyposalinity, and while its suppressed the Ich, it hasn't gone away yet. They seemed okay until this afternoon, when I noticed one of the puffers looks like he has a bruised side. He looks miserable and I don't know what it is. Is it possible that the Ich has caused blood vessels to burst under the skin, or is this possibly unrelated and just really bad timing? <Most likely, an unrelated (but poorly timed) problem> He also doesn't seem to want to move the fin on that side very much. Right now, I'm thinking of starting copper treatments with CopperSafe in a hospital tank because I'm sick of messing around with hyposalinity and it not working (there is a good chance I just don't have the salinity low enough, but now I don't want to wait to try to keep adjusting). But I'm worried the copper will be bad if he's in a weakened state. Please, any advice would be appreciated. <Well, I'm not a big fan of hyposalinity...Lots of hobbyists use this technique to combat Ich and parasitic illnesses, but it seems to be better at preventing Ich than curing it. I believe that medication does a better job. If not copper, then you may want to use a commercial cure containing Formalin..> If he is injured somehow else, I don't know how. He's in with another porky, a Hawkfish, and a ruby headed parrot wrasse. The tanks primary filtration is a canister filter, and the intake is covered. There are rocks, etc... in the tank, but nothing with small holes he could have gotten stuck on. <Hard to say what the cause might be...Could possibly be a trauma of some sort...But I don't believe that it's a disease at this point...> You can also see more pictures of the bruise here: http://wetfish.terminus13.com/misc/puffertrouble/trouble.html <Good pics, but I couldn't get a good feel for what it was...My advice: cure the Ich with a reliable medication (in a separate treatment tank), and continue observations and effort to maintain good water conditions...I think that getting rid of the Ich is he most important thing to deal with at this time....Hang in there! Regards, Scott F> Puffers with Cloudy Eyes <Hi! Ananda here tonight...> I have a 75 gallon tank with two porcupine puffers two lions and one dog face puffer. I have been keeping copper in the tank to treat and prevent Ich......at least one month...... <I am not a fan of keeping puffers in a tank with copper for so long...> Today both porcupine puffers developed cloudy eyes... worsening as the day went on..... <That is most often caused by poor water quality.> I did a water change about 1/3 of tank....removed all copper....now reads "0". ph at 8.2....ammonia at 0.25...nitrites .25 and nitrates 0... <Yup. Please continue with daily water changes until the ammonia and nitrites are at zero. This should help clear up the cloudiness in the eyes.> We love makayla and molly and don't know what to do next.....when doing a freshwater dip, please explain exactly how to do that... tap water with chem.s. removed then what???.... <You need to adjust the pH of the water to the pH of the tank... do see Bob's entertaining treatise on freshwater dips here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/dips_baths.htm ... Also, when dipping puffers, make sure you keep their noses underwater so they don't gulp & puff with air.> Should I try this?? <If you can still see Ich spots, yes. If not, no.> Will they loose their sight and if so how will they eat.... <Improving their water quality should improve their vision. If not, they should be able to hunt by smell. But concentrate on improving their water quality and they should be okay.> The one did not eat today the other did.... <Not unusual for these fish when stressed.> Please respond ASAP... how often is it safe to do water changes???? <Daily or even twice daily, if necessary to remove ammonia and nitrite.> dog face and lions are showing no signs at this time.......thanks....Carolyn <Work on improving the water quality, and keep the copper out of the tank. Best of luck... --Ananda> Puffer Problem Hi -- I stumbled across your site looking for
information about my golden Tonga puffer, Ralph. <Hello,
Sabrina with you today, hoping to help you and Ralph> I need some
help with his breathing--I've had him a month short of two years
and have treated him for gill flukes at least twice with Paragon with
good success. This time he's not responding at all,
I've done four rounds and sometimes he will move it a bit but never
really open it at all. <By 'it' you mean his
gills, right? Well, gill flukes usually cause fish to gasp
and have rather labored breathing due to the parasites causing damage
to their gills, so the fish can't absorb oxygen from the water as
well. So far, this doesn't sound like flukes to me.>
He's about ten inches long, six around and is in a fish only tank
of 80 gallons with a pair of fire clowns, a squirrel fish and a coral
beauty. I'm running two emperor 400 hang on filters with
activated carbon and a remora protein skimmer in addition there are two
air pumps in his tank and I do at least a ten percent water change
weekly. <Sounds good, perhaps increase the amount of
water that you change weekly, and be sure to check your water
parameters, make sure everything checks out okay. You're
also going to want to consider going larger in tank size soon....>
What would you suggest I do next for him? He's just not
a happy puffer--he no longer wiggles and splashes when I come home but
is still eating his shrimp like a pig and some algae but not as
much. Any advice or suggestions would be greatly
appreciated, he's my big yellow baby and I'm just desperate to
maximize his life span. When I travel I even have my family
come over just to talk to him, he likes company! Thanks so
much, Janine <It may very well be that the very active squirrelfish
is stressing your puffer out, and may be that your puff's just
pouting about it, trying to let you know. Keep us updated -
hope Ralph perks up for ya!> Puffer eyes Hi, <cheers> I hope you can help me <me too> with a treatment for my puffer fish. He has cataracts and is blind in one eye and partially blind in the other. <hmmm... what species of puffer, when did the symptoms set in, how long, any other fishes in the tank, size of all fishes, water quality parameters (specifically measured). More information please> I have treated him with Maracyn 2 and it hasn't helped. <it is a weak drug (a synthetic tetracycline) and you may not need an antibiotic. In fact, cloudy eyes are rarely bacterially mediated. Often water quality, stress or physical trauma> Can you recommend another medication to cure this. It is heartbreaking watching him bang into everything. Thank you for the help, Leanne <please advise us of the age of the fish too. Do nothing in the meantime... it is unlikely to be contagious if even pathogenic at all. Anthony> Re: Puffers on FAQ Hi, <Hello Laura> I was just doing my daily (well, since I started reworking our tank) reading of the FAQ and came across the question on puffers. These little guys are my favorite fish, and I have kept both species of green spotted, figure eights, freshwater dwarfs, Canthigaster valentini, C. jactator, and C. solandri (have avoided the larger dog-faced and spiny marine puffs due to tank size). I was hoping you could forward this message on to Tyler Re: what species of puffer to keep in a 20 tall and ordering puffers online. For a 20H, you could keep 1-2 figure eights (sg 1.005), 1 green spotted (sg 1.010-1.015), or 1-2 male and 3-5 female dwarf puffers (freshwater). Dwarfs are notorious for coming in starving or with severe internal parasites (breeding them would be a noble goal considering how many are lost in the import process). <Agreed> I've seen three batches from three different sources (two different LFSs and another group ordered online for a total of 18 fish) drop like flies even with heavy feeding of vitamin-soaked, meaty frozen and live foods (these guys just won't eat dried foods, not even krill like the larger species). They also really need lots of live plants to hide from each other when things get sticky. Sexing can be accomplished as cited in other sources: males are not as round and have a dark brown dorsal stripe and yellow bellies. For a first time puffer owner, I would really not recommend them because they tend to be very delicate. <Yes... need to be quarantined for weeks, fed foods laced with anti-Protozoals, Anthelminthics... like Metronidazole/Flagyl, Piperazine, Praziquantel... to eliminate internal parasites.> As far as ordering puffers online, I wouldn't worry about fig eights and green spotteds if your source is keeping them in brackish but I absolutely would not order dwarfs online. These are fish you really need to see in person before you buy, and even then buying them is a fairly big gamble. I finally got some successful ones that had been started by someone else for a few months; your best bet is probably to find another hobbyist who has been keeping them long-term. Anyways, I'm sure you guys already know all of this and just don't have time to make such an in-depth reply to every single person who e-mails you, so I hope me typing it all out will help :). <Thank you for the excellent input. You will have aided many, and saved many fishes thereby. Bob Fenner> Thanks, Laura Puffer Treatment I took your advice and got a separate tank. The puffer is now in it with copper sulphate. My worry is that he is recovering from a wound and since he has been in the tank with the copper the whitish area is now turning red. Should I be alarmed? <Do keep a careful eye on this fish. Make sure that the copper is maintained at a proper therapeutic level. If the fish shows obvious signs of discomfort, or if the wound looks worse, you may need to reduce the copper level until the wound heals. Keep very high water quality and make sure that the fish is eating well. Good luck! Regards, Scott F.> Sick puffer help Hello, <<and hello to
you.>> I hope you can help me. <<I hope so too... ;-)
>> I have a golden puffer that seems to have come down with Ich.
The only noticeable spots are on the fins. I don't seem to see any
on the eyes or body. My puffer is scratching a little, seems irritated
and hangs out in front of the powerhead. I have a liverock tank with a
cleanup crew and the one puffer. I lowered the salinity to 1016 and
raised the temp to 82. I hear these fish are hard to medicate and
someone told me to use no-Ich or Maracyn and that I could put it in my
main tank. I'm a little skeptical and decided to write the experts.
Will a fresh water dip cure without medicine? <<It won't
'cure' exactly, but it will pop/kill a good number of the
parasites that are bothering your fish. Best to dip for at least five
minutes, and up to 10 or 15 if the fish isn't particularly
distressed by the dip.>> I'd really rather not set up a
hospital tank. <<You may need to if dips don't have any
effect.>> I do have a 30 gallon I use for this. But it is
not set up and has no biological filter. How do you keep the ammonia
down while medicating. <<Daily, large [25-50%] water changes,
smaller food portions.>> I know so many questions. I hope
dipping will suffice. I also heard to use a low dose of copper, but
what about puffers being scaleless? <<It just irritates
them, it's not really 'that' bad... >> I love this
fish. Her name is Daisy, she is eating well, but spends most of her
time in front of the power head now. <<Eating well is a
good thing.>> Hope you can help. I appreciate you. Liz
<<Cheers, J -- >> Help with Dogface Puffer Hi Bob, Leslie here. <Hi Leslie, Craig here> You helped me a while back with a tank that had unsuccessfully gone through treatment for Amyloodinium infestations on 3 successive occasions. I asked about microwaving the contents of the tank, my Dad's suggestion... since I had tried everything else I could think of to kill the darn bug. <I can relate to the desperation!> Anyway...... I have had my Dogface Puffer for about 6 weeks. He is a real looker. Pitch Black with clear black speckled fins and a white caudal fin with black speckles. Several weeks ago he developed some of what I believe to be Ich spots on his pectoral and dorsal fins. I saw him flash a couple of times, nothing continuous. He developed an occasional spot on his body which have disappeared. This is a FO tank 50g. I know small for him, but he is only 4" at this time. I have plans for a bigger tank. The thought of investing in a huge tank for this fish, after all those tank crashes didn't seem to sensible. I figured I will get the BIG tank if I can keep him alive long enough to need one. I hope not a stupid mistake. At the suggestion of a highly respected published friend in the marine community I have been using something called OST....osmotic shock therapy. Are you familiar with this? If so what are your feelings about using it prophylactically in a Q tank as well as to treat parasites? <Lowered SG in conjunction with copper and temp raised to 83F in a QT is the preferred treatment. This is fine if done over time....days.> The recommended specific gravity for FO tanks is 1.010. for 3 to 4 weeks. So I had this guy at that specific gravity for about 3 weeks, when I slowly slowly increased the specific gravity to 1.018 the spots began to appear. He otherwise looks and acts very healthy. The spots have been quite stubborn. I panicked at first because the Amyloodinium outbreaks started like this. I have since increased the temp of the tank....slowly to 80 to 81 degrees, fed garlic laced food and treated the tank with a product called Stop Parasites. The spots look about the same. One of the spots on the pectoral fin is a bit bigger, perhaps looking like 4 or 5 coalescing spots, but not as bright as the other spots. On that fin there is a tiny area at the fin tip directly in line with the bigger spot, that looks like it is worn away, just a very small area. I placed a 15w UV unit with a 90gph flow rate on the tank 3 days ago and FW dipped him last night for 15 min. He did very well......not even phased by it. They look a bit better today. Is it possible this is not Ich or perhaps something in conjunction with Ich? What else would you recommend I do for him. Thank you so much for your help :) Leslie <Yes, remove to quarantine tank and treat with copper @0.25 ppm free copper as above. For more on this go to WetWebMedia.com and enter "copper" into the Google search. I wouldn't advise any of the stop parasite type treatments. Craig> Sick puffer Hello <Howdy> I have a 100 gallon tank
which I use 50 lbs of LR and 2 emperor 400s for filtration. I keep a
12" A. meleagris puffer and a 8" Lunare Wrasse only. Ammonia
and nitrite are at 0. Yesterday I noticed the puffer had slightly
cloudy eye and was hanging out at the filter outpours. I performed a
30% water change. Today I woke up and the puffer has full blown Velvet
( Lethargic behavior, dashes around a bit, cloudy eyes, and slimy skin.
<Mmm... stress-related to some degree...> I have read through
your web page and book and will try this: Treat tank with citrated
copper and put antibiotics in the fish's food. <And maybe
environmental manipulation... oh, see you mention this below> I was
wondering if the following would also be useful : FW dips, lowering the
Specific Gravity, or adjusting the temperature, feeding garlic. Also
could you help me come up with a better treatment plan. right now
I'm going to get the copper and a CU test kit and will treat the
100g tank. <I'd skip the dipping... unless this was being done
enroute to moving the specimen to another/treatment system... but do
the temperature raising, spg lowering... This may all take a while... a
few weeks... to effect a cure... and your puffer will likely go on a
feeding strike... not to worry much re the latter. And... I might
try/risk a cleaning symbiont... likely a Gobiosoma/neon goby species.
Bob Fenner> Thanks in advance, Everett. |
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