Dog Face Puffer squiting eye trouble breathing not eating

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Jaygza01

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Oct 19, 2012
Messages
12
Hello I have a 65 gallon tank, recently had a couple fish die..introduced a "Coral Beauty" ...my Niger Trigger harrassed it..a week later dead one morning..next my Clown Fish got Fin Rot..discovered a dead Mandarin and now realized I am missing a Blue damsel..I still have my Dog faced Puffer..Niger Triger..Sharp nosed Puffer..small Clown..alage blemmy. Everyone is acting ok except for the Puffer. For a while I thought he had a gill infection, appeared to keep one gill closed. His eyes looked spotty. Tried a couple ich-x dips. Then was told it is a fungal infection..added PRimx to tank..did nothing but stress trigger so I did multiple water changes, changed out media in filters to collect medication.

He hasnt eaten in 4 days or so...used to eat like a beast..I have every kind of food..he used to love frozen clams especially w/ garlic xtreme..even tried ghost shrimp last night...nope. Every now and then I catch him at the top of tank then he will come back down crotch under a rock.

- Salinity 1.023
- Ammonia - .025
- Nitrites - 0
_ Nitrates - 40?
- PH - 8.0

I've done multiple water changes, cleaned out filter hoses (WOW what nasty gunk inside) Protein skimmer is working great..cleaned out pumps..trying to elminate any nitrates hanging around. Tank looks excellent..other fish acting great. Is it the nitrates hurting his eyes and restricting breathing or do you think some kind of infection? Unable to get Cleaner Wrasse, been trying.

- Tap water with 100ppm using Amquel + at 2.5ml per 5 gallons when changing
:banghead: <<this is how I feel right now unable to save him
 
Cloudy eyes is usually a water quality issue. It often goes away with pristine water parameters.

Your Nitrates are high. You mentioned gunky media. That should be changed more regularly or it becomes a nitrate factory. You have ammonia, which means the tank is not cycled or you have a very high bio load that your BB can not keep up with. You listed quite a few fish for a 65g. That is my guess fir the Ammonia. Ammonia and nitrites should always be zero in a properly cycled and stocked tank.

IMO, a cleaner wrasse is not going to do anything.
 
so what is your suggestion? my dog face puffer is at the top of the tank currently. Only sits up there for a bit then comes back down. Still not eating. Any suggestions to save him? all other fish acting fine. Best way to get nitrates/Ammonia down? water changes..? if so how frequent and how much.
I didnt realize my bioload and should've been cleaning filters more often your right.
 
how do i "cycle" the tank? should I not be cleaning specific parts of my fluval to hold some good bacteria? tanks been running for around 6 months..started it with argonite live sand
 
If its been up running for six months, it is probably cycled, but with ammonia showing up, I think that the bioload could just be too much. What exactly do you have in there right now as far as fish and then what do you have as far as filtration? How often do you typically feed the tank?

Something is causing the nitrates. Maybe overfeeding? How frequently do you do water changes? How frequently do you clean filters? That mystery needs to be solved, as water changes will bring it down, but it will bounce back up.

I wish I had an idea for saving the puffer, but I'm not sure exactly what is going on. Ammonia and nitrates can burn gils. Maybe that is the issue with the one gil? I've never had a puffer, so maybe someone else has some ideas???
 
Switching to even distilled water over tap with large water changes will help with this issue. That and the answers to what TheTodd asked will probably solve the issue.
 
but when I use the Amquel + with the tap water, doesn't it elimate the nitrates like it said it does? I have a RO water system on its way. Just did a minor 10 gallon water change tommorrow, another tommorrow. I did notice nitrates coming down when I re-tested, were definitely in the red before. I guess since this is my first salt water tank I didn't realize that I over loaded it and wasn't cleaning water enough to keep up w/ bio-load and this must be the end result.

Changing water constant but not too much as to stress fish. Cleaned ALL filter media including protein skimmer which is working great. Puffer is not squinting eye anymore but still goes to the top of the tank ocassionally. Not eating at all, not matter what I try. Anyone ever heard of force feeding a dog face puffer? he will come to the front of the tank like hes fine and looks ok and happy but will not acknowledge food and ends up at top of tank. He's now breathing out of both gills. If only he would eat..he would live.

Coralife UV sterilizer 6x 18w turbo twist on its way as well.
Oh and as for feeding..yes I was over feeding..I didn't think the over feeding would be an issue with the powerful filter..I cut it down drastically..some frozen cubes have a lot inside and I was feeding 2 at a time, somtimes 2x a day, w/occasional clams for puffer/trigger and maybe a small amt of flakes for clown/damsel.
 
the fish remaining in tank

1- Niger Trigger
1- Dog face puffer
1- Clown Pleco
1- Sharp Nosed Puffer
1- Alage Blemmy
1- Black Spiked Urchin
1- Pacific Small lobster(possibly alive...hard to find)
2- chocolate chip starfish (1 blue)

65 gallon tank
1- Fluval 306 (400gph)
1- Biowheel Filter in man tank
1- ESM or some $400 protein skimmer w/2 5000 jedra pumps in sump 30 gallon tank
 
I would say still a huge bio load, especially with the trigger and puffer (messy fish!) keep up the weekly water changes. That ro you have coming will help a lot. It's not just nitrates that come from tap, it's a while other bunch of nasties too. Did you say you knew the TDS of the tap? There can also be other traces of metals (copper possibly) that is bad for salt. What are you feeding the puffer?
 
tap is 100ppm.

Puffer won't eat :( refuses for maybe 4-5 days now. Stomach all sunken in. For a while he was a beast, would demolish clams..eat entire chunks of frozen food. Now he won't touch anything...I have everything..from Mysis/Brine shrimp to frozen clams on half shell..have used garlic xtreme before, no effect now, still ignores food. I have all kinds of frozen food, you name it I got it..trick is getting him to eat it.
I seriously want to grab him and shove some clam meat in his mouth..kills me to watch him starve to death
 
i even went and got him some Ghost shrimp and nothing..the sharp nosed puffer was going crazy on them..he showed no interest
 
ya I've tried snails..doesn't even acknowledge flakes..but never has.

Anyone know if its safe to grab a puffer in your hands (underwater)? I've seen it done online w/ a porcupine puffer youtube.

I am considering thawing out some frozen food in tank water..inserting into a syringe I have and inject the food into his open mouth he keeps showing me.

Any advice on something like this will help greatly..I think expecting him to eat on his own is not gonna happen.

My trigger and sharp nose puffer act like they are in love, always together and seems like kissing...would this relationship lol stress out dogface possibly? make him feel left out...causing the uneating...such a complex fish
 
ok so I've tried to grab him a couple times, had him but hes extremely slippery. Isn't puffing out or anything, just goes to the top of the tank so I take advantage of it. Figure I'll shoot some brine shrimp into his mouth. I've read you may have to re-introduce them to food.

I just tested Nitrates..they are still high, orange on my test kit. What will help me lower these yet not stress fish too bad...continue 10-20 gallon water changes every other day, or a big 50% water change? The puffer still has White waste coming out of him, though he hasn't eaten in days.
 
I'm at a loss for getting him to eat. I've never had a puffer, so no experience to pull from. I would think that grabbing him is going to stress him more though.

For lowering nitrates...make sure that filter media is cleaned frequently. A saltwater tank should not really need anything more than live rock/sand for biological filtration. The skimmer with that should work. Other filters tend to collect food and poop, which leads to nitrates if not cleaned weekly. I'd continue with water changes, but if nitrates keep bouncing up, there is something causing that to happen. Are there any dead spits in your tank where food or poop can collect?
 
Lowering Nitrates can be accomplished by Vodka dosing or Nitrate destroyer. Both require a skimmer.
Vodka dosing has methanol which binds with the nitrate creating longer protien strings. these cause bigger bubbles in the skimmer, making a better skimmate.
Nitrate destroyer is a simple nitrate eating bacteria. Added daily, they consume nitrate, creating nitrogen gas and then quickly die. Corals will eat the bacteria, but a skimmer will remove them as well.
Having no corals, I'd go with vodka dosing as it is easy and cheaper. Google the technique as there are a few experienced people out there with detailed instructions.
I used both techiques to lower my nitrates in my FOWLR system (had climbed to about 80ppm) once I got a skimmer.
 
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