Help! Sick puffer emergency!!

[weezerbot]

Hey all, a few months back I got an asillus puffer....so far things have been great with him except he has always been a picky eater. About the only thing I can get him to eat is bloodworms.

I came home from work today and didn't notice him buzzing about as usual...then I saw him laying on his side, eyes open at the bottom of the tank.....I thought he was dead for sure.....when I got my net and started to bring him out of the tank he started moving around a little bit! I thought I was seeing things so I let him out of the net, but he just floated back down to the bottom, lifeless.....I again netted him up and he again started moving....he is swimming a bit, but not much at all...maybe for a second or two, and then rests. I left him in the net, in the tank, and put some bloodworms in there with him thinking maybe he would eat, but he doesn't.

Please help, I dont want my little guy to die, but I dont want him to suffer either....is there anyway I can save him, or should I put him out of his misery?

 

[Zagz]

When was the last time you did a water change? What size tank and what are your water parameters? Are there any other symptoms, he doesn't eat anything but bloodworms since you got him a few months ago? Sorry for all the questions but everything is helpful. If you haven't done a water change recently, I'd do one right away and see if that helps him.

 

[weezerbot]

Thanks for the reply. I just did a water change today and all parameters are normal. It's a 20 gal tank. No other symptoms I can see, all the other fish seem fine: Pearl and dwarf gourami, pleco, tiger barb. It's a planted tank.

He eats flake every so often, but other than that its the frozen bloodworms and thats it...no krill, plankton, snails or shrimp. Just not sure what to do at this point.

 

[rich311k]

Are there any other visible signs? Is he breathing heavy any kind of marks? What are your levels? Fine is kind of vague?

 

[Zagz]

I have to go with Rich on this, fine doesn't give us enough info. Good that you did a water change today, was he any better after the water change? How much of a water change do you do and did you add declorinator to the tank?

 

[weezerbot]

I did a 50% water change and the only thing I add to the water these days is dechlor. I've found since adding the driftwood and plants the hardness and pH stay more consistent than they did when I was just constantly adding chemicals...and the fish like it better too!

The levels are currently as follows:

Nitrate: 40
Nitrite: 0
Hardness: 120
Alkalinity: 180
pH:7.6
Ammonia: .25

All of these levels are within my normal testing results. The water change has not seemed to help him yet, he is still just laying there with his little fins flapping but no movement. No other signs of fungus or ich, no heavy breathing that I can see.

 

[rich311k]

How old is the tank? Your ammonia should be 0 and your nitrates are high. I would change 50% again.

 

[weezerbot]

The tank has been established for well over a year now. My ammonia has never been at 0 and my nitrates usually hover between 20 and 40. As I've said these are all well within my normal measurements, and the puffer, along with the other fish, have been living in this environment for a few months now.

I'm here posting to see if anyone has experienced this before with a puffer or any other kind of fish. I'm really trying to spare this poor guy the agony of dying a slow death overnight, but I would like to save him if I can.

 

[Zagz]

He hasn't been exhibiting any other symptoms? You should test your tap water for ammonia and nitrate, leave some water in a glass overnight and test it in the morning. The reason you have ammonia and nitrates may be a result of your water supply. If your puffer isn't exhibiting any other symptoms, more water changes may be effective in helping him. Depending on your tankmates, some aquarium salt may be helpful as well. As far as I know puffers can tolerate some salt in their water. Based on what you listed for tankmates they can all tolerate some salt as well. Good luck.

 

[workfortheman]

If u really love this puffer, you will change some water every day, up to 50%! I don't know much about that specie, but nitrates seem very high if it's a sensitive fish.

Have you messed with/cleaned your filtration in the recent past? Also, what's the temperature?

 

[workfortheman]

I just found THIS site which suggests that the asillus puffer has faster growing teeth than any other puffer. This makes snails a very important part of their diet. Does he/she get any?

also in my little bit of research it seems that pH suggestions are up to 7.2 or so. Is there any way to lower it a bit, maybe some peat in the filter?

 

[weezerbot]

well thanks for all the help but the little guy didn't make it through the night. Not sure if I will try again with another puffer, but he sure was a fun fish.

 

[sudz]

Try lowering the ammonia. Sometimes it takes a while for the poison to reach toxic levels in the fish. A friend of mine had 2 green dwarf puffers in her tank and what you described was their ammonia posioning to a tee. They lasted in that sinking sideways half dead phaze for just about a day. The bigger one lasted 2 days, but died a full week after the first one.

I took a look at her filter, and it was DISGUSTING. It was probably the reason why. I put it in a baggy and forgot it in her room, and the baggy actually puffed up. When we tested with an ammonia strip, it was off the scale. Poor little puffers! :-(

I think you can get a tab that will absorb ammonia, i thought i saw it at big al's last night.

http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=28275;category_id=3119

Its also SUPER cheap! cant hurt to try!

Its possible that your other fish were very slowly brought up to that level of ammonia and nitrate, so they were kinda "used" to it. The puffers were more shocked into it and their cute little bodies couldn't handle it for long.

HTH, and i would totally get another puffer.