Sick Pea Puffer timeline

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ebjornsgard

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Aug 16, 2017
Messages
63
Location
Western Washington
I have had a single Dwarf puffer for about 3-4 months now. They are amazing fish, but as a lot of people know, very prone to internal parasites and worms. He is kept in a 5 gallon tank by himself, with a filter, heater, fake plants, sand. I modified the heater so that the input/output had less force, so that it could be overfiltered but underpowered. His water parameters are all fine, with nitrates under 20.

I had been noticing he was pretty thin, but I didn't think too much of it, until he was so thin that I though there must be something wrong. I started looking around for things that might be wrong, and found all of the parasite cases. Soon after he stopped eating, and now does not seem to have much strength left in him. He lays around the aquarium, moving only a little, when I come near the tank.

I posted almost a week ago now about medicines, and got the answer of prazipro, which I got and put in his tank 3 days ago. The next day I found him pulled up against the filter sponge, either resting or stuck. I turned the filter off and put in an air pump for oxygenation, basically waiting for him to pass (heartbreaking).

The next two days I watched him, with little change. Yesterday, he seemed a little bit more active, so I turned the filter back on. You can't adjust the filter's flow, so I just watch him and he hasn't gotten stuck near it so I've left it on.

Today, he pecked at a freeze-dried shrimp. His main diet is snails, with those as treats, but these are easier to feed him to see if he would eat anything. He's looking a bit better, but He is still so skinny and hasn't eaten in probably close to 5 days. I don't know how long he can go without food, he's so little and skinny.

This is a lot of information, but this is where I am. I changed some water out, and resized the tank with prazipro. Is there anything else I should be doing, or something that I'm doing that I shouldn't be? And also, how long (in your experience) can dwarf puffers last without food in this state? Have you had a Dwarf puffer survive after parasites? Is it more humane to euthanize them? I definitely don't want to do that, it would be a last resort, but I don't want to have him be miserable for a month and then die.

If anyone has experience with anything like this or similar situations I would really appreciate. I have seen forums, both on this app and other sites, were people have puffers that survive, and some don't. I'll attach a picture I took of him today, and a picture of him when I got him, for reference.


When I got him:
IMG_2913.jpg

Today:
IMG_3497.jpg

Again, any kind of information you can give me would be great.
 
Aww she is a sad little fishy. How are your parameters?

I lost a puffer to whirling disease. I imagine you read about it, and how it can take 82 days before the symptoms manifest. By that point, the neurological damage is too extensive to save them.

That's not what your puffer has. She's clearly wasting, but whether it's from parasites or some external factor isn't immediately obvious.

I love PraziPro. It's good stuff. Keep that water immaculate, and hopefully your girl pulls through.
 
Wow, that's too bad. It's definitely not that. The water is fine, zero ammonia and nitrites, less than 40 nitrates. I try to get any decaying uneaten food out of the tank relatively quickly to keep the water clean. A turkey baster works really well with small snail shells. There is some algae growing, which I mostly leave alone because I've read it won't hurt the tank and might help a bit with stability.
I have no idea what exactly is affecting him (her, not sure), but I haven't noticed anything external, so I assume internal.

It's been almost a week and he hasn't eaten anything. I just don't know how long he's going to last without eating, let alone being sick. If anything happens, I'll update here, just in case it can help anyone else.

He was looking better yesterday, but today has been even more curled and skinny, and not swimming hardly at all. We will see I guess.
 
Wow, that's too bad. It's definitely not that. The water is fine, zero ammonia and nitrites, less than 40 nitrates. I try to get any decaying uneaten food out of the tank relatively quickly to keep the water clean. A turkey baster works really well with small snail shells. There is some algae growing, which I mostly leave alone because I've read it won't hurt the tank and might help a bit with stability.
I have no idea what exactly is affecting him (her, not sure), but I haven't noticed anything external, so I assume internal.

It's been almost a week and he hasn't eaten anything. I just don't know how long he's going to last without eating, let alone being sick. If anything happens, I'll update here, just in case it can help anyone else.

He was looking better yesterday, but today has been even more curled and skinny, and not swimming hardly at all. We will see I guess.

I'd agree to not worry about a little bit of algae.

Ugh. I'm so sorry.
 
Well, after almost a week, my little guy passed away. I found him curled up, not moving or breathing. He also had a cut or something on his head that had been getting worse the last few hours before he died.
 
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