New fish and the tanks reaction

[boxfishlover]

Hey everybody, so some bad news our third black boxfish (female) died on Thursday, I am not sure why she seemed fine on Wednesday I did notice the jumbo green hermit crab I had for clean up disapeared on Thursday morning so I am assuming either she or Spike (striped burrfish) got him. Well anyway maybe there was a battle and dottie was injured anyway when I got home she had passed So we went today and got a new fish (Porcupine puffer) very good looking fish very healthy. Well I fed everybody in the tank before getting ready to add him. Everyone ate great including the eel. Once I floated the puffer and acclamated him in the tank he went. Well he swam around and spike was checking him out and the porcupine puffed up once and then mellowed right out. Everyone swam around for a few hours and all seemed good no one fighting or anything. Well I just went over to the tank and my burrfish has literally almost turned gray and is hanging out in the corner of the tank ( defense mode I guess) the thing is he is all of 7 inches and the procupine is about 2 inches I guess size doesnt always matter Hopefully everyone will be back to normal in the morning and all will be well. The porcupine was only $14.00 they had like 5 of them and that is the regular price, seemed pretty cheap to me. I will post some pics as soon as he poses for me. I just went and looked again and spike is now swimming around and has a little color back. My cowfish has had no interest at all in the porcupine he hasnt swam anywhere near him.

 

[Raimond]

Sorry to hear about your black boxfish,

My Dog Faced Puffer is very mellow and no one pays him any attention really. He has puffed up twice that I have seen, when he does he is very intimidating to everyone in the tank. BTW it is not good for them to inflate, they can sometimes have difficulty deflating. The two times mine inflated I could see no reason for it. Once was after lights went out I heard him splashing around at the surface. Got a flashlight to see what the problem was, no idea so I just did what I do every day and pet him through the glass. He responds well to this... You got a good deal on yours, mine was like $40. When "Chompers" gets stressed like during water changes, he turns dark and lays at the bottom of the tank until I am done. Not sure this really answers your question but its info for the future.. Long live your puffer..

 

[boxfishlover]

Well the news gets worse yesterday I noticed that my longhorn cowfish had some abrasions from where the black boxfish was pecking at him. The cowfish was a little withdrawn so I treated the tank last night with antibiotics well I got home today and gunner my cowfish was gone I guess I reacted to late to the wound and he didnt make it, I was crushed I really liked him he had so much personality. Sometimes this hobby can be so frustrating. I think everything is on hold until I get a protein skimmer going.

 

[StripesTheEel]

I find the best thing to do when introducing a new fish to your display tank is placing a mirror onto one of the sides of the tank with some sticky tape for a few days.

Any current fish will see their own reflections and will defend themselves against their new rival and generally leave the "real" new fish alone.

 

[rive1404]

I find the best thing to do when introducing a new fish to your display tank is placing a mirror onto one of the sides of the tank with some sticky tape for a few days.

Any current fish will see their own reflections and will defend themselves against their new rival and generally leave the "real" new fish alone.

That's clever. I'm going to steal this method and try it out for myself. Thanks.

 

[Krypt]

Since it was a box fish that you lost, it may have let its toxins go and poisoned the tank a bit. That would explain all of the sudden symptoms of the other fish. You may want to run some GAC and do a water change to get it out just in case that is what happened to prevent against any further losses. Sorry about your loss.

 

[Raimond]

I like the mirror idea, have to try that as I am going to add a yellow tang soon.

 

[Jimbo7]

Since it was a box fish that you lost, it may have let its toxins go and poisoned the tank a bit. That would explain all of the sudden symptoms of the other fish. You may want to run some GAC and do a water change to get it out just in case that is what happened to prevent against any further losses. Sorry about your loss.

+1

 

[boxfishlover]

I thought about that (toxin) still not sure I buy into the whole toxin deal but as a precaution I did exactly that today (GAC) I did a huge water change and cleaned ouy my canister tonight. I am going to test everything later. Still not sure how quickly I want to replace my cowfish the boxfish has already been replaced with a porcupine puffer.