Puffer Lover
Aquarium Advice Newbie
- Joined
- Oct 16, 2019
- Messages
- 2
Hi! I'm desperate to help my BFF Spot! He's a 12 year old green spotted puffer who lives alone in a 12 gallon tank, and he's having a REALLY hard time at the moment (a larger tank is currently in the works). He's been in low salinity all this time and it's never seemed to be an issue (~1.002), he's always been a happy little guy buzzing around the tank and this is the first issue I've had with him. Kind of a little miracle fish, if you will!
Water parameters are below:
Salanity ~1.002
Ammonia 0
NO3 Somewhere between 0-20
NO2 0
pH 7.5
KH 80
GH 120
I left town for 2.5 weeks and it would appear the people feeding him over fed him immensely (dropped in an entire cube of bloodworms in once a day vs half a cube twice a day) which caused the ammonia levels to sky rocket. Also the air pump to his bubble machine was knocked over and the tube came unplugged so he was without the extra oxygen from the bubbles for these 2.5 weeks.
Since I've been home on Sunday, he's been SUPER lethargic, his belly is grey and his colors are very dull. He's either been laying on the floor of his cave or hanging out at the top of the tank near the water line, and is slow to greet me and beg for food when I get home from work. He's usually super excited to see me and immediately begs for food, but he recently stopped eating as of Tuesday morning. All of the above is very unlike him and I'm obviously concerned.
It also looked like he might have some sort of tiny parasites behind his pectoral fins, very small white splinter-like things...I figured skin flukes.
I did two ~30% water changes to get the ammonia, nitrate, & nitrite levels down on Sunday and Monday, however he's still not back to normal so I dosed the tank with 1 tablet of Tetra Parasite Guard on Monday night and am getting ready ready to change the water and add a 2nd dose.
Since adding the medicine I've noticed a few things that are a little weird...
1. He's still really lethargic but it looks like the flukes have decreased in amount, however he's still not eating.
2. His anus looks like it's plugged up, almost like he's constipated, and it appears there's whiteish clear substance clogging it...Is this him pooping out internal parasites? usually when he's not pooping the cavity shrinks in size but it's like there's a cork in there (So graphic, but I just want to be specific as possible to find out what's going on with him. He pooped normal brown color on Monday night but there was 1 string of clearish sting hanging from it, which is the first time I've ever seen anything like that...and is another reason why I decided to dose the tank)
His breathing was pretty fast on Monday, but has chilled out sine I dosed the tank, however he's still dull in color, not eating and lingering at the top and or bottom of the tank with very little movement. He'll periodically come out and swim up to greet me but it almost instantly wears him out.
As another option I've picked up instant ocean and am starting to increase the salinity gradually, however this is new to me and I'm open to any help I can get on how to best do that, as well as any suggestions on what else might be wrong with him.
I can tell he's reeeally trying to hang in there, so any feedback on what I an do to help him would be really appreciated!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!
Water parameters are below:
Salanity ~1.002
Ammonia 0
NO3 Somewhere between 0-20
NO2 0
pH 7.5
KH 80
GH 120
I left town for 2.5 weeks and it would appear the people feeding him over fed him immensely (dropped in an entire cube of bloodworms in once a day vs half a cube twice a day) which caused the ammonia levels to sky rocket. Also the air pump to his bubble machine was knocked over and the tube came unplugged so he was without the extra oxygen from the bubbles for these 2.5 weeks.
Since I've been home on Sunday, he's been SUPER lethargic, his belly is grey and his colors are very dull. He's either been laying on the floor of his cave or hanging out at the top of the tank near the water line, and is slow to greet me and beg for food when I get home from work. He's usually super excited to see me and immediately begs for food, but he recently stopped eating as of Tuesday morning. All of the above is very unlike him and I'm obviously concerned.
It also looked like he might have some sort of tiny parasites behind his pectoral fins, very small white splinter-like things...I figured skin flukes.
I did two ~30% water changes to get the ammonia, nitrate, & nitrite levels down on Sunday and Monday, however he's still not back to normal so I dosed the tank with 1 tablet of Tetra Parasite Guard on Monday night and am getting ready ready to change the water and add a 2nd dose.
Since adding the medicine I've noticed a few things that are a little weird...
1. He's still really lethargic but it looks like the flukes have decreased in amount, however he's still not eating.
2. His anus looks like it's plugged up, almost like he's constipated, and it appears there's whiteish clear substance clogging it...Is this him pooping out internal parasites? usually when he's not pooping the cavity shrinks in size but it's like there's a cork in there (So graphic, but I just want to be specific as possible to find out what's going on with him. He pooped normal brown color on Monday night but there was 1 string of clearish sting hanging from it, which is the first time I've ever seen anything like that...and is another reason why I decided to dose the tank)
His breathing was pretty fast on Monday, but has chilled out sine I dosed the tank, however he's still dull in color, not eating and lingering at the top and or bottom of the tank with very little movement. He'll periodically come out and swim up to greet me but it almost instantly wears him out.
As another option I've picked up instant ocean and am starting to increase the salinity gradually, however this is new to me and I'm open to any help I can get on how to best do that, as well as any suggestions on what else might be wrong with him.
I can tell he's reeeally trying to hang in there, so any feedback on what I an do to help him would be really appreciated!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!