help! my puffer died!

[jmaglich]

Hey there,
So I just got this little guy a few days ago...Not sure if he had been eating, as I never physically saw him eat, but a few ghost shrimp disappeared...Anyways, yesterday he was just swimming around normally, nothing wrong at all. Right as Im about to go to bed, I notice him laying upside down on the bottom. He's still alive, and as I netted him I noticed he couldn't maintain balance at all, and would spin in circles, hit the ground, etc when he was let go. What the heck happened, any ideas???? I have 4 tiger barbs in there are they're healthy as can be. TIA

 

[Alshain]

We need to know your water parameters to give an accurate diagnosis. Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates, and pH at least. GH/KH would help too. What is in the tank with him? Any information you can give will help.

 

[jmaglich]

Im not sure of the water parameters. I just started the tank a few days ago, and started it with live refrigerated bacteria. There are currently 4 tiger barbs in the tank with it, and the temp is held at about 76-80.

 

[jcarlilesiu]

You have to get a test kit which will give you the ammonia nitrite and nitrate readings. Even though the bacteria you bought at the store as refrigerated, its possible at some point during shipping it got warm and was no long effective.

If the tank is only 2 days old, its perameters are extremely unstable, thus the need for continual close monitoring. The aquarium pharmacuticals freshwater master test kit is the test of choice and fairly cheap/readily available.

Before stocking any more live stock, I would suggest getting the test kit, and if the tank is inhabitant free, cycling with the raw shrimp (fishless) method.

 

[jmaglich]

the tank is not inhabitant free, but has some hearty tiger barbs in it, and also has 4-6 shrimp in. I will plan to leave it like that for the next week to ensure cycling. The bacteria stayed cold the whole trip, I bought it myself, and kept it in a container with an ice pack. I doubt I will ever add a puffer again in the near future, I will probably just get either some more tiger barbs, or a few tetras. Any suggestions for stocking the rest of the tank are welcome, it is a 10gallon, by the way.

 

[jamesrm]

I think the point with the bacteria is that it *could* have been not cooled during some point of getting it distributed to your LFS. He was not saying you warmed it up, but it is possible it lost its potency before it got into your fish tank.

 

[jcarlilesiu]

that is correct, I wasn't saying you did it, but sometimes after being manufactured, it isn't kept in the necessary perameters to keep it "working".

You should still get the test kit while you cycle with fish, because this will let you know when you will need to do partial water changes.

While the fish are "establishing" the tank, their waste isn't being converted due to no bacteria in the tank that takes on this task. Basically, its like the fish living in a new septic tank. You can however continue this cycle by performing partial water changes at the time these toxins get high, essentially lowering them back down while still progressing and developing that bacteria.

Ammonia and Nitrite are the big ones to look for. Either of these reading over .25-.5 ppm, its time for some new clean water.

HTH

 

[penpitt]

Puffers in general do not make suitable tankmates for a community aquarium. The only commonly available one that would stay small enough to stay in a 10 gallon is a dwarf puffer. The other commonly available puffers need larger tanks and in the case of figure-8s and green spotted puffers, need a brackish setup to thrive. Puffers also do not do well in new setups and tend to be more susceptible to ammonia and nitrite poisoning.It is possible that the bio-spira was defective like previously mentioned, causing an ammonia spike