What's wrong with Yoshi- the F8??

[Chikadee]

I have a Figure 8 puffer in his own 10gal tank with lots of cover. SG- 1.002, slowly raising it up to 1.005. (I just got him two weeks ago, he was in completely fresh water at the LFS) He was a happy camper the first week, eating and swimming all over the place. The past few days, he's been really lethargic, sitting in a corner all day and he won't come out for food. This morning I found him head down tail up in a plant, heaving. I was just about to put him out of his misery, but when I went to get him, he wasn't there anymore. I found him swimming around as if nothing happened! He still doesn't look great, but he's moving now, it still looks like he's heaving and having a hard time breathing. All water parameters are fine, ammonia-0, nitrite-0, nitrate- <20. His coloring looks a little bit faded but other than that, there's nothing wrong as far as I can tell. Any idea what's going on???

 

[Allivymar]

Hrmm. Looks like more of a process of elimination then an definitive answer unfortunately.

It doesn't seem to be a water parameter issue; obviously those are fine.

Take a look at its belly? Is it concave? What color is it? The belly is sorta the barometer of health for most puffers.

Are you using plain aquarium salt or marine salt to change the SG?

What's the tank temps?

Puffers are usually wild caught; he may have brought something along with him although its hard to say what.

 

[Chikadee]

*sigh* Yoshi didn't make it. He was stuck between a plant and a piece of drift wood, nose down and heaving like crazy and floating around. I decided to put him out of his misery via clove oil. It sure sucks having to put down a pet, whether it's a cat, dog or fish. RIP Yoshi...

 

[Allivymar]

Aw I'm sorry Chik; that sucks

Btw, slightly off topic, but where did you find clove oil? I have been searching for over a month now, and the local health food stores don't carry it.

 

[Chikadee]

They opened up a new Whole Foods near me and it is HUGE. They have every single health item you can possibly imagine! I got clove oil there.

 

[Menagerie]

Sorry to hear about your loss. Have you checked with the LFS to see how their puffers are doing?

 

[Chikadee]

They've been sold out for awhile... I just don't understand, they keep their F8 and GSP in freshwater and they seem to do fine there. I take mine home and try to do it the right way and it dies.

 

[Menagerie]

You won't know about the others; however, my guess is you were not the only one with problems. What is your LFS "stay alive" guarantee/refund policy?