Bruce the F8 Puffer help

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Aysvin

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
May 13, 2013
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Well, Bruce just scared me. I came back to my room after eating something and started looking for him. After a minute I saw him at the bottom of the tank with his tail curled up. When he saw me, though, he rose up, tail still curled a bit, and started swimming around. Now he's acting normal again.

This happened last night too. I'm still trying to cycle his tank and get all the factors right so I'm not sure if he had been sleeping or if he's getting sick from unideal conditions.

If you know anything about Figure 8 Puffers can you lend me some advice/thoughts?

1~What type of fish is afflicted? Figure 8 Puffer, problem is described above.
2~What are your tank parameters? Unfortunately they aren't ideal yet and I'm trying to work on them. I didn't know about cycling until after I got the fish. Ammonia ~2, Nitrate 10, Nitrite .5, Hardness 22 degrees, Alkalinity 120, pH 8 (I'm going to the pet store today so I'm going to ask them if they can give me some aquarium water)
3~ How large is the tank? How long has the tank been set up? 10 gallons because Bruce is only an inch long right now and I don't have the money to get a larger one right now. I set it up a week ago today, Monday May 13, 2013.
4~What type of filtration are you using? Please give the name and number (i.e. Fluval 304) and amount of gph if known. I'm not sure what filter I have. I threw the box away. I'm pretty sure it's a Tetra 10i.
5~How many fish are in the tank? What kinds of fish are they and what are their current sizes? 1 Figure 8 Puffer who is about an inch long.
6~When is the last time you did a water change and vacuum the gravel? How often do you do this? How much water do you remove at a time? I haven't had to vacuum the gravel yet and I changed out a gallon of water last night and am about to change at least 3 in a few minutes.
7~How long have you had the fish? If the fish is new, how did you acclimate it/them? I've had him for a week, but being a first time fish owner all I did was put his bag in the water until they were about the same temperature. He came from a brackish tank, though, and the one I put him in is brackish as well so hopefully the it wasn't that bad. He was eating and swimming around right off.
8~Have you added anything new to the tank--decor, new dechlorinator, new substrate, etc.? Just a little cave last night. I did put in some pH stabalizer to try an get the pH down to about 7.5 last night though.
9~What kind of food have you been feeding your fish, have you changed their diet recently? I give him live brine shrimp and freeze dried blood worms. He eats both very happily.

If I had known that fish needed such care I would have done a lot more research before getting one. I would have gotten a different kind, too, since F8s are so sensitive and don't mix well with most fish.
 
Yeah, do as big a water change as you can manage. 50% or more to try and get that ammonia and nitrite down as low as you can. If needs be, follow it up by another water change in a few hours or tomorrow to get yourself back in the safer ranges. Ideally you need your ammonia and nitrites at zero but since you've only had the tank running with a fish for a week, you have at least another 3-4 weeks before your tank is cycled. Do you have your own test kit? I assume you do, which one? Test your water frequently and do regular water changes. Which conditioner are you using? I'd recommend getting 'prime' if you haven't already, it can help detoxify some of the ammonia and nitrites while you are cycling.
 
Once you get your tank properly cycled, they things should be ok. It appears your on your way to doing this 'thumbs up'. I don't have any puffers but I've read that they will rest on he bottom with their tails curled but they also do this when they are uncomfortable. In your situation, it seams,because your doing a fish in cycle, it might be the latter. Keep on your larger water changes to get ammonia and nitrite to 0 and you should see some improvement.
 
Yeah, I changed out 3 gallons yesterday morning and then 2 last night. He hasn't curled up since I've posted this and is very active and his colors are still bright. I wish I could get some already cycled water for him and put some Mollies or something in his tank to cycle it while he chills in a 2.5 gallon critter carrier I have (partial water changes daily of course).

I don't want him to die on me 8(
If he does, though, I'm going freshwater since they're are more species options and will have it cycled with a few inexpensive fish that I think are pretty and wouldn't mind keeping if they live.
 
Yeah, do as big a water change as you can manage. 50% or more to try and get that ammonia and nitrite down as low as you can. If needs be, follow it up by another water change in a few hours or tomorrow to get yourself back in the safer ranges. Ideally you need your ammonia and nitrites at zero but since you've only had the tank running with a fish for a week, you have at least another 3-4 weeks before your tank is cycled. Do you have your own test kit? I assume you do, which one? Test your water frequently and do regular water changes. Which conditioner are you using? I'd recommend getting 'prime' if you haven't already, it can help detoxify some of the ammonia and nitrites while you are cycling.
My test kit is...API 5 in one for pH, hardness, Nitrite, nitrate, and alkalinity and then another API liquid chemical test for the ammonia itself. My conditioner is just the standard Top Fin.

I'm on a very right budget and don't have the cash to replace any of these. My dad had to buy me the API kits. Well, he got them because he's junky g about settin up our 45 gallon freshwater tank again. I'm just using the tests because, like I said, tight budget.
 
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