Food poisoning?

TriniStylez

New member
Is this possible with fish and if so, is there anything I can do???

My Puffers are both in separate QT's while I get their new bigger home ready. They are both in 24G nano cubes which are pretty small for them but I have been doing daily 50% water changes and using amquel to keep everything in check. I had a slight ph problem but otherwise, everything has been good. No ammonia, nitrites and just the slightest nitrates that I believe come directly from the tap water I use.

Anyways, I came home today to find both gasping heavily and on the bottom of their respective tanks! They both looked very bad. I immediately thought water conditions had gone wrong. Quickly changed 75-80% of the bigger ones tank water and moved the smaller on to a 5G bucket of brand new water. Not much change. The bigger guy was actually at the surface gasping for air. He looked terrible. I changed a little more water to lower the salinity a tiny bit and he has now settled down a bit. He is still gasping but not nearly as much. I do use a calibrated refractometer so Im sure the salinity is right on.

The smaller guy in the bucket still looks horrible and has now thrown up his food. Which is the only other thing I can think of...Since the water checks out and should be fine, the only other thing they have in common is they both ate the same squid last night.

This Squid was frozen but I have had it frozen for a good 3 months. Could it have been bad??? I have no idea how long it lasts in the freezer but never really thought much about it. Just assumed it should be fine. They have never eaten this kind of squid before. It was fresh when I bought it and never had anything added. I guess it still could have come into contact with something bad though.

Does anyone have any ideas??? Im kind of lost for what is causing this besides maybe the food...

BTW, they have been in QT for about 3 weeks now and have been great until this.

Thanks!
 
I guess I forgot to mention that the gasping kind of started last night right after eating. I thought they were just breathing heavy because they ate too much. This morning, still gasping but not too badly, I checked the water and it checked out fine. Again, I thought they had ate too much and were working to digest it. This all seems like its connected to the food somehow...
 
Thanks for the link.

Well the smaller puffer has thrown up what looks like the rest of the food and now about an hour later, looks way better. The bigger guy is very bad still and has no thrown up. He actually looks constipated. I have never seen his back end so round and his belly so small. He really looks in bad shape though. Hanging around the water surface gasping. Water quality is great as I just did that 75% change. Really sucks watching him in so much discomfort.
 
Could it be some kind of toxin in the food? So not so much food poisoning in the sense of bacteria, but some kind of squid- or bacteria-produced toxin?
 
Well how big are the puffers in a 24g tank, ( I know QT)?

because water quality can fowl quite easily with a big fish in a small tank and changing wazter everyday can help but is it close in chemistry? Meaning pH esc.?

Also what about flow, they very well could just need more oxygen in the tank esp if they are gasping.

Are you exporting just with water changes?

What kind of puffers?
 
Puffers are one S&S at about 6 inches and one Porc at about 4 inches. I am matching the salinity, temp, and PH with water changes carefully, I know it will never be perfect though. They both have very good flow but who knows, maybe not enough? And yes, at the moment, just the water changes. I have been testing twice daily and have not found any troubles yet.

Today, I have not done a water change but the bigger S&S who looked terrible last night looks great today and is breathing fine. The smaller Porc also looks better but a bit stressed obviously.

They should be out of QT in about 2 weeks. I hope they can make it a bit longer!
 
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