Puffer Help!!

E.D.E

E.D.E

New member
Hi guys!
I'm calling all puffer experts for help. My dogface puffer currently has one of his fins tucked into his "gill area". The night lights were off, and I noticed he was only swimming with one fin. So I shined a light on him, and it turned out that he had "tucked" his fin into his gill openings. Now, I'm not 100% sure it was his decision to do so, but it's worrying me. It doesn't seem to be bothering him though. All tank specs are A O.K.He lives in a 180 fowl with a princess parrotfish, vlamingi tang, indian trigger, falco hawkfish, and soon to be gold heart trigger. And yes, I know the tang will need a bigger tank, he will be out soon enough. Thanks for any help you guys can give me. I was thinking that this could be a sign of ich though. Any thoughts?:confused:
 
Never mind, he seems to have fixed it. His fin is out now. Sorry, I'm a nervous pet parent! Still, does anyone have any ideas as to how this could have happened? :hmm3:
 
How long have you had the dogface? Do you see anything in the gills? When I first read this I was thinking gill flukes.
 
It's not common, but it's not that uncommon, my puffers will do this every once in a while, I usually notice it one or twice a year with my dogface and stars and stripes, not sure why but it seem that they choose to do so
 
I've noticed the behavior is more frequent if a parasite has infested the gills, but sometimes a healthy puffer will do it for no apparent reason. It looks very freaky. I'd watch the fish closely to be sure you don't have ich, velvet or gill flukes.
 
Puffers do this from time to time, but sometimes as a result of parasitic infections in the gills. How is the breathing rate and do the gills look red?
 
Well, as it turns out, it was probably due to ich. Unfortunately, I woke up today and noticed that almost all of my fish have a moderate amount on them! Augggghhhh!:mad2: It only makes it worse because I have a gold heart trigger coming in the mail. To make matters even worse, my mother doesn't believe in quarantine tanks. This is a recipe for disaster. Oh well, I've had worse happen to me and not lose anything, I'm sure everything will be fine. Let's hope the garlic and UV help!!:uhoh3:
 
E.D.E said:
Well, as it turns out, it was probably due to ich. Unfortunately, I woke up today and noticed that almost all of my fish have a moderate amount on them! Augggghhhh!:mad2: It only makes it worse because I have a gold heart trigger coming in the mail. To make matters even worse, my mother doesn't believe in quarantine tanks. This is a recipe for disaster. Oh well, I've had worse happen to me and not lose anything, I'm sure everything will be fine. Let's hope the garlic and UV help!!:uhoh3:
Click to expand...

That sucks
 
Your going to need to kill the ick, garlic and uv might slow it down but will never "cure" your fish. You will need to treat the fish with either hyposalinity or copper. When I first set up my tank two years ago I had to put my display through 8 weeks of hyposalinity and prazipro due to a similar issue. I have never had any sign of disease since.
Good Luck.
 
johno4 said:
Your going to need to kill the ick, garlic and uv might slow it down but will never "cure" your fish. You will need to treat the fish with either hyposalinity or copper. When I first set up my tank two years ago I had to put my display through 8 weeks of hyposalinity and prazipro due to a similar issue. I have never had any sign of disease since.
Good Luck.
Click to expand...

I realize that. However, you need to take into consideration that copper can kill puffers as they don't have scales, and copper hurts the necessary bacterial microfauna that live in the tangs' internal organs. I could do that to the trigger, but catching him is gonna be another story. The tang, trigger, and puffer are the only ones who have ich.
 
Alright, since everyone's recommending hypo--something I've never done before, can someone explain to me how to turn my tank from 1.22 to whatever salinity I need to go to? Thanks!:twitch:
 
I also have a puffer thats why I went with Hyposalinity. A Qt tank is best but if you must do it in the display make sure you remove all your inverts and you'll have to monitor your water closely. You might experience some die off which can cause a spike in amonia. I did not see this happen when I did this to my tank but you should be prepared for it.

Simply take out some water and replace it with fresh water. Do it a little at a time over a couple days. You want your salinity down to 1.008 and hold it there for 8 weeks. Make sure you use a refractometer so your reading is more accurate. After 8 weeks bring the salinity back up, again slowly over a couple of days.
 
HI..
I have a 120 and did the hypo, you really have to stay on top of it. My tank is FO so its a lil ezr to do. But the ich showed itself about 5 weeks later. Im doing Seachems Cuparmine right now. 1/4 dosage then up to 1/2 dosage. Both dogface and porc are fine eating like pigs and no sign of ich on fish. Not sure how it will work on the LiveRock, so you have to do some reading. Try to do QT on the fish and treat them with Cuparmine, then leave MT empty of all fish. Look at some of my posts they link how to do hypo.

The dogface is the ich magnet, it will show itself right away on them.

GL
 
If the hyposalinity didnt work, most likely the salinity was not where it needed to be. If you dont drop it down to 1.009 and leave it there it wont work.
 
Yep..I found out my refractometer was off. I had to return it and get a new one. By that time all the fish looked good. So I gave it some time and raised sg. Then about about 4-5weeks later BAM...ich. So know its Cuparmine time.
 
Sweeper13 said:
Yep..I found out my refractometer was off. I had to return it and get a new one. By that time all the fish looked good. So I gave it some time and raised sg. Then about about 4-5weeks later BAM...ich. So know its Cuparmine time.
Click to expand...

Can't you calibrate your refractometer?

If your puffer has ich, you may want to reconsider Cuparmine and keep up with hypo, as they are more sensitive to copper products than other fish. It can be done.. but would think you would want to go the least dangerous route if an option.
 
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