Toby puffer acting strange...

[ice cream jones]

So i've got a spotted toby, who has been battling ich for about 6 weeks now, his colors started fading, but he acted completely normal and was always excited about food. On sunday he was laying on his side on in his corner cave, and i thought he was a goner. I gave him a quick freshwater bath for about 2 minutes, and places him back in the tank. For the next two days he laid there, barely breathing. At once point he was completely upside down, i was in a rush and didnt have time to remove him from the tank and take him to the toilet to say goodbye.

When i arrived back from work 4 hours later the tank lights were on, and he was upright, treading water again. he has been doing this for two days now.. he has made him way out to the middle of the tank, and looks somewhat lethargic, but he is aware of his surroundings, swims up to me when i get near the tank, but he wont eat his brine, or favorite garlic seaweed. Any idea whats going on with him? He surprisingly looks better every day, but refuses to eat

I have plans this weekend to set up a hospital tank, and remove toby, and the firefish(which shows absolutely no signs of sickness).

 

[sandwi54]

you mentioned the toby has been battling ich. what treatment has been done to battle the ich? if no treatment was was performed, then the toby is simply succumbing to the parasites. it seemed like he lost his buoyancy, which is often the result of secondary bacterial infection caused by ich. this happens quite often when ich is left untreated.

if it's a bacterial infection, you can't really wait anymore. it progresses very fast and the fish often dies in a few days. you will want to remove him into a hospital tank and dose maracyn 2 right away. once he gets better and antibiotics treatment is done, start treating for that ich.

you mentioned brine shrimp and seaweed. while seaweed offers some vegetable materials, they are both not the right diet for a puffer, especially the brine which has almost no nutritional value. puffer needs fresh seafood in their diets, e.g., clams, mussels, squids, etc. no fish can live on brine shrimp and seaweed for very long. soaking the food in vitamin supplements will also help boost its immune system.