Dwarf Puffer Ill

[jiffy]

I noticed my DP sitting on the bottom of my tank today. I thought she had died, so I went to net her when I thought I saw her eye move. I got her to the surface, then she moved a little, so I left her in the tank. I tried to feed her a bloodworm, but no luck.

So now she is sitting on the bottom of the tank again, not swimming or moving at all really. She is breathing and occasionally moves her eyes or tail. I did a large waterchange and added some aquarium salt.

Tank is a 3 gallon hex with UGF, temp was at 74 but I have upped it to 84 with the aquarium salt. I couldn't take readings before I did the water change because my test kit is at my girlfriends house right now.

Anything else I should do to try and save her?

 

[phlawed]

I noticed my DP sitting on the bottom of my tank today. I thought she had died, so I went to net her when I thought I saw her eye move. I got her to the surface, then she moved a little, so I left her in the tank. I tried to feed her a bloodworm, but no luck.

So now she is sitting on the bottom of the tank again, not swimming or moving at all really. She is breathing and occasionally moves her eyes or tail. I did a large waterchange and added some aquarium salt.

Tank is a 3 gallon hex with UGF, temp was at 74 but I have upped it to 84 with the aquarium salt. I couldn't take readings before I did the water change because my test kit is at my girlfriends house right now.

Anything else I should do to try and save her?

How long has puffer been in tank? puffers are very much affected by nitrites and amonia, test kit would be wise if keeping puffers. clean the substrate VERY well picking up all you can, continue with the water changes daily until you can test water. Dont know if a DP would need salt.

 

[Fella]

how come you raised the temperature and added the salt? I would perhaps add salt, but not raise the temperature unless I saw an outward manifestation of a parasite.

Has the puffer been eating? Does his stomach look sunken? Have you seen him eat recently?

 

[ajbettle]

dont meen to but in, but what is ur 10gallon tank called? sorry about ur puffer by the way...

 

[WILDER]

Is she also laying to one side on the bottom of the tank, she dosn't sound good at all, sounds like she has a bacterial infection.

 

[nmonks]

Adding salt to a freshwater puffer aquarium doesn't serve any purpose, and may cause harm. While it could be used therapeutically to treat external parasites, like whitespot, simply as a random "hope for the best" treatment, it's pointless.

With puffers, and indeed any fish, water chemistry and quality are far more likely problems than mysterious internal bacteria. I don't know where this thing about internal bacteria as the cause of unknown deaths came from. Anyway, check your pH, hardness, nitrite, and nitrate. For a dwarf puffer, the exact pH and hardness values don't matter much, but they musn't have suddenly changed. If your pH has suddenly gone up or down, that is bad.

All puffers are nitrite intolerant, and most are nitrate intolerant. A 3 gallon tank is a bucket really, and whether or not its big enough for the fish in terms of swimming space, it doesn't give you much leeway as far as water stability goes. Nitrates should be below 50 mg/l, ideally well below. Nitrites should be zero.

Raising the temperature is another bad idea. The warmer the water, the less oxygen. Puffers use up a lot of oxygen. I would maintain the tank at around 24-25 C.

Single dwarf puffers often sit around doing nothing. That is entirely normal. I have a pair of Carinotetraodon irrubesco (red-tail, red-eye puffers) and they are often to be found lurking in a favourite crevice. One thing that has made them happy is introducing floating plants. The female especially will sometimes just hang out among the roots of the Salvinia, and I often find them both there in the morning, waiting for breakfast. I get the impression dwarf puffers don't like open spaces and bright light, so make sure your tank has plenty of caves and cover. Anyway, when they are 'resting' they often curl their tails around their bodies, and breathe very gently. I guess they're napping, like cats.

Cheers,

Neale