puffergeek

I've had him for about 4 months and about 6 or 7 weeks ago I had what I think were gill flukes in my tank. I put the medicine to kill parasites into the tank as directed and every thing went back to mormal. But now my pufferfish is sitting on the bottom of the tank, and he won't eat anything. Even when I put the food right in front of him he just stares at it. For about a week he hasn't been eatting as much as normal but I figured that he just wasn't hungry. Then today he stoped eating all together and sitting on the bottom. I've been feeding him freeze-dried krill. My water parameters are ok, nitrates are about 20, nitrites are 0, and pH is 7.6. My water temp is around 76 and the salinity is a little less then 1.004. I recently started adding salt to my tank becaue I realized my puffer needed to be kept in brackish water. I had the salinity at 1.002 for about a month and then rased it to 1.004 yesterday. Is he having a problem ajusting to the new salt level? My puffer is in a 30 gallon with 2 ottos and 2 siamese algae eaters, all of which are fine. I was wondering if it could be indigestion? If so, how do I fix that?

peacemaker92

Hi puffer and Welcome to Fishlore!

Sorry you and your puffer fish is going through this. I know it must be hard for you to watch him like this. I'm not really experienced with puffer fish but about the indigestion. You can feed him raw green peas about the size of his eye, and you can dip it in garlic juice. Be sure to get rid of the shell too. IF it's indigestion, he should be fine in a few days. Please keep us updated. I hope he gets well soon.

Best of luck!

aquarist48

Hello Puffergeek and Welcome to Fish Lore. I don't have personal experience with Puffers but here is a link you may find helpful until you get some more responses:
General Guide to Puffer Care
Best wishes and I hope your Puffer is going to be ok.
Ken

jgon_

I had a similar experience with my F8 after medication (camallanus worms in my case). I'd do a 100% water change, maybe 50% at a time, within a day or two. Make sure to keep all the parameters the same. You may also want to run some active carbon in your filter to make sure all the medication is cleared from the water. Though it does seem like a is long time from when you medicated, cleaner water never hurts.

Also, I'd load his tank up with snails so he can eat as soon as he feels like it again. Hope he gets better.

Is his belly grey at all? Is he laying on the bottom his tailed curled?

puffergeek

He isn't laying on the bottom anymore, but he still won't eat. I've been putting a few peas and some krill in the tank and hopefully he will eat them when I'm not looking. Thanks for the help.

harpua2002

I can't be of much help with your puffer problem, but I don't think your otos and SAEs will fare well in brackish water. Could you move them to another tank?

puffergeek

I've heard that Siamese algae eaters are fine in brackish water. Ottos are ok to as long as its really light brackish. My tank is 1.005 so they should be alright. Any ways I can't really move them to a different tank right now, mabye after christmas I will be able to move the ottos.