1 sick and 1 dead puffer! HELP!

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Sammysaddiction

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I had 2 green spotted puffers in a 20 gallon with a specific gravity of 1.008. The are both juveniles hence the small tank and low specific gravity. I have had them both for about a month and a half. Tonight one died on me. :( The other one looks stressed and ignored some blood worms! Ammonia was slightly high everything else was normal. I did a 75% water change and ammonia is now 0. I was 3 days late on my weekly water change. What do I do? HELP!
 

Pufferpunk

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We have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.

1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.

2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.

3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)

4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.

5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it?

We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.
 

Lycanthropic

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Well IMO one probably killed the other. I had 2 in my 30 gallon, both lil guys and the agression got so bad that one wouldnt come out to eat. I had to return the other one. Try getting a tank divider or seperating them and see if that helps. as well, drop some snails in there... they wont be able to resist.
 

Sammysaddiction

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He's still not eating. He did refuse snails! The size difference between the two was huge even though they were both juvies. One is about an inch and the one that died was about 1/4th of an inch.

1) I'll test for numbers in a bit. Its raining out and very dark outside so I still have all the fish lights off.
2)20 gallon and 1 green spotted puffer
3)I do a 50% water change weekly. It was last done last night. As I said before I was a few days behind on it. The only tankmates are 2 snails that just refuse to die. One MTS and one ramshorn. I use instant ocean, and prime. I did use cycle when first setting the tank up over a month ago. Nothing else is being used though. They are feed clams, mussles, shrimp (all 3 with shells still on or crushed up some), frozen blood worms, snails (mts, ramshorn, and bladder), and fresh catfish. Everyday they get something different. They still like flakes from being at the LFS so sometimes they got those as well. I feed them the very meaty kind from Kens.
4)No changes at all!
5)Aquarium has been set up for a little over a month. I cycled it when Cycle. Followed the directions to a T and added the puffers a few days later.
 

Pufferpunk

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Since Cycle does not cycle a tank & contains nothing but DEAD bacteria, I'm thinking your puffer/s are suffering thru a cycle. I'd be very interested in your water parameters.
 

Sammysaddiction

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Since Cycle does not cycle a tank & contains nothing but DEAD bacteria, I'm thinking your puffer/s are suffering thru a cycle. I'd be very interested in your water parameters.
I disagree with you. Cycle does cycle a tank. I have used it on 2 other tanks and tested them every day for 2 months and they remained perfectly stabled and cycled. Just because my posts here are low does not mean that I am new to the hobby. :) I understand though that there are a lot of new people and assuming that a cycle is going on is always the first best answer. I completely get it. I have someone sleeping on my couch, as soon as they wake up I will turn on the lights and test my water. :)
 

Sammysaddiction

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I was just doing some more research and I'm wondering if I was sold a [SIZE=+3]Tetraodon travancoricus as a green spotted puffer. They look very similar to me! I will post some pics when I turn on the lights.
[/SIZE]
 

Pufferpunk

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You can compare here: http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/ug.php/v/PufferPedia/

How exactly did you use Cycle to cycle a tank? I suppose it would be a good product to seed a tank for fishless cycling but certainly not an "instant" cycling product, like Bio-Spira, containing live nitrifying bacteria.
 

jpappy789

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The only way to tell if it is cycled is to know the water params. Many bacteria-in-a-bottle products work, but can become faulty if mishandled (ie exposed to extreme temps) usually during the shipping process.

Could you please post them as its one of the most important aspects of diagnosing your problem.
 

Lycanthropic

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Wow. a big difference like that.... I had the littler one beat my big one into submission so bad he wouldnt eat. and arent mts bad for puffs because of the really hard shell?
 
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