F8P clamped fin

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Mar 25, 2003
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Hi all,

One of the two F8s I've got is worrying me a little. It keeps one of its pectoral fins clamped close to its body a lot of the time.

I've been trying to find out what might be causing this and my own searching is leading me to believe it may have a gill parasite of some sort. I guess I'm only basing this on the fact that they are young (i.e. recently caught), the fin seems to fold back to expose the gill (??), and its possible (but I'm struggling to tell) that it is 'labouring' a bit when breathing.

All the water parameters are fine (pH 7.7, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 10ppm) and the fish is eating ok, good colours, active (although maybe has been hanging around near the top of the tank a bit more than before).

I have just started to (very slowly) add 'instant ocean' to the tank as advised.

I don't want to jump on the 'medication for medication's sake' bandwagon, and don't really want to medicate at all if I can help it. But if I need to...

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks in advance.
Ade.
 
nobody have any ideas:confused:

I've been away for a few days, but he's still doing it.

My reading of Wetman's site (amongst others) leads me to think its gill flukes - but I don't want to chuck a load of strong meds in there without an opinion off somebody that's been there before...

Cheers,
Ade.
 
Haven't been there before, but I can agree that puffers often come in with parasites. Are they taking any prepared foods (bloodwrms, etc) yet? If so, there is anecdotal support for soaking these foods in garlic oil before feeding. The garlic helps the fish get rid of the parasite quicker, without meds. Depending on what the parasite it, the increasing salt level should help as well, since few parasites can handle the shift in osmotic pressure.

If the puffer is still eating, there's always hope!
 
Shall I give them a glass of red wine to wash it down with? :)

Only joking!

When you say 'prepared food' do you mean freeze dried or frozen? They will eat frozen bloodworm, mussel, cockle etc - so I could try soaking that in garlic oil?

He's still eating fine and is active mostly, with good colour. Its just the fin thing and rarely 'flashing' (I think its called) against objects.

Thanks - I'll give it a go.

Ade.
 
Yep, soak any and all of those in the garlic. You can usually pick it up in health stores--get the kind in water, not oil. Think I said oil above--shouldn't have. It's actually garlic essence--liquid that they can squish out. Oil would work as well, but has a nasty habit of floating on top of the water, quite scummy.

:)
 
Well, they both died within 12 hours of each other :( :( :(

They had both become inactive and had stopped eating (wouldn't touch the garlic food). I checked the water pH = 7.8, amm = 0, nitrite = 0, nitrate = 10 ppm, temp 79.

Did a water change etc, but too late. My guess is that they were on borrowed time as it were due to having to endure a cycle. For that I blame my LFS for telling me they would be fine in my uncycled 15gallon tank.

A lesson learnt the hard way.

However I now have a cycled tank that I need to decide what to do with. If I leave it too long the biofilter will die off, right?

I think I have the bug though and would like to get another puffer, but do it properly this time :o

At my LFS they have some (as labelled by them) Pygmy puffers, aka Dwarf Puffers (T. travancorius). They have been there a while and when I last some looked a little the worse for wear (but sooo cute!).

They also have some Colomesus asellus. They are tiny (about 1.5cm) and look very active, hungry and healthy at present. From what I can find out about them they are FW, reasonably peaceful and will tolerate some tankmates.

Would one of these be viable for my 15.5g (18 US gallon) tank? I have done a 75% water change without salt so the water contains very little salt (around 1 tsp per 5 gallons). The water params are all still good. The pH should drop slightly as I have removed coral from the filter (its 7.5 from the tap).

Could I add any more fish, even another Colomesus, and if so how long would they be ok in that tank for? I plan on getting a larger tank in less than a year.

Thanks for any opinions or advice.

Cheers,
Ade
 
As long as you keep adding food to the system, there should be no problem keeping the bacterial bed alive.

I'm sorry to hear about the puffers, Ade, but I'd try to see if there are parasites in the system prior to adding more fish.
 
Ade,

That's too bad about the puffers :(

if your tank is now empty, it will need a source of ammonia to keep your tank cycled. either fish or another source. if I were you, i would pick up a bottle of ammonia and spike the tank just to get a nice colony of BB prepared for the new inhabitants, that way you can stock your tank all at once instead of adding fish slowly. also you'll ensure that your tank won't experience any mini-cycles that, as you've found out, puffers don't do to well with.

Either a pack of dwarf puffs (3-5, depending on m/f ratio) or a pair (maybe 3, since you say you'll get a bigger tank in a ~year) of CA would do fine, and don't require any additional salt in the system. both of these fish are on the peaceful side of puffers, they will tolerate non-aggressive tankmates as long as there are no flowing fins like bettas or angels. I have a pack of 3 dwarfs in 35 gallon planted tank with 8 harlequin rasboras, 4 dwarf cories (asomething) and 4 ottos. I started with 4 puffers, but one was killed, so now I have 1m 2f, the males didn't get along. when you first get the dwarfs, keep an eye one them for a while, I thought I bought 1m and 3f, but when they are young it's very difficult to sex them.
 
So sorry for your loss. :( I didn't comment on gill flukes, because I've never had to treat for that problem. You just reminded me about cycling your tank with these fish. Puffers have no gill covers & can have permanent damage done to their gills by ammonia. Maybe that's what happened to your fish. If you understand about fishless cucling, all you have to add is ammonia every day (just like the fish would) to keep the tank cycled. If you need more info, i can send it to you.

That tank would be perfect for 7-10 dwarfs of 2-3 SA puffers.
 
Thanks for the responses.

Childawg - any suggestions how I can establish if there are any parasites present?

Pufferpunk - Yeah- I figured I may have damaged their gills during cycling and maybe they couldn't fight off some kind of parasite or infection? I guess I'll never know for sure.

I like the CA and in fact have reserved two from the LFS (still in the shop though). When I can be more certain the tank is ready I'll pick them up and maybe get a scavenger to help clean up.


Also they will be put in isolation at the LFS for up to 2 weeks from now, so if they have got any problems hopefully it will show up in the meantime.

After all I have to get more puffers now as I have a separate tank full of snail eggs:D
 
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