Hi, I had just bought a very small baby "stars and Stripes" puffer. It died in about 3 days. The plan was to put him in my nano cube(24gal) until he grew a bit bigger to go in the large tank with all the big fish. In this nano I have had a pair of tomato clowns and a dwarf lion fish for over a year. I had tested the water the day before I bought him and did a water change to bring down the little bit of nitrates I detected. So when I introduced him with the drip method the water tested great. I did a slow drip method for about 2 hours to acclimate. He was so active and seemed really happy. He was eating from my hand frozen shrimp. Then on the 3rd day he started acting skittish. He started hiding from me when I came in the room. I noticed his face around his mouth was a bit "puffy". Now I know this is a "puffer" fish but he wasn't puffing his body or anything like that. This seemed like something not right(and obviously it was). I found him this morning dead with his skin starting to peal off almost like he was shedding his skin. He was perched on the rock he seemed to like so much. Now, I've lost fish before but not this fast. Usually when a fish dies this fast there is something really wrong with the water or the fish. My water tested normal for PH, nitrate,nitrite, salinity. I admit I didn't test for ammonia. I figured if the nitrate and nitrite were ok I'd probably be ok. Plus I've had fish in there for some time.
The fish seemed very healthy when I got him. And everything I read says they are super hardy and easy to keep. I've never had a puffer before. I keep some very difficult fish with no problems in one of my other tanks. I'm not a beginner at this stuff but I still have allot to learn. Any ideas what it could be? Are there things that puffers are sensitive to? I even asked several guys I know that are really knowledgeable about marine fish before I bought him to make sure my idea seemed like an ok idea.
Any thoughts or ideas would be very appreciated. Just so everyone knows, I will not be getting anything else for this tank until I know what is going on and why he died. Thanks,
Kenzie
The fish seemed very healthy when I got him. And everything I read says they are super hardy and easy to keep. I've never had a puffer before. I keep some very difficult fish with no problems in one of my other tanks. I'm not a beginner at this stuff but I still have allot to learn. Any ideas what it could be? Are there things that puffers are sensitive to? I even asked several guys I know that are really knowledgeable about marine fish before I bought him to make sure my idea seemed like an ok idea.
Any thoughts or ideas would be very appreciated. Just so everyone knows, I will not be getting anything else for this tank until I know what is going on and why he died. Thanks,
Kenzie
