FAQs about True Puffer
Social Disease
FAQs on: Tetraodont Disease 1, True Puffer Disease 2, True Puffer Health 3, Puffer Health 4, Puffer Health 5, Puffer Health
FAQs on Marine Puffer Disease by Category:
Diagnosis,
Environment,
Nutrition, Trauma,
Pathogenic,
Treatments
Related Articles: Puffers in General, Puffer Care and
Information, A Saltwater Puffer Primer:
Big Pufferfish! by Mike Maddox, True
Puffers, Freshwater Puffers,
Burrfishes/Porcupinefishes,
Tobies/Sharpnose Puffers,
Boxfishes, Puffer Care and Information by John
(Magnus) Champlin, Things That My Puffers
Have Told Me by Justin Petrey,
Related FAQs:
True Puffers 1, True Puffers 2, True Puffers 3,
Tetraodont Identification, Tetraodont Behavior, Tetraodont Compatibility, Tetraodont Selection, Tetraodont Systems, Tetraodont Feeding, Tetraodont Reproduction, Puffers in General, Puffer
Selection, Puffer Behavior,
Puffer
Systems, Puffer
Feeding, Puffer
Disease, Puffer
Dentistry, Puffer
Reproduction, Freshwater Puffers,
Burrfishes/Porcupinefishes,
Tobies/Sharpnose Puffers,
Boxfishes
|
Often there are troubles w/ mixing puffers (esp. in
too-small volumes), and w/ Lionfishes, Triggers, large angels and big
wrasses...
Hard for them to compete for food and can/do bite each
other.
May get poked by Rabbitfishes; eaten by large Morays
|
Porcupine Puffer disease or wound?
1/10/15
Hello WWM Crew,
I read all of the posts on puffers and disease and didn't see pictures
that looked like this.
I have a 125 gallon tank, spg 1.023, ammonia, nitrates and nitrites are
0,
<How is NO3 rendered thus?>
pH is 8.4, temp 79 degrees Fahrenheit My porcupine
puffer shares his tank with a bi color angel, a Siganus
Doliatus
<May have poked...>
rabbit fish and a rather Large Dardanus
<... pinched>
crab in a 6 inch Triton shell.
Tonight when I got home I noticed a mark on my Porcupine puffer
Kirby.
<All at once I take it>
It is in front of his gill on his left side. It was
Not there yesterday,
<Ah yes; an injury>
it is whitish/pink area. It is about an 1/2 inch
wide by a little under an inch long. I have
attached a picture.
<A nice one>
It doesn't look like ich or velvet or other
diseases I have seen first hand. I am wondering it it looks
fungal or bacterial in nature to you?
<Maybe secondary>
Or if it looks like a wound perhaps inflicted by a
rather large crab living in a triton shell. Any thoughts?
<Same as yours>
I can quarantine Kirby the puffer and medicate him if need be.
<I wouldn't>
I would rather not medicate him if it is a wound
that will heal on its own.
<Yep>
Kirby is 6 years old. He doesn't seem lethargic at
all or breathing fast either. He is eating well.
Are there bacteria's or fungus that move this
quickly in less then 24 hours?
<Not w/o an opening>
Thanks for your help this is an amazing site.
Regards, Kellylynn
<There we have it; a mix of dangerous characters; the puffer cut,
slashed open by one of them...
With good conditions, nutrition will heal in time (weeks). Bob Fenner> |
|
Re: Porcupine Puffer disease or wound?
1/12/15
Hello Bob
"<how is NO3 rendered thus?>"
I have a refugium stuffed full of plants, a nitrate filter from Aquaripure
and religious water changes because puffers are really messy.
Maybe how I should have phrased it is that the nitrates are undetectable
with 2 different test kits. So I think it is a combination of all three
things.
There must be a titch of NO3 as the plants are doing fine but I think the
plants take up what is left by the puffers messy eating habits. The NO3 with
2 different tests it is not detectable.
<Good>
I definitely think the puffer was wounded by Roger Rabbit fish or the
Dardanus crab. I am kind of leaning toward the crab. Kirby the puffer seems
to be giving the crab a wider leeway and to some degree avoiding the area
where the crab is. I do not remember him doing that before.
<Ahh>
Thanks again for this site. It is a treasure trove of knowledge.
Kellylynn
<Thank you for adding to it. BobF> |
Stressed Dog face puffer 2/26/14
Hello! My name is Kris. I have a 100 gallon tank that includes
dogface puffer 3.5", niger trigger 2", sail fin tang 3" and
recently added a 2" Picasso trigger.
<These Balistids... are likely directly and not harassing the Arothron>
water parameters:
ammonia: 0
nitrite:0
nitrate:10
Ph: 8.2
salinity: 1.024
Okay so since the addition of the Picasso , the puffer has been very
dark in color ( almost black) and hangs out in his cave most of the day
( which isn't terribly unusual) He's eating 100% like he always has and
i use garlic on the food as an immune system booster/ prophylactic.
<Not much; better on pastas>
Here's what the scene looks like... the puffer hangs out in his little
cave that he likes and for whatever reason, the Picasso ( Pablo) keeps
coming over to where the puffer is and rubbing his body gently and
slowly against the puffer. There has been no biting, fighting or
otherwise outward altercations.
What does that behavior mean?
<It doesn't like the Rhinecanthus... nor the Odonus>
Will it pass?
<The fish will... that is; die, if not relocated, or the triggers moved
elsewhere>
Is it enough to stress the puffer out to death if it doesn't stop? Or
will the puffer just get used to the presence/behavior of Pablo and "get
over it"?
All other tank mates are just fine and Pablo does this to the sail fin
tang as well and she doesn't seem to mind at all..... what's the deal?
P.S. I have a 180 gallon on order that should be here by Saturday.. (
today is Tuesday)
<Ah good>
Thank you in advance for your speedy and thorough response. I
don't have a problem selling Pablo back to the store if he isn't a good
tank mate, but I don't want to be hasty in case the puffer is just being
a "diva" as i have read that they can be particularly "emotional".
<Move it. Bob Fenner>
Sick Dog face Puffer; new, uncycled sys., NH4OH, Clown
Trigger... 2/6/14
HI everyone!! First let me say that it is AWESOME to have a
knowledgeable resource for answers to my fish questions other than
relying on the LFS for extremely biased advise. <advice> I have read
some of your forums/threads on sick
puffers and have been putting together parts from each story but I
decided to just give you my story and we can go from there.
Here's a snapshot of my tank thus far:
setup started on 1-15-14
<Less than a month ago. Is this system fully cycled?>
80 gallon
60 lbs live sand
70 lbs live rock ( cured or so i was told)
Octopus skimmer BH 1000 ( rated for 125 gallons)
Penguin Bio wheel 350 ( not running the bio wheels, it's just to agitate
the surface and to house any filter media I may want to add in the
future..carbon etc.) Currently nothing is in it but it's on.
3 powerheads ( not sure exact gph right this second)
Water parameters: ( tested today with API liquid test kit)
pH: 8.1
NH3: almost up to 0.25 ( i know, I know..)
<Toxic>
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 10 ppm
salinity: 1.023
Tank inhabitants: Dog face puffer 3.5", Clown trigger juvenile 1.5",
Coral Beauty 1.5".
<... the Trigger... will get too large, mean...>
All that said, i think that the ammonia went up because i added the dog
face at the same time that I added 15 lbs of "live cured rock".
I put that in quotes because I think that it had enough die off to alter
my levels.
<Very common>
So my puffer ( added a week ago) was very active as were
the others . Eating well, being active , no fights, no aggression.
Today my puffer isn't eating and he has changed color to that same dark
gray almost black like he does
when he goes to sleep. He's been hiding all day and hasn't come
out at all. I did a water change ( 15 gallons) and am using RODI
water. I also noticed that today the clown trigger had white speckles on
it's fins but was behaving normally. Coral beauty however is in
bad shape. She has a cloudy eye and rough around the edges looking
dorsal fin. Eating and behaving normally though.
I freaked out and used a little prime to reduce the ammonia to the less
toxic version. I know that the test will still show it so i think
that that's where Im reading 0.25 in ammonia. I have no hospital
tank and since at least one thing was wrong with all of them, I freaked
out and wanted to treat the tank. here's what I've done so far besides
the Prime...
Turned off skimmer
added Dr. Tim's First defense to reduce stress on fishes
added Dr. Tim's nitrifying bacteria because I figured that the live
rock, live sand, and quick start bacteria that I initially used to start
the tank, hadn't quite built up enough of a bio filter to handle the
load that I put on the tank. I read up on his stuff and it is said to
work fast and obviously couldn't hurt the situation. Let me say
too, that before i got my own test kit, that I was getting my water
tested at the LFS every other day and saw my tank go through the
nitrogen cycle BEFORE adding ANY of these fishes. Lastly I was
freaking out about the ICH potential and the cloudy eye of the Coral
Beauty, but didn't want to copper my tank so I bought some stuff called
Microbe-Lift by Herbtana that is supposed to be added to the DT to
combat a host of diseases including Ich. LFS and the bottle say
that it's natural and that it won't affect what little bacteria that I
have.
I know what I did wrong... ( hindsight is 20/20) I increased my load too
fast too soon. But now that Im in this mess, I need to know how to
get out of it and is it too late to save my fishes?
PLEASE HELP!
Oh btw, I've increased the temp of my tank to 82 degrees F and am
keeping the lights off too. Is there hope or are my dog face and
the others doomed
to die for my stupidity and hastiness?
<... Don't panic! And stop feeding period... allow this
system to cycle out all ammonia. Don't change anything till.
Bob Fenner>
Puffer Accidentally Bitten 1/3/14
Hi Bob. I have an 8 inch dogface puffer and an 8 inch Harlequin
Tusk in my 300 gallon FOWLR (along with other fish).
Today, during feeding, the 2 went for the same piece of food and the
Tusk bit the puffer on the side of the face. The puffer is acting
normally and continued eating, but there is a pretty large cut on it's
face. Should I leave the puffer alone or remove him to QT?
<I would leave it where it is. These animals ARE tough; will almost
assuredly (self) repair>
I'm afraid of a bacterial infection. Anything in particular I can
do?
<Just the usual good maintenance and nutrition. Do you use (soak foods)
HUFAs, vitamins, iodide-ate? I might double dose all for a week>
Thanks in advance,
Eugene
<Ah, welcome. Bob Fenner>
Dogface puffer missing his tail 11/4/12
Hello WWM,
<Danny>
I have been searching your site of late but have not been able to
identify exactly what is going on with my Dogface Puffer. The puffer is
about 3.5 inches long and resides in a 180 gallon FOWLR aquarium. His
tankmates are a Maculosus Angel, an Annularis Angel, a Lunare
Wrasse, a
Maroon Clown, a Flame Hawkfish, and a Coral Beauty. He is fat, active at
feeding time and at night, eats just about everything I put in the tank,
and seems to be pretty healthy with the exception of his tail.
My puffer looks like someone chewed off his tailfin.
<Might have... it wouldn't have disappeared on its own... The prime
suspects are the large angels and Premnas>
From what I can tell he does not have fin rot, as his entire tailfin is
gone. There appears to be rather extensive tissue damage (ragged, torn
tissue), although I have never seen another fish biting or harassing
him.
<Going on when you're not looking>
Does this sound like a bacterial infection/Finrot, or is it more likely
the result of aggressive behavior from a tankmate?
<Almost assuredly the latter>
Should I be worried about a secondary infection from the tissue damage?
<Not if the animal is eating/healthy and there's no evidence otherwise;
but it should be moved elsewhere, lest it be the recipient of further
harassment>
The puffer's behavior seems very normal, but his tail really looks
horrible. Is there anything I should be doing other than regular water
changes and providing a proper diet?
<Move it; or the perpetrator/s>
Thanks for your help,
Danny
<Welcome. Bob Fenner>
Sick Puffer
10/25/12
Hi crew! I've been having a problem the last few weeks with my dogface
puffer and some of my other inhabitants. We'll start with the tank. It
is a 220 gallon FOWLR with a 40 gallon sump/refugium with miracle mud.
It has been set up for three years. Temp is 79, ammonia 0, nitrite 0,
nitrate 20, ph 8.4. Inhabitants are a dogface puffer, passer
angel, and an Australian harlequin tusk. About a
week or two ago, my puffer started lying around more and stopped eating.
<True puffers (Tetraodontids) "do this" (lethargy, feeding strikes) at
times; sans known cause>
I checked water quality and nothing seemed out of order. So I just kept
offering food with no luck.
<Mmm, what foods specifically? Some fed too much, too often, exclusively
are trouble. Read here re:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/trupuffdgfaqs.htm
The only thing that seems out of order with his appearance is that his
fins are a little tattered even though he is not getting "picked on" by
any of the others.
<Mmm... then wherefore the tattered fins? I'd be watching the Passer...>
Around that same time, my angel started to do the same thing. Only it
looks like he is getting hole in the head like I have seen on Oscars.
<See WWM re... vitamins, HUFAs, perhaps a cut-back on GAC use:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/HLLESWCauseF.htm
and the linked files above>
My last angel came down with HLLE and this looks nothing like it. The
tusk is doing great. He eats like a pig and is always gliding around the
tank.
I'm just worried about the other two. Any advise would be greatly
appreciated. Sorry for such a long email.
Thanks,
Shea
<Give us a write back if you have further questions, concerns. Bob
Fenner>
Re: Sick Puffer 10/25/12
Hi Bob. I forgot to add that I do not use carbon in my systems. In my
experience that seems to cause more harm than good. I use no chemical
filtration. I just use 100 micron filter socks and a sponge filters that
get changed weekly. That in conjunction with my refugium and biological
filter seems to work well for me.
<Ah good. B>
Re: Sick Puffer 10/25/12
Hi Bob, thanks for the speedy reply. I am offering krill, squid,
pellets, prawns, and angel formula. I
<I'd cut back on the first two and fourth...... please don't write w/o
reading where you've been referred to first>
usually soak the food in Selcon or Lipovit.
<Good>
I doubt the passer is the cause of the puffer's fin damage. He hasn't
moved out from the live rock in about 5-6 days now. Should I try
to treat them with Melafix or anything?
<... no. BobF>
Dogface Puffer won't eat
1/21/11
Hey crew
I recently purchased (almost 24 hours ago) a Dogface puffer.
He/she's about 3" long including the tail and is in with a
harlequin Tuskfish (4.5"), niger trigger(4"),
<May not "get along" with this fish>
Goldbar wrasse(5") and a yellow tang who is 6"
<Nor this>
in a 150 gallon tank(US) with protein skimming. The yellow tang
threatens the puffer when he/she(the puffer) goes near the tang's
territory with his acanthus. Also the puffer won't eat anything. I
know he/she probably won't eat anything in the next 24 hours when
you acclimate them but also seems to have slightly overgrown teeth. The
reason I assume this is because he/she goes to the side of the tank and
seems to be "biting" the glass or his/her reflection.
<Likely interacting w/ its reflection... but perhaps trying to
escape>
The others don't bother him/her. Also when the yellow tang
threatens him/her, his/her tail goes to the side of the body, like a
submissive gesture I suppose.
Thanks a bunch!
<... this fish really needs to be put elsewhere... At least for now.
See WWM re the family, en toto.
Bob Fenner>
Dogface Puffer...Stressed or Sick? --
10/21/2009
Hi guys,
Thanks so much for the wonderful site!!
<... 9.7 meg pic files?...>
Having been in the hobby only a year or so, your site has proved
invaluable in maintaining the health of my aquarium. I recently
switched my 29 gallon marine FOWLR into a 55gallon mostly in
order to put a little bit of space between my 4" Valentini
Puffer and my 13" Snowflake Moray
<... still too crowded behaviorally. These animals are not
compatible>
(the Valentini has a bad habit of teasing the eel until he tries
to bite him), not to mention that they need more water volume to
begin with Along with these guys there are 2 baby damselfish
(less than 1/2" each), one Clarkii Clown (~2.5 inches), 15
assorted dwarf hermit crabs and 10 assorted snails.
<Your puffers will eat these last two>
Two days ago I couldn't resist and introduced an
unbelievably cute baby black-spotted dogface (~3 inches) to the
mix.
<Also unsuitable here>
He's already the star of the tank and constantly begging for
food (and trying to turn my hermit crabs into snacks). I feed the
aquarium twice a day (1 cube of prime reef formula 2, 3-4 frozen
prawn/krill/silverside)
Unfortunately I just do not have space for a QT before I put
things into my display tank, but luckily my LFS keeps their
marine fish in individually filtered tanks and tends to take
immaculate care of them. After checking the rest of the tank in
the store for any signs of sickness I broke down and decided to
take the baby dog face home. Once I got him into the tank (after
drip acclimating for over an hour) I noticed a couple of strange
circular discolorations on him.
My water parameters: 0 Amm, 0 NO2, 1.0ppm NO3, 8.3 pH (I've
been doing 20% water changes every other day for the past week
since I upgraded tanks to help with the extra volume of new
uncycled water)
These can only be seen when he's light, which he is almost
always...if he gets startled by the eel or his reflection and
flashes brown the discolorations are invisible. He doesn't
seem to be displaying any other symptoms of any sort, but I
cannot seem to figure out what these are for the life of me (even
after reading the entire **** internets lol). My only thoughts
are either bruising/burning of some sort, stress, or some disease
that I just cannot diagnose...
I've attached a couple picture of the discolorations, maybe
someone more experience than me has seen this before?
<Have>
While I'm writing this email I do have one question about my
Valentini Puffer, who I've had for about 3 months now. For
about 6 weeks above his eyes there seems to be a little patch of
skin missing, once every couple of days I see him scratch this
spot on the rock. Again, he's eating fine (although I think
that his beak was almost too long when I got him, I have to hold
prawn to make sure that he gets a good bite out of it) and not
displaying any symptoms other than a slightly elevated breathing
rate.
This too I cannot find a similar or accurate diagnosis online, I
will try to get a picture to explain better.
Thanks in advance for your help!
And again for the amazing website!
Yours,
Adam
<Read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/trupufdisfaqs.htm
and the linked files above. You need a larger system ultimately,
and to keep an eye on the Echidna for deadly bite marks, missing
eyes. Bob Fenner>
|
|
Re: Dogface Puffer...Stressed or Sick?
10/21/09
Mr. Fenner,
Thank you so much for getting back to me so quickly! I'm so
sorry about the giant pictures, I attached the wrong copies (I
keep the hires ones for printing).
<Ahh!>
For information's sake, I neglected to mention in my last
email:
Filtration:
Fluval 305
2 HoB filters (one Aqueon, one Hagen)
Lighting:
48" Glo t5 (108 watts)
While I'm very aware that the tank is too small, I just do
not have the money or space to upgrade to the 150 that I would
like to (we are also probably moving within 6 months, a large
contributing factor) .
<Well then Adam... you should now trade these fishes in, get
something that can do well in this 55>
I read every puffer page before I decided to ask a question, I
see people mention blotches from stress et cetera but I just
wanted to be sure I was experiencing the same thing as my marine
hobby quickly becomes an obsession..
<A good one I'll warrant>
You say the dogface is also unsuitable here, is this due to the
snowflake?
<This and the size/volume of the system>
Or just the fact that my tanks too darn small.
<Both>
I realize that the best solution for this tank is probably to
remove the eel, I am only loathe to do this since I've raised
him since he was only 5 inches or so but perhaps that's the
only answer.
I'm sorry for bugging you with questions, but no one I know
is knowledgeable enough to help me.
Respectfully,
Adam
<Am very glad to share with you my young friend. BobF>
|
Dog Face Puffer questions, me too
1/30/09 Hi We have a 150 gallon tank with a stars and
stripes puffer (6"), an undulated trigger (3"), a niger
trigger (5"), a yellow tang (4") and a dog face puffer
(4"). <Mmm... I'd be keeping a close watch twixt the
puffers and these triggers... not compatible> Just checked
nitrite, at 0. The dog face is laying on the bottom, mouth open
and breathing heavy. He has a discoloration starting at his
abdomen going to his tail. It almost looks like gangrene? <I
see this... and the unusually larger body expanse toward the
distal area of this fish...> Any idea what it is and what to
do? I don't want to see him suffer. <Mmm, looks like
either some sort of gut blockage or lumenal parasite
possibility... How long have you had this fish? What do you feed
it? Some sedentary behavior is common intermittently with
Tetraodonts... You should read on WWM re the family, disease, the
use of Anthelminthics, and possibly Metronidazole-laced foods if
this fish is feeding. Bob Fenner>
|
|
puffer injury haiku attempt
1/29/09 5yo puffer approx 12in length scratched piece of
coral last week scratch turned in to this photo any suggestions
regarding treatment <Just good care, environment, feeding...
time going by. Bob Fenner>
Re: puffer injury
1/30/09 lesion growing larger, approx 2-3cm
diameter, white color, no erythema, additional loss of
pigment to lesion today puffer wont eat today, sits in
bottom corner of tank covered with <1mm white spots over
body and eyes, breathing not labored <Bad news> have
not had problem with tank for 4 years new fish ( bird
wrasse )was introduced into tank after fresh water dip and
4 wk quarantine, caused some upset to tank causing puffer
scratch <Mmmm> No other fish affected. <Not
yet> Tank parameters: 180 gal FOWLR w/ some polyps 0
ammonia, nitrite <10 nitrate hardness 10 calcium 400
phosphate approx 0.1 pH 8.2 10% water changes weekly
?quarantine ? fresh water dip ? antibiotics <Not
antibiotics> I understand patience in most circumstances
and good water quality is key, however this is a radical
change in past two days Thank you for your help. Russ
Mongiovi <Do you have another place to put this puffer?
I would move it... keep observing, reading for now... WWM,
Puffer Disease articles and FAQs files.
BobF> Re: puffer injury - new
photo 1/30/09 did not transmit photo with
reply e mail thank you <Mmm, the size, shape,
"cleanliness" of this injury site... Lead me to
suspect a heater burn, round-mouth fish bite (like a
trigger), or....? B>
|
Re: Dog Face Puffer questions,
injury -- 02/01/09 Thank you for replying
with useful information. I've been researching everything
you've suggested. Unfortunately it's too late, but
I'd like to keep myself informed so I can act quickly if
something like this happens again. This puffer was the first
marine fish we ever purchased. We had him for about 9 months.
Some of the foods we feed all our fish are: Ocean Nutrition
Silversides, San Francisco Bay Brand Emerald Entree, BioPure
Krill, Hikari MegaMarine. All of these are frozen foods. <And
a good mix> So far everyone gets along. Do you think this will
be more of a problem between the triggers and the puffers when
they become more mature? Thank you again!!! <Such troubles
can, unfortunately, "spring" up w/o notice... the
Triggers biting the puffers... There are many cases of species of
both groups of fishes getting along interminably, but too many
instances of dire results to not mention the potential.
BobF>
Re: puffer injury
2/4/09 FYI - the white halo around the wound spread from
tail to gills in about 24 hrs and eventually the fish died. Hope
this helps others <Thank you for this... am wondering what
exactly the "halo" was... some sort of adventitious
microbe (bacterial, possibly mycelious)... Would be interesting
histologically to examine the wound site. BobF>
|
Hiding dog face puffer and ammonia -- 07/26/07
Thank you in advance for you time and expertise. <Hope I can
help.> My tank is a 55 gallon FOWLR (planning to upgrade to 125
ASAP) <I hope so. Have you ever seen adult dog face puffers?>
with a HOT Remora protein skimmer. Specific gravity 1.021 <I'd
raise that.>, PH 8.4, Ammonia 10 <That's a serious problem if
true, even 0.10 would be concerning.>, Nitrate 10, Nitrite 0, CA
460, KH 9. It is stocked with 1 Blue Damsel , a Foxface Rabbit Fish,
and a Dog Faced Puffer. My problem (if in fact it is a problem) is
after 4 weeks of constantly swimming out and about in the tank my
Puffer is staying inside my old ship decoration except when he comes
out to eat. Up until this week he has been very active and swimming
along side the Rabbit Fish throughout the entire day. He did sit on the
protein skimmer pump after eating but never stayed in the ship. I'm
not sure if the Puffer and Rabbit fish are friends or just keeping an
eye on each other <Likely the latter>. There does not seem to be
any aggression. In fact the Rabbit Fish has started spending more time
in the ship with the Puffer. Is it possible I'm reading this wrong
and the Rabbit fish is irritating the Puffer? It just seems strange
that after roaming the tank comfortably for a month he would take to
hiding. I was feeding him a couple of pieces of krill every day but
changed to every other day because of nitrate and ammonia numbers
rising. Could the change in feeding cause this? <Ammonia is very
toxic and must never be in a tank with fish. Possibly the reason for
unusual behaviour (although some puffers may hide half of the day). See
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/nh3marfaqs.htm and
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/estbiofiltmar.htm for solutions. Act as soon
as possible.> What other foods do you suggest to give a bigger
variety? <Krill is not sufficient as the only food item. Try
mussels, clams, prawns, squid and other types of frozen sea food. Add
some vitamins now and then.> Could that also be a problem? <Yes.
Unvaried diet will probably lead to deficiency related diseases.> He
did eat one of my crabs this week and up until now he had not paid them
any attention. He looks great and has a great appetite. I love this
fish and don't want anything to happen to him. Not only has he
become the center point of my tank but it has caused the Rabbit Fish to
be more visible and lively. Lamar. <Address your ammonia issue,
change the diet and upgrade your tank and you will probably (and
hopefully) have a happy puffer again. Cheers, Marco.>
Tetrodotoxin 4/19/07 Just a short note: While
reading the daily FAQs (as usual) I recognized in a mail I answered the
name of a puffer toxin has been changed from "Tetrodotoxin"
to "Tetraodotoxin". I am aware that the name should be
derived from Tetraodon (four teeth), which is the scientific name for a
puffer genus, but the scientists, who discovered the toxin in 1909
named it "Tetraodotoxin" (they were Japanese and Tetrodon was
used in that time just as often as Tetraodon). So, this is the official
name of the substance used in toxicology internationally. When talking
we use the abbreviation TTX anyway. Cheers, Marco. <Thank you for
this Marco... Little doubt this error is of my origination,
perpetuation... I likely accepted a mis-spelling into this computers
spellchecker dictionary. Bob Fenner>
Sick Puffer or just odd
behavior? 1/28/07 Hello Crew, <Lisa> Sorry to
bother you with yet another Puffer question. My Stars
and Stripes about 3 1/2 inches) is doing this odd thing......He
will start at the top of the water and dive (or "swoop")
down to the bottom, rubbing his belly on the crushed coral
below. I have even seen him do it a few times on the
live rock. Does he have a skin condition or something
internal that is disturbing him? <Mmm, not likely> Or is he
acting out with some kind of discontentment related to his tank
situation? <Possibly... but more likely this fish is reacting to
its own reflection...> His appetite is great (in fact, I had to
separate him from the others because he was eating ALL of my
crustaceans and was about to go after my beloved cleaner shrimp,
who he had, for several weeks, seemed to have some affection for
(allowing them to massage his back and even taking afternoon naps
with them - please excuse the run-on sentence!) I also
found out that he was nibbling (but not ingesting) my LTA which
never recovered and died a horrible, messy death. <These animals
are incompatible> I was told that he would not get any larger
than 8 inches (like the dog-face), and then learned that this is
not so. True? <This is not so...> I am considering
adopting him out to somebody with a bigger tank who can give him
the life he deserves, but want to make sure he is totally healthy
first. <Good> Thanks for all your help and support. Lisa
Crugnola <Mmm, try taping a piece of paper or such to the
outside panel where this behavior is occurring... Bob
Fenner> |
Puffer Problem - 10/22/2006 Hello, Mr.
Fenner and/or WWM crew: <Hi Mikel, MacL here with you today. Hope
its good for you. Sorry for the slowness of the answer, for some reason
this just showed up.> Love your site; it is an inspiration to all of
us who love this hobby. <Very kind of you to say.> I've been
at this wonderful obsession of Marine Aquaria Keeping for nearly 2
decades, but was away from it for the last ten
years. I'm amazed at how far the hobby has come while I
was on hiatus. However most of my 17 year experience before
was with natural seawater and natural substrates living in the Florida
Keys collecting my own specimens. So in many ways I am
a newbie once again trying to learn all about this 'New School'
in Keepin Marine aquaria. <You'll be fine, basics
still apply. Do it slow, research as much as you can, watch your
tank.> My situation deals here with a new Dog faced Puffer I've
recently acquired. I have the 3' puffer in a 50 gallon
holding tank at the moment. My QT or holding tank, as we
call it, has a HOT Magnum power filter, a Remora C HOB skimmer, power
head with 20 pounds of live sand and twenty pounds of live rock under
130 watts of PC lighting. I run the power filter with carbon switching
off every four or five days with the micron cylinder. I
clean the skimmer cup and filter media daily. Parameters are
as follows: SG: 1.022 Temp: 79 PH: 8.2 Ammonia 0 Nitrites 0 Nitrates
<10 ppm KH 11dkh I always hold all new livestock 6 weeks before
introducing any item to either my reef tank or my semi aggressive FOWLR
tank. We also have another 20 gallon bare bottom QT tank
(Empty) I reserve this for medication and/or hypo salinity
treatments. But for the moment Fideux, our new waterdog is
in the 50 gallon with the following tankmates: One 4' Aussie
Harlequin Tusk One 3' Bursa Trigger One 3' Dragon Wrasse (Hit the sand like a drill haven't seen him in a week) One 4' Ember
Blenny (Boss of the Tank) So our 3' Water Pup is serving time with
these four very swimmy, but so far mild mannered
cellmates. Everyone seems to be getting along peacefully in
the small tank. The Tusk's sentence is nearly up, as well as the
other wrasse. One more week and they will be paroled into
our FOWLR, followed a week later by the blenny, the trigger and last
but not least, Fideux, the Wonder Dog. <I would be a bit
concerned here. I love that you have quarantine tanks and you are doing
this so thoroughly but every time you add a new fish your quarantine
should start over. The idea in my mind of a quarantine is to keep the
fish isolated so that anything he has come in with can manifest
himself. When you add new fish into the quarantine station you expose
him to potentially catching something that one of the other fish came
with. I know lots of people quarantine with multiple fishes
but it is an area for concern. Also, I really recommend spreading out
the introduction of the fish to longer than a week at a time simply
because the fish needs time to adapt to their new environment.>
However, we may hold the trigger a week and introduce him as the Last
Fish. So far he has been real chummy with the puffer, but
this may change. These will be the last five fish to go into
our two display tanks. Everything has been going well with the
quarantine of these final fish. All five were eating like
pigs, Fideux eating from my hand already: I'm feeding
all of them fresh chopped squid, shrimp, krill and baby clams in the
shell, all foods soaked heavily in fresh crushed garlic and Selcon.
<I love puffers, in my mind they are an amazing fish. I currently
have a mappa puffer that has grown from less than an inch and a stars
and stripes puffer. What you are feeding them sounds great,
and they will thrive on it. I want to caution you with letting them eat
out of your hand, as they grow they get more and more enthusiastic
about food and can get you instead of the fish.> I hang the strips
of meaty foods on lettuce clips tied to a string for easy withdrawal to
keep trites and trates under control. (No cleaning crew allowed in this
tank) I feed the Krill to the puffer by hand. I never put
free floating food into this crewless tank. <I use mixed
bits and pieces of lobster and crab and other meaty seafoods as
well.> Last night, our wonderful little puffer, somehow managed to
get himself stuck between the power head and the filter
intake. He had not puffed up before this, not even during
acclimation. But when I found him stuck, he was severely
puffed. I immediately unplugged the power and freed him from
his predicament. Although he was stuck, for God knows how
long up high in the tank, fortunately he was wedged in there head down,
so I don't think he inflated with air. However, there
was an airstone in that corner of the tank showering him in a shroud of
bubbles, so he may have ingested a bit of air from that. At
first he appeared to have a bit of trouble completely deflating, but
finally after nearly 24 hours seems to be completely
deflated. But he is cowering in a little LR cave in one
corner of the tank and won't come out, and won't eat, not even
when I lower krill on a feeding stick right in front of his
nose. He just sits there sulking looking out. His
eyes are clear, and follow me around the tank. He looks at
the food, sniffs it, but will not take it. <Puffers sulk. Do you see
signs of damage on him? Bruising where he was stuck or something
similar? My puffer blocks the overflow in my tank when he doesn't
get fed enough or when he's being rotten and makes bubbles come
into the tank. At first we were tremendously concerned that he kept
doing that but now we just move him out from in front of it. He
responds to the attention and splashes us and moves on and lets the
water flow again. Also, watch out. . . puffers spit water at
you.> Here is my concern. I can't see him well enough
for a good examination, but from what I can see, using a magnifying
glass, his skin looks kind of stretched out of shape, like it is kind
of baggy. It looks rough just under his muzzle and he has
broken out in some sort of white specs. It doesn't look
like Ich to me, because the specs are rather large, but it may be
Ich. We'll hope for the best, but consider the
worse. The spots look kind of raised under the big M.
Glass. Perhaps the stress of the ordeal has given him Ich,
although none of the other fish show any signs of it. But
all are acting differently, just a little more lethargic, hiding more,
whereas they were always swimming in the water column
before. Well, the Tusk has not slowed down, but the Blenny
is staying still more and the trigger stays in the cave with the puffer
now, only coming out for food. Everyone is eating well
except the puffer. <My guess is that his skin is pulled a bit loose.
Nothing to worry about unless he does come down with some type of
bacterial infection or indeed it is Ich. But in my experience, Ich on a
puffer is difficult to see unless you see spots on the fin.> Of
course, my first fear was a toxic event from the stressed, inflated
puffer. Right after the incident I did an immediate 25%
water change. Then another 25% about 12 hours later, trying
to maintain the same temp and PH, however, SG has come up a little to
just under 1.023 I also replaced the micron filter with
fresh carbon and hung a basket of Poly filter under the outlet of the
skimmer. I am getting a lot of skimmate and the water
smelled a little fishy right after the event, but smells fresh
now. If there was a tetradotoxins release, I think the tank
is clear of it now, although I may keep doing water changes daily until
normal behavior return to the other fish. What I'm wondering is, if
this event caused enough stress to the puffer to break out in Ich,
should I hold the Tusk and trigger longer now rather than putting them
into the display and exposing my FOWLR to the parasite, if in fact that
is what it is? Also, if I have to treat the puffer for Ich,
I'll have to cycle the BB tank and trying to get the puffer out of
his cave which will probably stress him even more. Or should
I leave everyone where they are and just observe. Please forgive
the long winded post. I'm a writer, and we do tend to
get a little wordy. <I'm so sorry for the delay. I
would love to know his condition. If you have to treat the puffer for
Ich be extremely cautious because puffers have problems with some of
the medications used to treat Ich. I think adding the carbon
was a good idea. I do have a suggestion for you as well. A
lot of people who use quarantine tanks keep sponge filters in their
other tanks to constantly be cycled so if they have to do a quick set
up they have a tank that is quickly set up. The skin should
go back to normal and he should start eating within a couple of days,
if not you do have a problem because they have such a high metabolism,
especially in my experience when they are small and they need lots of
food. Or they start to fade away. Please let me know how he
is doing. MacL> Thanks, Mikel Stevenson
Sick Stars and Stripes Puffer, in a mis-stocked,
mis-treated, poorly filtered system 7/26/06 I have a
small, approx 3" Stars & Stripes along with a dogface and a
Niger Trigger in a 40 gallon. <Danger Will Robbins! Too much
incompatible life in too tiny a world...> Last night I
noticed my stars & stripes was lying on the bottom of the tank
panting or breathing heavy, and his color had darkened. This
morning nothing had changed except for now it looks as though he broke
out with Ich, again. <Again?> Somehow he appears to have gotten
stressed out. Is there anything I can do? <Uh... less
stress... move to appropriate setting... larger, no trigger...>
Also, in regards to Ich, it seems as though it keeps coming back or
never fully goes away. <Common...> I've been
treating the entire tank with Quick Cure per the instructions on the
package. Do I need to isolate the fish?
<Maybe> I also have 2 long spined urchins in the
tank. I've been told the Quick Cure will kill them, but
they seem to be Okay. <Mmm... not really treated sufficiently...>
Am I killing them slowly by using Quick Cure? <Very
likely so> One last thing. I've heard mixed reviews
about my filtration so I'd like to get your opinion. I
was advised by a local tropical fish store and this is what I have:
Fluval 304 canister filter and an under gravel filter powered by 2
powerheads. Do I have adequate filtration?? <Mmm, not
likely. Please see WWM re Crypt treatments, these three, four species
Systems needs, Compatibility... formulate a plan for a much larger,
better set-up/filtration, and a plan (maybe with the spare forty) for
treating the Crypt appropriately... the trigger really can't be
kept with these Tetraodont puffers unless the tank is very large...
hundreds of gallons. Bob Fenner> Mike Irion
Fugu questions 8/18/05 <Hi
there! Heather (LinearChaos) here> At my LFS there are 4
3" Takifugu rubripes. They are in horrible
condition. Instead of being green with neon orange they are
silver and a dingy brick red. <The Takifugu rubripes is not a puffer
that is sold in the trade, this is actually a species that is eaten as
a delicacy in Japan. The puffer you are describing is the
Takifugu ocellatus.> They are also ungodly cheap ($15 a
piece). <Wow! That is cheap!> I was
wondering for now would a 30 gallon tank be big enough for
now. I have no problem upgrading later. I have no
experience with these guys. <No, this species is
extremely aggressive toward their own and 4 in a 30g won't last but
a week. They'll nip each other to death almost
immediately since they will not be able to get away from each other in
that size tank and cannot establish territories.> I am
aware of how hard they are to keep in captivity. Also there
is very little information on these puffers. Do you know
what salinity, hardness, temperature, etc... they
prefer. Any help would be great. <I have
successfully kept 3 of these puffers in an established full marine
environment for over a year, the salinity is 1.019 and the temp is
82*F. The tank is 55g and is heavily stocked with live rock
to break up the lines of sight as much as possible to reduce
aggression. Please, if you are unable to care for these
puffers appropriately do not purchase them. ~Heather>
Logan
Porcupine Puffers I have a suggestion for an faq I had seen
on a porcupine puffer that lays in the corner and doesn't
move. I had a problem with this as well I fixed it by getting
another porcupine puffer and as soon as it came out of the bag the one
in the corner came out right away and gave him a little love bite or
two and they have been happy ever since and the two of them cruise
around non stop never more than two or three inches away from each
other all though not the biggest fish in the tank they are not afraid
to go up and steal food from the bigger fish. Before the single
puffer would not come out to eat I had to dangle krill in front of its
face in order to get it to eat. That was a while ago but the question I
have for you is my puffers are now about 8 inches long and now they are
the biggest fish in my tank and one is always smelling the rear of the
other all the time and the one being smelled is getting mad. Can
puffers reach sexual maturity in captivity and how do you tell the
diff. between the sex <<They can reach sexual maturity in
captivity, but there is no way to sex them externally.>> if they
do breed will I be cleaning baby puffers out of my filter for a month.
<<Only if you don't take other measures to prevent
it.>> please contact me at XXXXXX if you have any clue as to what
on earth they are doing and how to tell male from female . thank you
<<I don't know why they follow each other around... perhaps
they enjoy the company. Cheers, J -- >>
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