porcupine puffer

[-Drew-]

my porcupine puffer is acting sick. the porcupine and sharpnose puffer were in a 10 gallon tank then were moved to a 30 gallon tank on wend. they have been fine ever since. at noon today the porcupine was fine, then when i came home from work at 5 she looked very stressed. she was breathing hard and rapid and puffed up, deflated and kept breathing hard. i checked the ammonia, nitrite and ph and the ammonia was fine, nitrite a little high, and the ph was a little low. salinity is 1.026. i did a water change and she seemed to get a little better, then i fed silversides to the two puffers the porcupine seemed to get a little better. i just put them to bed and she is still very stressed. i put some stress coat in to help. i just dont know what could be the problem or what to do. i really dont want to loose this fish. any thought or any suggestions????

thanks.

[trishy711]

Hi, A 10 and 30 gallon tanks sound very small for pufferfish. It could be many reasons that this one is acting sick. I need to know more.

How big are they ?
How long have you had them ?
Did you put all of the water that they were previously in from your 10 gallon tank, or did you use completely uncycled brand new Mixed Saltwater ?
How high are your nitrates and what kind of filtration are you using ?

[-Drew-]

Originally Posted by trishy711

Hi, A 10 and 30 gallon tanks sound very small for pufferfish. It could be many reasons that this one is acting sick. I need to know more.

How big are they ?
How long have you had them ?
Did you put all of the water that they were previously in from your 10 gallon tank, or did you use completely uncycled brand new Mixed Saltwater ?
How high are your nitrates and what kind of filtration are you using ?

I have had them since about april or so.
they are very tiny. both puffers were about an inch when we got them, now the porcupine puffer is maybe 2 inches and the sharpnose is a little smaller, maybe about inch and a half. we have a 180 gallon tank that has been set up and running for 3 months and we just took water out of that tank and put it in the 30. i just threw out the water that was in the 10. (it was time for a water change in that tank) i really didnt want to keep that water.

the rock i have in there is from the 10 they were previously in and some rock that was left over from the 55 gallon tank. the water was cycled and the rocks were live.

i currently have a canister filter on the tank. this is what i have for a filter media http://www.aquacave.com/chemi-pure-e...ises-1819.html

where should my nitrites be? im going to the lfs today to have them test everything in my water. the porc still looks really sick, i dont know what to do for her.

[EndlessSummer]

I would let the live rock and sand do its thing and take off the canister. For a 30 gallon you can get by with good water changes. So these puffers are going into a 180?

[-Drew-]

Originally Posted by EndlessSummer

I would let the live rock and sand do its thing and take off the canister. For a 30 gallon you can get by with good water changes. So these puffers are going into a 180?

so i shouldnt have any filtration at all? i have alot of water circulation, but i thought i had to have some kind of filtration on it.

no the 180 is going to be a reef tank, but we will get them their own 180 when the time comes. i am slowly upgrading for them. (wallet is a little empty)

[EndlessSummer]

Are you cleaning the canister filter a lot? They are known for nitrates building up in them. If they are the only two fish in your tank you can get by with doing good weekly water changes.

[-Drew-]

Originally Posted by EndlessSummer

Are you cleaning the canister filter a lot? They are known for nitrates building up in them. If they are the only two fish in your tank you can get by with doing good weekly water changes.

I havent needed to clean it yet. its only been running for about a week and a half. im at work and drew (my boyfriend) is at home cleaning out a penguin 350 filter, we have a spair and he is going to try and turn off the canister filter and replace it with the 350 filter. i dont get out of work for another few hours and i NEED to take some water over to the lfs to get it tested. im being told she is laying on the bottom of the tank and she isnt moving much. but the other puffer (sharpnose puffer) is fine. he isnt stressed or anything. could it be just something wrong with her? can different puffers handle different nitrite levels?

[trishy711]

Hi, You should always aim for Nitrates to be 0. The Nitrates in my tank are always 0, anything to do with Nitrates can always stress out a fish and Corals. I do a 30% water change every week and run phosban and carbon in a TLF reactor plus a protein skimer. If i were you i would definately take off that canister filter, canisters and saltwater just do not mix well. No matter how often you clean the filter it always just collects nitrates and dumps them right back into the tank. I would get a small hang On back protein skimmer or you could get a small HOB overflow and sump with an in sump skimmer. Anyway for now i would definately take off the canister filter and just do a 10 gallon water change every week and you should be fine and should maintain a low level of nitrates if any at all. A protein Skimmer would be the best way for you to go though, That's all the filtration you'll ever need on a saltwater tank. I Hope this helps

[-Drew-]

Ok, today she is TONS better. we took off the canister filter and put on a HOB filter. i took the water to get tested as soon as i got out of work and everything was perfect. nothing was too high or too low. we now have happy healthy fish again. the procupine isnt breathing hard, or stressed, her color is great, she is even acting very very hungry (tonight is feeding night) she is great. drew swears it was the canister filter. why do they sell them if they suck? haha but thanks so much to everyone!!!! thank you thank you thank you.

Kristina