a long list of puffer ???'S HELP!!

[djangoboots]

I have a fig.8 that i've had for about a year. He's so timid that I had to kick out my mollies for stealing his food. he will normally eat anything (frozen, pellets) but he will not eat snails or live shrimp (i think he's a bit confused ) Needless to say his teeth have gotten very long so that now he has trouble eating. What's worse is his friend died about a month ago (a T. fluviatilis) which I had also had for a while. Water was brackish (~1.004-1.010) everyone was happy, and then I went out of town fow a week and left someone else to feed them. When i returned the green spot was dead and more food then I feed in 1 month was gone> So i assumed that the excess food was the culprit in his death. Now I wonder if he suffered the same afliction as the fig.8 does now (read on) It has taken about another month but I have finally gotten my nitrates down to normal and have slowly converted my tank back to fresh as I have read in many places(ie puffernet & aquariumfish.net) that Fig.8's do not need salt and infact prefer fresh. About 1 wk ago I noticed my Fig.8 was belly up and v. swollen, thinking that he was dead i began to take him to the toilet when he puffed up and told me that he was in fact still alive. So he spent that night and the next day in my big net so the others wouldn'd get him. I thought for sure he would be dead, but he wasn't. So I looked up on puffernet various diseases and determined that he has dropsy. He has been treated with maracyn plus (the liquid). He hasn't gotten any worse or better and he's still not eating, not even frozed blood worms, his favorite. . But he is swimmng around, though not like normal. So that i puzzle # 1. If anyone has anywords of wisdom they would be greatly appreciated. Should I keep treating ie.. putting in med.s in e.o.day or stop with the three doses recomended on package.
Now for my other ?? (sorry so long) I finally convinced my lfs to get some Colomesus asellus (brazilian puf). Three came in, one dead by the time i got there, so i took home the other two. lfs man said not to worry about the other sick puff. since the tank is being treated anyway. So they've been in my tank for ~2 days. One will eat blood worms and I have yet to see the other eat. They seem so preoccupied with doing the up and down along the glass thing that they do not notice the food. Is this a normal swimming pattern. I have lots of cover and places to hide. Should I switch from a gravel bottom to sand? And when they same in they had these perfect circular marks on their skin as if they had suction cups stuck to them.
I do apologize that this is so long, but it's my first time and it's hard to find good info. on these guys.

 

[Pufferpack]

Hi djangoboots

Welcome to the Forum

Sorry to hear about your GSP, As far as treating the Figure 8 I can't give you any advise as I have never had a fish recover from Dropsy
That being said I would recomend that you keep the puffer in BW, I have read quite a few discussions on this topic and the general concensus is they do best in BW. I have read accounts of figure 8's living more than 15 years in BW as compared to about 5 years in FW. But ultimately it's your choice, dfferent things work for different folks
Colomesus asellus is about the most mellow of all the puffers and you may find that if kept with the 8's they will get bullied. They also have the most prolific teeth growth of all puffers and without a steady diet of snails and other hard foods will require a trim about every 6 months.
When I first got my Asellus they displayed the same behavior, staying in one corner of the tank swimming up and down the glass all day. I used to have to put my hand on the outside corner to make them swim to the centre of the tank for food, I just chalked it up to new tank jitters...this continued for a couple weeks until I bought frozen Mysis shrimp to go with the frozen bloodworms. Now My Dwarf puffers prefer the bloodworm while the Brazilians eat mostly the Mysis and or Brine shrimp. I don't think it will matter to the puffers whether it is sand or gravel, I prefer the sand (personal preference) because with the puffers being such messy eaters I can see any leftovers lying on top of the sand.

 

[djangoboots]

Thankyou Pufferpack for your reply. I'm not too worried about the C. asellus being bullied since the fig 8 is a total wimp (as shown by him being bossed around by a mollie) and the fact that I don't know if he's going to make it . I just don't know anything about this condition. He's not getting worse, just not any better either it's very troublesome to see him like this for so long. he looks huge though I know he hasn't eaten in a week!! The condition started before I started converting back to fresh and now that C. asellus is in there I am hesitant to add any salt and upset them too, what is a puffer mom to do Why can no one seem to agree on what salinity these guys want to be in. Not that i am disagreeing with you but check out what puffernet and aquariumfish.net has to say about the fig 8, I could have sworn that they said they prefer F but will tolerate B... who knows, not me! oh well thanks again for your input.

 

[Pufferpack]

Why can no one seem to agree on what salinity these guys want to be in. Not that i am disagreeing with you but check out what puffernet and aquariumfish.net has to say about the fig 8, I could have sworn that they said they prefer F but will tolerate B

There is so much conflicting advise out there that it gets pretty confusing, especially with puffers, I have seen sites state "Prefer FW but will tolerate BW", and I've seen sites stating "best kept in BW but can tolerate FW". Most of these are written from personal experience by puffer keepers. If you check around on some of the other forums that deal with puffers regularly, you can get in contact with Robert T. Ricketts (RTR, Robert TR, etc.), probably the most experienced puffer keeper active on the boards. From what I understand he has, at one time or another, housed every known species of FW and BW puffers in his tanks

I think the biggest reason for the confusion with the 8's and GSP's is that in the wild they are found in both FW and BW...I suspect that in nature they have the option of moving freely between FW and BW as they see fit, and do so on a regular basis, unfortunately in the home aquarium they have to live in one or the other (unless someone figures out their yearly habits and can adapt the tank at home to mimic) so we all take the varied info and adapt to what works best for us and our fish.

 

[djangoboots]

Well, Mr. T. biocellatus seems to have made a full recovery I can't believe it I am so happy. He is eating and everything. I did end up having to trim his teeth though, I'm not sure who was more stressed by that, him or me . But he has been gobbling up mysis shrimp and blood worms. And he hasn't even thought about messing with the C. Asellus
So it seems that the maracyn plus really does work. I have never had a fish that sick and on the brink of death make a recovery like this.

 

[Pufferpack]

I'm so happy to hear that the littly guy pulled through...congrats.