Dwarf Puffer fish dying

[ahranon]

I have 3 dwarf puffer fish in a 20 gallon tank. i first put one in, and it seemed to be doing well for a few weeks. i added 2 additional puffer fish to the tank and after a week, two of them (one for sure) are starting to die. any thoughts? i change the water about once a week, and add solutions to neutralize any heavy metals, but thats about it.

 

[DerekN]

Some puffer fish like brackish water or salt in their water, I'm not sure about the dwarf puffers but I know the figure eight and spotted puffers do.

 

[platypus]

Hi,

Have a look at the oddball's institute section of the forum here, hopefully you will find a few puffer enthusiasts!

Also, on a general note, if your tank is fairly new your puffers could be ill because your tank hasn't yet cycled. If this is the case, have a read of this article about uncycled tanks - it could be the only thing to save your puffers' lives!

 

[Pufferpack]

When you mention that you add solution to neutralize heavy metals, I hope you do this before adding the water to the tank, as puffers are very sensative to chemicals. As platypus says, if the tank is not yet fully cycled that would be the problem. One other potential problem with puffers is that most of them are wild caught and are not properly treated for internal parasites before being sold. It is recomended that any new puffers be put into quarintine for this reason especially. If there are no problems with chemicals or the tanks cycle, look for shrunken bellies, stringy translucent poop, and a possible loss of appitite as signs of internal parasites. If they are showing signs of parasites try treating their food with "Discomed" and if they are not eating try Maracyn-two, I have found both to work well.

 

[ginamoore]

what are you feeding your puffer's? puffers need more than just flake food they need brine shrimp and kirll is good eather frozen of freze dried. i like frozen best and so does my puffer.

 

[ahranon]

i feed them kril mostly along with some flakes, but mostly the kril. im not sure but i think it was the nitrite.nitrate leve that was affecting them. thx though