Hi all, bit of advice needed on 2 seperate fishy health problems
#1 Figure 8 Puffer Fish Teeth: I've had my little puffer for around 3 years now, and he's very happy and healthy. Dentistry has always proved a challenge though - I've tried all kinds of different foods and even bred snails especially for him but he is a fussy eater and eventually his teeth overgrew and needed attention. In the end one of the lads at the LFS clipped them for me using baby nail clippers, and a fine job he did too - Happiness was restored and all was well. That was several months ago, and out of the blue the puffer has now lost one of his teeth completely, or half of his 'beak' if you prefer.
No idea how he's managed it, but I'm wondering if the teeth trimming may have weakened them somehow but the fact remains.
So my question is - What now? he looks a bit daft with only one tooth, but he seems to eat ok for the most part. Should I consider trimming the other one down? He cannot close his mouth as it is, and his remaining tooth will only grow longer as time goes on.
#2 Popeye - This one has really upset me - My very expensive pair of wild caught curvuceps cichlids have settled well into their home and have even shown signs of possibly breeding. The male who was very strong and even a touch aggressive has developed a really bad case of popeye. I immediately gave a course of melafix but it didnt help at all(in fact I don't think I've EVER found this stuff to work), and I've now just done a course of myxazin. He seems a bit better, as after the first week he was just lying static on the sand, but his eye is still massively blown out.
Today is the last day of the myxazin course and it doesn't seem to have solved the problem - Is he too far gone? Will his eye ever recover, or is he more likely to lose it and/or die? What else can I do apart from water changes? I've done 2 full courses of medication and I wouldn't like to run another one again so soon. I'll be very sad to lose this beautiful fish, but I'm almost resigned to the fact now
ps The above fish aren't in the same aquarium, the puffer has his own 60 litre cube with slight brackish water, the curviceps share a heavily planted 120 litre tank with some tetras, several brochis splendens and a small bulldog plec. All water has been tested throughout and has fallen within normal nitrate/nitrite levels (and I've NEVER had an ammonia reading in all my years of fish keeping)
Thanks
#1 Figure 8 Puffer Fish Teeth: I've had my little puffer for around 3 years now, and he's very happy and healthy. Dentistry has always proved a challenge though - I've tried all kinds of different foods and even bred snails especially for him but he is a fussy eater and eventually his teeth overgrew and needed attention. In the end one of the lads at the LFS clipped them for me using baby nail clippers, and a fine job he did too - Happiness was restored and all was well. That was several months ago, and out of the blue the puffer has now lost one of his teeth completely, or half of his 'beak' if you prefer.
No idea how he's managed it, but I'm wondering if the teeth trimming may have weakened them somehow but the fact remains.
So my question is - What now? he looks a bit daft with only one tooth, but he seems to eat ok for the most part. Should I consider trimming the other one down? He cannot close his mouth as it is, and his remaining tooth will only grow longer as time goes on.
#2 Popeye - This one has really upset me - My very expensive pair of wild caught curvuceps cichlids have settled well into their home and have even shown signs of possibly breeding. The male who was very strong and even a touch aggressive has developed a really bad case of popeye. I immediately gave a course of melafix but it didnt help at all(in fact I don't think I've EVER found this stuff to work), and I've now just done a course of myxazin. He seems a bit better, as after the first week he was just lying static on the sand, but his eye is still massively blown out.
Today is the last day of the myxazin course and it doesn't seem to have solved the problem - Is he too far gone? Will his eye ever recover, or is he more likely to lose it and/or die? What else can I do apart from water changes? I've done 2 full courses of medication and I wouldn't like to run another one again so soon. I'll be very sad to lose this beautiful fish, but I'm almost resigned to the fact now
ps The above fish aren't in the same aquarium, the puffer has his own 60 litre cube with slight brackish water, the curviceps share a heavily planted 120 litre tank with some tetras, several brochis splendens and a small bulldog plec. All water has been tested throughout and has fallen within normal nitrate/nitrite levels (and I've NEVER had an ammonia reading in all my years of fish keeping)
Thanks
