Rescued puffers acting strange

[Lisaaquaria]

Hello everyone, hopefully you guys can help me out because I'm at a loss here.

Two days ago I took home four dwarf pufferfish ( Carinotetraodon travancoricus) , one of which looked like he was on the brink of death (laying on the bottom of the aquarium in the store, not responding to food and looking quite skinny). I had decided to take the store's whole inventory in an effort to save them.

Unfortunately the female already-weak-one died this afternoon, and now the male is exhibiting the same symptoms. This male also seems to be moving his mouth a lot, which I have not observed with the deceased female.

Furthermore, the other two females seem to have a bloated stomach, but this could just be my imagination. These females do swim around rather happily and are curious whenever I come to the tank.

I attached two pictures, one of the male and another of the female. Can someone please help me and tell me what is going on?

Thank you for reading,

Lisa Aquaria

(The male, not sure why the image is upside down)

(The female, with an odd belly?)

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

How long has the tank been set up?
Has the filter cycled (developed the beneficial bacteria to keep ammonia and nitrite at 0)?

Have you tested the water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH?
If yes, what are the results in numbers?

Most fish health issues, including rapid breathing, are caused by poor water quality. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for the next 2 weeks or until this is resolved.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

 

[The Lumpfish Guy]

Those puffers look severely emaciated, are they taking the food you are offering them?

 

[seangee]

Those puffers look severely emaciated, are they taking the food you are offering them?

What are you feeding them? They need live food.
And live may actually mean alive. A lot of them won't take frozen or freeze dried food.

 

[The Lumpfish Guy]

What are you feeding them? They need live food.
And live may actually mean alive. A lot of them won't take frozen or freeze dried food.

I'm quite lucky mine take bloodworms (frozen) and I offer various snails which I cultivate. I haven't had any so picky as to not take frozen blood worms, but they should be fed some snails because of their teeth.

 

[seangee]

Some will, some won't and some will learn to take frozen food. It was just a warning - but in the OP's context of carnivores seemingly starving to death I would give them live food if at all possible. In any event they won't survive on tropical flakes or pellets.

Snails are also a good idea (and neccessary) but avoid MTS as those can damage their teeth.

 

[The Lumpfish Guy]

Yeah the OP seems to have tried frozen blood worms (can see them in the top picture) if they are eating them then great, if not you're right and probably should try some live (pond snails are great).

 

[Lisaaquaria]

Thank you everyone for the replies, I will answer the questions asked:

Hi and welcome to the forum

How long has the tank been set up?
Has the filter cycled (developed the beneficial bacteria to keep ammonia and nitrite at 0)?

Have you tested the water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH?
If yes, what are the results in numbers?

Most fish health issues, including rapid breathing, are caused by poor water quality. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for the next 2 weeks or until this is resolved.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

The tank has been set up for roughly three weeks, but I have used the filter/sponges of an already set up tank for the necessary bacteria.

Unfortunately something has gone wrong with my package containing water tests, I have found a local place where I will purchase them again tomorrow.

I did a 50% water change last night, should I do it again today but then 75%? I add Aquasafe by Tetra to the new water.

Those puffers look severely emaciated, are they taking the food you are offering them?

They looked like this when I picked them up, terrible isn't it? There are two that eat the frozen bloodworms and yap away at snails, then there is the little very skinny one that does not seem interested in anything I try to give him. This afternoon I actually thought he had given up, but after a while he sprung back to life for a second or two then went back to the bottom.

What are you feeding them? They need live food.
And live may actually mean alive. A lot of them won't take frozen or freeze dried food.

I have given them tropical mix bloodworms and tropical mix tubifex, and of course live snails.

Attached are two new pictures of the fish:

(Two rather active puffers)

(The skinny lifeless one)

 

[seangee]

It looks like you have the feeding bases covered, they are very cute. Hope they pull through.

 

[Colin_T]

Feed them 3-5 times a day with a variety of foods for the next month.
Do a big water change and gravel clean the substrate every day during the next month to keep the water clean.
Cross your fingers and hope for the best.

 

[The Lumpfish Guy]

Yeah, if they are eating, just keep feeding them and keep the water quality good and hopefully they will get better. Small regular portions at this stage might be better than larger feedings until they put on a bit more size

 

[Lisaaquaria]

Hello everyone, sorry for the delay in updates. A lot happened the past 10 days.

The water test returned the following results:
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrate 10ish
Ph 7.0

The following day another puffer sadly died, I have contacted the store and inquired about their feeding/maintenance but the employee did not go into much detail. They were very apologetic and offered a refund, but I would rather have them take extra care of the puffers in the future.

The rest of the puffers seem to be doing well. They all eat, though one is a bit shy and seems to be getting bullied by a larger female. Any tips?

Thank you everybody for helping, the users here are very knowledgable and kind.

 

[BlumKram]

Hello, welcome to the forum
Your fishes are so cute, I hope they pull through

 

[Colin_T]

Don't blame the shops for the quality of the fish, they aren't always to blame. A lot of the problems come from the importers who don't always feed them much in quarantine, or they get rid of the fish even when they aren't healthy. Then the shop gets below average fish and you buy them.

If a big female is picking on a small female, it will probably end badly with the smaller one being killed.

Put more hiding places in the tank and feed them more and sometimes they stop bickering and fighting. However, if it doesn't fix the problem, you will have to separate them.​