Very Sick Dwarf Puffers

[makaveli144]

Hi Guys
 
I do have a post in the newbies section but its under a different thread topic, so I have created a separate one in the hope of gaining more help.
 
I have a new tank, its about 6 weeks old and was cycled fish less with Ammonia, it has held the levels at 0 and still is. On friday I added 4 Dwarf Puffers, they seemed fine,happily exploring and looking for snails. We did have difficulty feeding them but managed to coax them into eating some blood worm. Then yesterday they were lying around the tank and are starting to look extremely emancipated.
 
I have done an 80% water change today and added anti parasite, they are not interested in eating. Heres a photo of one:
 

 

 

 
Its really sad to see and I dont know what else to try. 
 
Its a planted tank and I use API fertilizer tabs to keep the plants going, but as far as I am aware they contain nothing that will harm the puffers.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

I'm not familiar with the care of these fish. Perhaps to help someone else coming along, could you post what your water stats actually are, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, temperature.

 

[makaveli144]

Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, nitrates 25, GH 250,KH 180, PH 7.4 temp is a steady 26 degrees c.

 

[BerryAttack]

these fish are freshwater fish... just a heads up because some places will say they are brackish.. 
oh and they should be kept in an all species tank if you didn't know already... soooo tip of the day
 
it looks like it is starving... soo try giving it more food and have the light on but try not to disturb them too much because that could stress them even more.
 
besides that got nothing else.. just they need food.
 
and what type of snails are in the tank, sometimes there are random poisonous ones that will kill your fish

 

[makaveli144]

If they are are starving why are they not eating? Any tips on getting them to eat? We have frozen bloodworm and the snails. The snails are misc from the LFS, and have only been put in there today so its not the snails.

 

[makaveli144]

They are definitely not eating, i dangled bloodworm right in front of them, even flipped a snail upside down were they were laying and nothing. They seem disorientated and keep bumping into things.

 

[Essjay]

Just a thought - does the shop not know they are freshwater and keep them in a salty tank? If they did and you put them straight into fresh water, the sudden change in salinity would have been bad for the puffers. I would phone/visit the shop and ask what conditions they keep their puffers in. Once you know, if they do keep them is salt water you would need to add some salt and gradually reduce it back to freshwater over several days.

 

[makaveli144]

They were kept as freshwater. 
 
Two now seem a little bit more energetic, but still arent eating. there is currently mysis floating around looking like snow,

 

[mark4785]

Sick fish will eat blood worm even several days before becoming deceased from personal experience.
 
What were these puffers like when you purchased them and when they were being transported in the bag? Did they suddenly go down hill when they were placed in your aquarium?
 
I noted that you have completed a fishless cycle:
1. Were you using anything other than pure ammonia during this?
2. Did you take all of the water out when the cycle had completed?
3. Did you add pure ammonia every 12 hours for a period of 14 days and get 0 ppm readings for ammonia and nitrite every 12 hours for a period of 14 days?
4. What test kit are using to test for nitrate? Nitrate test kits are notorious inaccurate and can easily mislead you. I suspect a high nitrate level may be the cause of the fishes behaviour.
 
I use a scientific nitrate reader to test my nitrate. If you would like to send me a sample of your aquarium water through the post I'd gladly tell you exactly what your nitrate level is. In the meantime, I would do a good 80% water change just incase your nitrate reading is inappropriately high.